Welcome to Our New Look

P R E S I D E N T ’ S C O R N E R

Notice anything different? We’ve redesigned the Local 555 segment of this paper (the “wrapper,” or the outside pages) to make it more visually interesting and to support the other mailings you’ll be getting. The road to this design started when we landed a mile-stone settlement last May (see be-low!). We wanted to make sure all Local 555 members knew about these positive changes, includ-ing the wage increases that both journeypeople and apprentices will be getting over the next three years.

So, we put together a post-card explaining the settlement.

Then we decided that it would be particularly useful for every-one to know when to expect their raises over the course of the next few years, so we planned mail-ings for all journeypeople/ap-prentices ahead of each wage increase, specific to location and contract. I’ve been thinking of them as an alert for good news: something you will want to make sure you see coming.

D A N C L A YPresident, Local 555

I N T H I S I S S U E

Welcome to Our New

Look—1 & 2

Local 555 Wins—1

Fred Meyer Retro Payments:

The Full Story—2

UFCW Local 555 Years of

Service—11

We’re a Force to be

Reckoned With—12

Watch Us Grow!—12

LOCAL

Wins

Contacting UFCW

If you saw our postcard about the new universal settlement

ratified in May, you already know this, but just in case you didn’t…

Our newest settlement for journeypersons and apprentices

provides three hard money wage increases, protects pensions

and health/welfare benefits, improves contract terminology, and

defeats six different employee proposals.

STANDING STRONG TOGETHERThe contract terms are for all contracts in all areas within Local 555, and will cover three years’ worth of wage increases.

[Continue on next page]

PENSION:• Protected early retirement under

Clerks Pension• Protected “Rule of 85” under

Butchers Pension• Retail employers continue to

pay extra to protect plan

HEALTH & WELFARE:• No reduction in plan benefits• No increases in co-premiums• Limitation of employer’s ability

to collect unpaid co-premiums from paychecks

CONTRACT TERMINOLOGY:• Addition of Union Leave language• Standardized Store Meeting language• Language to improve productivity of

Union Staff in enforcing contracts

Questions? Call UFCW staff at 503-684-2822WAGE DETAILS SPECIFIC TO

The contract terms of this new universal settlement are for all contracts in all areas within Local 555, and will last for 3 years.

EMPLOYER PROPOSALS:• Attempt to increase number of managers doing Union work• Attempt bonuses (instead of wage increase) for Journeypersons• Attempt not to adjust Apprentice wage brackets.• Attempt to freeze wages for Journeypersons• Attempt to eliminate unused vacation on anniversary date• Attempt to eliminate sick leave benefits

WAGEStotal hard money wage increase over term of the three year contract.

25¢HR

75¢HR

JOU

RNEYPERSO

N

INCREASES ARE STRUCTURED AS

APPRENTICE

PORTLAND, NON-FOOD.

201620172018

Portland

non-food

Apprentice rates will increase up to $2.90/hr (depending on apprentice step, hire date, job type, etc.).

These total adjustments to wage scales are spread over the three year contract, with wage scale increases becoming effective in July of ‘16, ‘17, and ‘18.

raises effective on 6/26/2016, 7/2/2017, and 7/1/2018.

PA R T O F T H E S E T T L E M E N T P O S TC A R D

UFCW staff can be reached during business hours at 503-684-2822 or 800-452-8329.

Please send any corre-spondence to our mailing address: P.O. Box 23555 Tigard, OR 97281.

The UFCW fax number is 503-598-6394.

www.ufcw555.org

What do you think of our changes? Send me your feedback at president@ufcw555.org!

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G U E S T C O R N E R

First, let me say that I share the frustration our Fred Meyer mem-bers have rightfully been feeling due to a series of mistakes in retro payments that affected some of us. I’m writing this to explain the situation to date so that we can all be on the same page. Let me also say that of late we’ve developed a good working relationship with Fred Meyer and it does appear that this was an innocent mistake that was not intended to disre-spect or inconvenience our mem-bers (even though it felt that way to all of us). I am pleased to have the power of the Union behind us in times like these, so that we can all stand together to help solve problems effectively.

So, what happened? Well, we began getting some complaints from members about the retro

4 0 Y E A R SRichard K. Krueger

2 5 Y E A R SJean D. Edmond

Laurie J. Hougak

Susan L. Perkins

2 0 Y E A R SSarah K. Bartlett

Anthony J. Briles

Meghan Emmett

Richard F. Goerlich

Donald L. Gresser

Greg Griffin

Zing Chun Lee

Lori J. Mauch

Jessica M. Punches

Teresa L. Smith

Marc A. Tibbetts

1 5 Y E A R S

Murphy R. Brown

Veronika Cale

Maria Isabel Rodriguez Cuevas

Joanna K. Dalke

Denise K. Faith

David A. Fisher

James R. Flowers

Shawn M. Gordon

Jeremy (Alex) Gray

Daniel D. Herrera

Jeremiah R. Jones

Katherine R. Kent

Katrina M. Kinsman

Michelle A. Knifong

Christina L. Leavitt

La Verne L. Leslie

Michael T. Lompa

Kevin M. Love

Ginny J. Malmquist

Marty L. Mckee

Christine S. Modaff

Jose Angulo-Montes

Candice M. Pennington

Mary E. Pruitt

Jeffrey S. Shrum

Martin F. Silvia

Laura E. Snipes

Sapphir So

Nicholas A. Staino

Shannon M. Tower

Louis G. Valonis

Brian R. Ventura

Jeremiah J. Whitehouse

Andriy M. Zavydovskyy

1 0 Y E A R SMichael A. AltonAxel L. AndersonWendy S. BaileyMichael E. BastedoLorraine S. BowmanAaron D. CatoMarty K. ChristensenTimothy R. ClarkeKristina E. De La CruzDiane D. DichensThieu T. DoRobin R. EbingerCaro A. EstefanaKandy S. FisherMaria Teresa O. FunkRobert T. GallagherMichelyn M. GoetzAndrea Y. GomezKaz T. HaleNichole L. HarrisWeiqiang HeSteven J. JacksonCatherine L. JohnsonShelly R. Bunn KingsleyUrsula H. KramerWilliam E. LantzNgoc Kim LeHeather R. McafeeDarrin S. MillerDebbie D. OlsonMatthew J. PolichettiKarla E. PollackZach T. RobsonJohn W. SmithIvan R. SolteroMary E. TrudeauMichael J. TurnerJill S. YeggeYuezhu Zhang

