Organic food drivers, warehouse workers return to the picket line
SEATTLE -- After a brief respite, 163 drivers and warehouse workers for United Natural Foods, Inc. have returned to the picket line.
The moves comes after UNFI officials announced they would permanently replace 72 striking warehouse workers, according to the Teamsters Local Union 117.
The workers went on strike on Monday after rejecting the latest contract offer from the company, but on Wednesday voted to return to work while they continued negotiating a new contract.
They attempted to return to work at UNFI's Auburn facility on Thursday and were told by security officers "they were not on the list," according to the union.
"UNFI misrepresented its position regarding its workers' good-faith offer to return to work. The company's action to replace its employees is retaliatory, unlawful and frankly despicable," the union's Tracey A. Thompson said in Thursday news release.
The union members, who deliver organic produce to area grocery stores, said they don't make nearly as much money as their counterparts at other companies.
The company's contract with the drivers expired in May, but the drivers kept working while negotiations were under way. The union said members rejected United Natural Foods' "last, best offer" over the weekend.
United Natural Foods supplies organic foods to independent markets and large grocery store chains, including Whole Foods, PCC, Metropolitan Market, Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC and Albertsons.
The moves comes after UNFI officials announced they would permanently replace 72 striking warehouse workers, according to the Teamsters Local Union 117.
The workers went on strike on Monday after rejecting the latest contract offer from the company, but on Wednesday voted to return to work while they continued negotiating a new contract.
They attempted to return to work at UNFI's Auburn facility on Thursday and were told by security officers "they were not on the list," according to the union.
"UNFI misrepresented its position regarding its workers' good-faith offer to return to work. The company's action to replace its employees is retaliatory, unlawful and frankly despicable," the union's Tracey A. Thompson said in Thursday news release.
The union members, who deliver organic produce to area grocery stores, said they don't make nearly as much money as their counterparts at other companies.
The company's contract with the drivers expired in May, but the drivers kept working while negotiations were under way. The union said members rejected United Natural Foods' "last, best offer" over the weekend.
United Natural Foods supplies organic foods to independent markets and large grocery store chains, including Whole Foods, PCC, Metropolitan Market, Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC and Albertsons.
I just have to say that I am a teamster 117 member currently on strike at UNFI. First off this is not an economic strike! ULP charges are still pending. And the union didn't bring the contract proposal to a vote because we told them not to bother unless the company changed 2 things in there last offer. One was the wording they used about our retirement that gave them the power to discontinue our ESOP retirement program. The other issue was health insurance. We are not striking over wages at all. Since we voted down there first offer they took away our Employee of the Month program and cancelled our company picnic we have every year in august. Also the union never threatened any ones jobs for crossing the picket line, and uninformed member said that they possibly could lose there seniority and wages earned while the strike commenced. The strike was a last option for us and as for UNFI saying this is the busiest time of the year for them I know as a 6 year employee with them that after Thanksgiving is over sales drop. The problem isn't the union. All my fellow employees that stand on that picket line chose to be union. Also we are not THUGS!!!!! I myself am a single father and many of my co workers have families that rely on them to be at work. We would rather work that's why we voted to got back to work and ended the strike only to show up and be told we have been replaced. Its a tactic to break the union. It didn't work. Only 6 have crossed the picket line and they have a right to do so. We stand collectively together for what we think is fair and just. That's what this country is suppose to be about. Sure some people don't need unions and that's fine with me. The industry I work in unions are a necessity. Without the union id work massive overtime and be paid just enough to stay afloat but not enough to get ahead. Is it really wrong to stand up to a Major Corporation and ask to be treated fairly and respected as people? You don't have to agree with us. You can say we are greedy. But just remember we are only doing what we feel is right and you should respect the fact that we are making sacrifices to stand up to Corporate greed when most of you just talk about it.
 @standandfight Good post. I would like to point out one thing though. Know who your fellow union companies are, you are blocking access to the driveways to other companies and you are disrupting your fellow teamsters trying to make deliveries to other companies around UNFI. I can tell you that you are not earning any brownie points with your brothers and sisters by holding them up and making their day a little bit longer.
@Rockberry I agree with you there. We only did that because the property owner didn't want us protesting on his property which is his right. Also we never blocked any Union workers going into the complex. Now we have an agreement with the property owner and they are putting up gates on B street that are only for Non UNFI companies to enter. UNFI is now only allowed to use the two entrances by there building. Therefore ending us picketing on B street and making sure that no one but UNFI gets affected by us. We didn't like having to picket every entrance at the complex but had no choice but we did have a lot of support from many people. I understand why people think its wrong but we had to start somewhere and now we are have gotten cooperation from the property manager. As of 6PM there are no more picket lines affecting any other company but UNFI.
