Payless Shoe trying to undermine UFCW 655 contract

Call Jay Andrews to express displeasure

Rolla – Payless Shoe Source here is trying to undermine a long-standing contract that UFCW Local 655 has for its members at 24 Payless stores in St. Louis by trying to negotiate a contract with lower pay and benefits for its Rolla location employees who are now represented by Local 655.

As has been the case in many unions, if this happens the company then tries to bring the lower wages and benefits to its other bargaining groups.

YEAR BARGAINING

After a year of negotiating sessions for the Rolla store to win a first contract, the company is refusing to consider a fair pact, reports Local 655 Director of Collective Bargaining Garry Torpea. This despite the fact that the union won an election with a 75 percent majority.

Local 655 is calling on union members everywhere to express your unhappiness with the multi-billion dollar company by contacting Payless negotiator, General Counsel Jay Andrews and expressing displeasure with Payless efforts to pay less to Rolla’s full-time and part-time workers than is paid in St. Louis as well as providing no union-negotiated benefits for Rolla part-timers which makeup 75 percent of the stores work force. Andrews can be reached at 785-368-7542 or emailed at Jay.Andrews@Payless.com.

Local 655 represents Payless Shoe Source employees at 24 metro St. Louis stores. “The company pays them a fair wage, vacation, time and a half overtime pay and a holiday premium, health care benefits, holiday pay and even provides a $1 an hour Sunday premium pay,” Torpea said.

“However, management refuses to consider similar terms for its Rolla employees,” he added, noting that they want to pay Rolla full-timers 15 percent less – $1.25 an hour – and part-timers 12 percent less – $1.05 an hour – than their St. Louis counterparts.

“They want part-time employees to be minimum wage earners with absolutely no benefits,” Torpea added, pointing out that the company also wants to let the Rolla store become a right-to-work store, allowing workers to become freeloaders and take all the contract’s benefits without having to help pay for the cost to win, and maintain, those benefits.

“At this time we are not asking for the public to boycott Payless but rather contact Andrews and urge him to negotiate a fair contract for the Rolla workers just as they have done for their St. Louis workers,” Torpea stressed. Andrews can be contacted at 785-368-7542 or email Jay.Andrews@Payless.com.