Major contracts are complete: so what’s next?

By DAVID A. COOK
President

Last week, Dierbergs partners ratified a new three-year union contract. This contract, nearly identical to the one ratified last month by Schnucks partners, is one of the best in the history of this local.

They both feature unprecedented wage increases, enhanced healthcare benefits with no increase in premium costs, well-funded pensions, and new premiums for various specialized work in the stores. We also wrote new language in these contracts that will have a positive effect on the future of our partners.

New flexible scheduling language will allow current partners to maximize their hours company-wide by seniority while also allowing the companies to hire a new type of worker with no set schedule — a flex worker who can pick and choose shifts as they please but enjoy all the union benefits currently unavailable to most workers in the so-called “gig economy.”

‘HISTORIC’
These contracts are historic, and I will also be the first to acknowledge that they aren’t perfect.

While we had no concessions and secured a score of improvements, we also are watching as runaway fuel prices and inflation are continuing to squeeze working men and women in this country. This trend, as well as the even larger looming trend of automation, represents a threat to our industry and to the good quality jobs we support.

WHAT’S NEXT?
These contracts will help set the table for other smaller contracts we must bargain, and we have other non-grocery entities that need new contracts as well, but with our two biggest employers once again under contract for three years, the question is “ok, what’s next?”

The same challenges we faced before we began negotiation earlier this year still exist.

We are still dealing with the aftermath of a pandemic — a pandemic many of our partners worked through. We are, more than ever, feeling the strain caused by inflation and higher fuel prices. There is no clear end to the inflation problem or the rising gas prices, and our partners will feel it as well as the men and women who are shopping in their stores.

Automation still looms as a major threat to our industry, and we have to continue to find creative ways to protect good union jobs while also not putting our employers at a competitive disadvantage.

The job market itself is changing, and our work on new flex workers in this contract is likely only the first step to make sure we can continue to make these jobs appealing to all kinds of workers.

GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK
For some of our partners, contract time is when they are most active within their union. While I understand why, it’s important to make sure we are engaged consistently throughout the years between.

Our partners’ feedback on a daily basis is our best way of keeping track of any issues that arise. It allows us to move quickly to address problems or find solutions.

BEHIND THE SCENE
Between contracts is also an important time for our staff, because while our partners may not see the work, we continue to manage our health and welfare and pension funds between contracts to make sure that we are coming to the bargaining table with well-funded benefits.

It’s easy to fall into a habit of focusing on the day-to-day challenges of making sure this organization runs smoothly and does everything it can to work for our partners. However, we can’t be lured into the trap of neglecting the long-term view.

THINKING AHEAD
This organization has to think both one day ahead, one year ahead, and one decade ahead. Our decisions can’t be based on just short-term success, they must be based on long-term victories as well.

In five years, how will automation impact our workforce? What must we do to ensure our pension funds remain strong 10 years from now? How will politics impact the Labor Movement during that time? What steps must we take to protect the movement from aggressive corporate greed?

ORGANIZING, ALWAYS
Finally, the organizing world never sleeps.

We have to be vigilant and energetic as we seek out and organize more workers whose employers are not doing right by them.

Cannabis workers will remain a high priority. More and more of these workers are reaching out, and they are working in a new and emerging industry which is already exploiting them with no oversight.

We recently had an organizing campaign at a Red Wing shoe facility. While that campaign was not successful, I’m confident those Red Wing employees will be reaching out to us again next year if their employer doesn’t make the changes they need.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
I’m optimistic about the future of organizing though in part because of this contract, which lays out wages and, most importantly, benefits that far exceed the non-union employers in town. A contract which provides these benefits as well as protects grocery workers from discrimination, abuse, or unfair discipline should be plenty appealing to workers across the state.

To put it simply, this contract is precisely the kind of contract that our non-union grocery workers deserve, and we have every intention of telling them just that.

NEED YOUR HELP
We also ask our own partners to make us aware of organizing opportunities. If you or someone you know works somewhere without the health benefits they deserve, if they are overworked or mistreated by management, if they are victims of managers constantly changing policies at a whim, maybe they’d like to hear how a union can help them.

Many of our partners become engaged every three years when it’s time to negotiate a new contract. Our contracts are the foundation of this union. They are what sets our jobs apart from so many others. Our contracts are our best advertising tool, and I am enormously proud of the contracts we just agreed to with our largest employers.

There is more to what we do. We need to represent our workers, manage their benefits, and find new ways to expand the union and increase our bargaining power.

These contracts were hard work, and there’s always room to improve. However, they are only the beginning. There is still so much to do.