I'm so sick and tired of hearing about unions. They are the demise of our country.
@ObsidianOne How are unions the demise of our country? What about the trillions of dollars our government has put us in debt? Which in time will be our debt. What about the continued printing of money we don't have? Unions represent a small percentage of the American workforce. Also when ya really think about it, the demise of our country is partly our own faults. The creation of "CREDIT" enabled people to amass large amounts of debt that they will never be able to pay. All this and more will cause the demise of our country.
 @ObsidianOne Unions are not the problem, even though I've never liked them, its the fact that they are even needed is the bigger problem. Capitalism requires cheap labor to exist and thats detrimental to a free and open society. The businesses that I've been to are union for a very good reason most of the time, the owners are crooks. But when you have a society built on capitalism, everyone wants to be rich and that just can't physically ever happen. There must be more poor in order for the few to be wealthy. Its just the nature of living in a finite environment that runs off of capitalism.
 @ObsidianOne You should sign an anti-union card and give it to your boss, then:
"I am opposed to all unions. Therefore I am opposed to all benefits unions have won through the years; paid vacations, sick leave, seniority rights, paid holidays, wage increases, pensions and insurance plans, time and one half for overtime, unemployment benefits and job security.
Â
I refuse to accept any benefits that will be won by the Unions and hereby authorize the Company to withhold the amount of the Union-won-benefits from my paycheck each week."
 @Seattlyte  @ObsidianOne ......unions have there dark side to...especially when one does not subscribe to their Borg like mind-set.Â
After trying to contact my union president about his flaws and failure as a leader, the union sent a thug down to intimidate me to slience, and order me to NEVER send Tom an email again.
I take my benefits & good pay, but I hold no love for the people at at top of the union food chain...those are the free-loaders getting untold wealth on my dues dime.
@Seattlyte  I have everything you have without a union membership. The only difference is I never have to picket. I can ask for more in pay, or I can quit and get another job with higher pay. What's really nice is that I've chosen to control my own destiny. Nice try though.
@Seattlyte  Been working for 34 years. They gotta kick me out of my office to take a vacation. Love my job.  Hardly a freeloader. Nice try though.
 @ObsidianOne Yes, you have it pretty good without ever having put any effort into making it that way. You know what the word for what you are is? Freeloader.
 @ObsidianOne Feel free to move to China and get a job there, they don't have those pesky unions.Â
 @NorthwestEconomist Fell free to move to Iran & demand rights for homosexuals.
@NorthwestEconomist   I do just fine on my own without a union. I'd be paid less if I had, which is where I see the problem. I enjoy having control of my pay. I like to be able to vote for the best candidate. In a union, the individual doesn't get paid on merit or working hard and they have to vote for the other guy because he's pro-union. You see, really don't need a brain to make your own decisions with a union because they make 'em for ya. Nice try though.
@T_BONE_WALKER Never knew what a union was until I moved to a blue state a few years ago. Been in the workforce for 34 years and have done well being happily employed and compensated probably better than most union workers. I guess I didn't realize how unlucky I was not being a union employee and having to play by the union rules. I really wouldn't be a good fit anyway. I'm an independent thinker. Nice try though.
 @ObsidianOne "I do just fine on my own without a union. I'd be paid less if I had, which is where I see the problem."
Â
I doubt anyone here believes you for a second but, its your right not to belong to a union just as the freedom to assemble, the freedom of association, and the right to representation is there for folks that want to belong. If those rights are what you dont like then simply leave as those rights have been here long before you.
Â
Dont be scared, its just a group of workers with a community of interest in the workplace, thats all.
Beginning to sound like this a legitimate company to strike against. Pretty shameful to have the union vote to go back to work while they debate the contract only to have the company fire a bunch of them.
 @Blindman I would be curious to hear the other side of the argument. Of course the union is going to cry foul and tell the media their side of the story. It makes zero sense for the company to agree to have workers come back to work than cut 72 employees. Not only would you anger the remaining employees, but now you have to replace 72 workers.Â
One benefit a union CAN NOT provide, a guaranteed job!
 @2009Ultra "The UNION is nothing more then a group of US citizens that share a community of interest in the workplace that collectively bargain wages, terms, and conditions. Of course they cant guarantee a job anymore then you or I can.
well The jobs belong to the company! Not to the Union.
 @wynooheeman Well, thats good because today the company is doing those jobs. The workers own the right to assemble, the right to association, and the right to representation.
@T_BONE_WALKER so by your argument the people have a right to work with out having to belong to a union!
