President Pedersen/Fall 2017/UFCW 876 Connection/
We have been keeping very busy reconnecting with you this summer and will continue our efforts into the fall and well into winter. We began our journey conducting store visits (a program that morphed into more contract specific, Meet & Greets) added in a Member PopUPs, held statewide Steward Conferences from Madison Heights to Midland to Traverse City and topped all that off with plenty of membership events. It's been great!
Our priority? To reconnect with you to build relationships, build trust and build bargaining power. In July, we began by returning Kroger Defense Fund checks to contributing members. We rolled out a new program for an online college program that is FREE. We orchestrated membership events that are discounted by the union to provide you affordability. We have in essense, opened the door for you to walk in, say hello and tell us what it is that is important to you.
Our efforts have not stopped there. The Kroger New Market, Bridgeport / Frankenmuth contract, a four-year agreement, was ratified early October and it includes better health care, increased department head positions, eliminations of exclusion dates and significantly better wages. Configuring this contract to be more inline with the metro contract was an important step in building bargaining power.
We have thoroughly combed through several existing contracts to discover where improvements can be made now; and what we can do at the very next opportunity. For example, for the Kroger Metro contract, we were able to re-establish and clarify existing languages surrounding paying premiums for overtime. That's a big win for members resulting in hundreds of dollars more per year.
Your union team has really been connected and working hard to create the avenues for reconnecting with you. We hope you have been part of this adventure. We invite you to take the very next opportunity to do so. We are building great things here at 876 - join us!
Together we can do this!
Dan Pedersen
President