 @wynooheeman Thats correct, free to chose any representation including none.
And with union agreements pretty soon everybody will be making $52.00 pr hour and a loaf of bread will cost $8 bucks. What's the point, no real gain here, just more jobs going over seas.
 @lmdk2 How are they going to move delivery driver jobs over seas?
It IS illegal to fire workers who are striking with a legitimate ULP. This dumb business is going to get fined tons of money by the NLRB. The company should replace the management for costing them tons of money in legal expenses and fines that they will have to pay out.
Â
Remember, without Unions you'd all be working 80 hour work-weeks for half the pay you're making now and your children would be dieing in factories. Do't believe it? Go to China where they don't have Unions and see. All of you anti-union people complain about the unions but you take for granted the workplace culture that they built for you.Â
Â
@NorthwestEconomist That is the biggest bull squeeze in the history of lies! Henrry Ford brought the 8 hour work week in to play Henrry Ford brought the 40 hour work week to the worker. It was Congress that brought the safety rules and regulation in. Where were the unions during the sweet shop's and the Box shirt fire? I will tell you those were union jobs! union workers died in the box shirt fire! don't hear the union speak up on how proud they are of that! Just pay your dues shut the F up make more shirts.
 @wynooheeman I smell fire and a liar.
 @wynooheeman  @NorthwestEconomist If the "Box shirt fire" you're talking about is actually the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, then you don't know what you're talking about. They did not have a union - even though the workers there were the first to strike to get one. The bosses never conceded and that's why the 151 workers died in that fire. Watch the documentary at PBS: www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/triangle/player/
 @wynooheeman  @NorthwestEconomist He only brought it because he was forced to by labor interests. He saw the coming tide and got ahead of the game, that's what innovators do. You think Congress would have passed those laws without the unions? I have bridges to sell you.
Â
Early unions didn't have much power, what do you expect? Change takes time. And you will see that now as we change back to a brutal corporate fascist state as "right to work" spreads from the south.
 @NorthwestEconomist You are fooling yourself if you think that people would be working in sweat shops if unions were gone. Yes, they did change the conditions for workers  70 years ago. But there are labor laws ensure employees work ion a safe environment and get paid for their overtime. Sure, there are unscrupulous employers who take advantage of employees who don't know their rights, but you are crazy if you think that unions are the reason the receptionist at my company gets a competitive wage, great benefits, and paid vacation. It's the norm in the U.S. now.
 @JK15  "But there are labor laws ensure employees work ion a safe environment and get paid for their overtime"
Â
Â
You must mean like the non union upper branch Massey mine? Lets go ask the 29 families that lost fathers in that outlaw mine about labor law or, how about that non union Deep Water Horizon where 11 families lost fathers? You must live under a rock.
 @JK15 It's only the norm because they made it that way. But guess what, outside of your safe bubble here in WA, where we are the 2nd most unionized state, the rest of the country is slowly turning back to the old labor standards. Walmart, the biggest employer in the US is forcing 40+ hour work-weeks with no overtime, cutting all benefits, locking employees in stores, and it's getting worse everywhere. With the spread of "right to work" the working conditions in America are reverting back to the late 1800s at incredible speed. Go move to Mississippi and get a job at a Walmart and find out.Â
@NorthwestEconomist @JK15 How about people not work there if it is soo horrible. There is a thought. If you are going to say "Well, they need the jobs and Walmart should be forced to pay blah blah blah" I would recommend you stop crying about what this or that company does and go open one yourself and create high paying entry level jobs for all those mistreated people yourself.
 @NorthwestEconomist  @JK15
 My personal favorite Wal Mart tactic is how it's their official policy not to offer benefits to any hourly employees scheduled (and that's they key word there, scheduled) less than 40 hours a week. And guess what? Nobody any lower than assistant manager is ever scheduled more than 32 hours per week. Oh, they all *work* more than 40 hours a week, but it's always "we need you to stay an extra hour tonight to help stock Barbies, and you need to come in two hours early tomorrow to count tampons." It's never scheduled hours, and it's always mandatory. If you refuse to work extra hours, you're out of a job. And this is exactly the sort of work environment you can expect to see everywhere without union influence. History alone tells you that.
 @NorthwestEconomist NWE, remember also that without guns, we would all be serfs.  Remember that without religion, none of us would be reading or writing.  So many advances were made under conditions that only apply to their context - including time.  Unions are like the medieval church - once a critical stepping stone, and now obsoletely millstones around the necks of those too legacy-encumbered to move on.
Â
You claim to be a "northwest economist". Â Okay, what percentage of the workers at Google, Amazon and Microsoft, all very large local employers, -by pay-, are unionized? Â Even if there are unionized workers, they're at the very bottom of the chain. Â
Â
Using your fallacious effect-equals-cause logic, the unions must be holding them down. Â If not for the unions, again using your logic, the cafeteria workers would also be making six figures.
Â
Do you actually have a degree in economics? Â Just curious.
 @TCat Yes I do. One thing to remember, and this is the Fallacy of  Jagdishb Bhagwati, corporations make terrible citizens, even for their own long-term health interests!  While you should not use social policy to effect economic change, you should use economic policy to effect social change.
 @TCat Unfortunately the tech giants are playing a dangerous game, and they know they can't outsource much more than they already are. My guess is that particular rubber band will keep stretching until some major defective products and low-education workforce populations force a huge snap and re-assessment of corporate policy. You've seen it in many industries, this one isn't far behind.Â
 @NorthwestEconomist You're only partially correct.
Â
This wasn't an unfair labor practices strike. Â It was an economics strike. Â The only bad faith either side has really made a case for is that the union didn't even put the most recent proposal up to a vote. Â
Â
It is legal to permanently replace (non-)workers striking over economic issues. Â It's a good thing your handle isn't "Northwest Lawyer"!
 @TCat They had a ULP for class-work change violation pending. It's legitimate to strike while a ULP is pending and being filed. Go learn labor law.Â
Dear NWE... if only you were half as educated as you claim to be.
Â
Oh wait! Â You are!
Â
The NLRB found against the ULP charges. Â The union never brought the latest proposal to vote. Â And the NLRB found that the union threatened the jobs of any picket crossers.
Â
Time to adjust to the internet era. Â You can't just spout lies and get away with it by calling yourself an "Economist" anymore.
I've got a Class "A" CDL and could use a job. Think I may apply. One less union driver needed.
News flash to union and union thugs. A few years back Boeing moved to Chicago,then moved production of some parts overseas,then opened a plant in So.Carolina. Steel industry in AMERICA  gone. Union legacy costs were too high went bankrupt. Move ahead a few years .Auto industry bankrupt. Why ? Union demands and legacy costs were too high along with wages and benefits.Slowly the auto industry has moved out of AMERICA ,to Canada,Mexico,Brazil,China . Most item that say made in AMERICA is a misnomer the product is just assembled here. So get a clue unions ,you have out priced yourselves.
 @Maynard G Krebbs ...they can't hear you....heads are buried to deep in the sand.
 @Maynard G Krebbs Boeing moved it's corporate headquarters to Chicago, and the parts they outsourced were for the 787 and they have admitted that was a mistake.
 @DarkParty  @Maynard G Krebbs Those south carolina planes are so great aren't they? The machinist union in part gave up its complaint about SC because they realized that noone down there knew how to make planes. Maybe it has something to do with SC being a "right to work state," having a median income that's below the poverty level and correspondingly-low education levels...Boeing tried to offer lots of WA employees huge bonuses to move to SC, guess what, none of them wanted to go. Boeing is finding out that sometimes cheap labor is not cost effective when planes start breaking.
 @wynooheeman You have a right to work in any state in the union its just the special ones that offer the right to starve.
@NorthwestEconomist @TCat @DarkParty @Maynard That is a lie and you know it Detroit prime exsample of how the paradise of union labor works so well! 46.8 percent of all residents are on food stamps the highest Union city in the nation! 31.8 percent are below the poverty line. So please tell me why states like Utah Idaho nevada have the lowest numbers of people on food stamps and the lowest number of people below the poverty line? and how Texas has the highest Job growth?
 @TCat  @DarkParty  @Maynard G Krebbs http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2012/07/boeing-787-south-carolina/814675/1
 @wynooheeman  @TCat  @NorthwestEconomist  @DarkParty  @Maynard Wrong, they have the lowest incomes and the highest UNDEREMPLOYMENT in the nation. What's the only thing more pathetic than being unemployed? Having a job but being paid so little that you're still on food stamps and welfare even though you're busting your butt 40 hours a week.Â
@TCat @NorthwestEconomist @DarkParty @Maynard G Krebbs They are drinking the purple jim jones cool aid. pay them no mind. The states that have a right to work laws have the lowest unemployment. and the most affordable living.
 @TCat  @NorthwestEconomist  @Maynard G Krebbs The 787 that Air India is flying was built in Everett.
 @NorthwestEconomist  @DarkParty  @Maynard G Krebbs Do you guys actually read the news?  Less than a month ago Boeing published an update.  They're on the target they set, and have claimed that the ramp up has been "very good".  The airplane delivered to Air India hasn't had any problems.  So what, precisely, are you referring to?