5 Y E A R SErica B. AngonTheodore J. AriasLori K. ArmstrongNaomay L. AyersPeter M. BarnaJeremy T. BartonJowersky D. BasiouLinda M. BenthinDennis J. BlodgettAlejandro J. BoylesSara N. CalabreseJustin T. CarothersMark E. ChapmanMegan C. CogswellShawna DavisKaylee D. DaytonTracie L. DeahlTaylor J. DeckersDawn M. DennisPeter T. DietzelFelicia L. DinsmoreBrycen S. DriverEugene V. DurrinJanice M. FixsenTroy A. FoxMarisa J. GonzalezAraceli Jesus GonzalezScott A. GrangerHuy P. HaBryan A. HagstromKori L. HeisenJoshua J. HendersonLaurie L. HermosilloRoseleigh M. HillTina L. HobbsWilliam H. HodgsonCameron A. HoffmanBrandt B. IvanoffAdam D. KelleyCharlise J. KetterlingLucas K. KimmelKevin J. KocikSusan R. Krapf Candy N. KriegelCarolina Candy D. KudoLong H. LeJeffrey W. LowryBrian Lunsford

Angelita MacielKarri K. MagarMagdalena L. MarksBecky J. MannBen B. McGarveyStephen D. McKelvyTyler H. MorrowRob H. MortJoseph R. MortensenMary V. MortensenAdam G. MunionTara A. NapierTrang NguyenLaura A. PapajackRose A. PetersonPetewonson PetewonAudrey C. PietilaNina PopovicJanet Quijada-BevandichLinda N. RebolloKellyn ReeceAyla R. RulandBrandon C.k. SanfordTauni M. SchmidtLuke S. SchofieldCarrie L. SenayShirlie C. SmithSergey I. SmityukhBranden L. SorberAustin L. SteffenGayle L. StroempleChad K. SturdevantGarron D. TaylorKarla M. TellezDustin A. TicknorCoralynne E. WardDorothy M. WatkinsLinda R. WallaceTyler S. WhiteWalter R. WilkersonBenjaman A. WilkinsMichael A. WilliamsSharon K. WilliamsBrandyn D. WilsonTheresa J. WinterPatrick W. WoodsDalia R. Zamarripa

checks not being correct shortly after they were initially issued. We spoke with Fred Meyer and asked them to investigate the situation. They discovered that the trouble (about 3,600 checks, originally) was with Kroger’s payroll in Cincinnati. We agreed that Fred Meyer would send out letters to those who were over-paid, outlining their options.

As you may know, some of the calculations in those letters from Kroger’s payroll division

turned out to be incorrect. We immediately spoke with Fred Meyer again to alert them. We suggested that transparency in the calculations would make fu-ture notifications easier to con-firm; they agreed.

Fred Meyer rescinded all of those letters and planned to re-issue them after checking again for accuracy. The new letters, at our request, include a statement of hours used to create the retro pay so that we’ll all have a higher

degree of confidence and certi-tude in the numbers used. As of the printing of this newspaper, affected employees should have received those corrected letters.

Under the terms of our Col-lective Bargaining Agreements with Fred Meyer, they had the right to deduct any amount owed for overpayments that oc-curred within the last 90 days. However, we worked with them to agree to limit the deduc-tions to no more than $30 per

M I K E M A R S H A L LExecutive Director

paycheck (unless the member chose otherwise). If you have any further concerns after receiving the new letters, please don’t hes-itate to contact your Fred Meyer HR department directly. You may also wish to contact your Union Rep for further assistance. Thank you to all of you for your patience while we worked with Fred Meyer and Kroger’s home office to resolve this. •

UFCW Local 555 Years of ServiceO U R G R E A T E S T S T R E N G T H I S O U R M E M B E R S . C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S O N T H E S E M I L E S T O N E S !

And then we thought, well, what other alerts might be useful for all of us? We’ve been working on a range of communications for you, from health insurance awareness to pension alerts to relevant annual activities.

And soon, new members are going to be getting regular com-munications for the first three months to make sure they’re aware of everything they need to know about being an effective member of Local 555. Just like any collaboration, strength to-gether depends on remaining in-formed and strong individually,

[Continued from front page]

and my goal is to make sure we all know what we need to in or-der to work together effectively.

If you have any suggestions of information you wish you had or news you want to receive, just contact me at president@ufcw555.org. I always enjoy hear-ing from you. •

In solidarity,

A P R E V I E W O F O U R U P C O M I N G S U R V E Y P O S TC A R D

P O S TC A R D S W I L L B E S E N T TO N E W M E M B E R S

D A N C L A YPresident, Local 555

…look

LOCAL

…limit the deductions to no more than $30

per paycheck…

Fred Meyer and Kroger’s home office

worked to resolve the retro payment

snafu that affected some members of

our Local.

Fred Meyer Retro Payments: The Full Story

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REST OF THE TOP 20 IN THE U.S.

NOCAL & SOCAL

PUGET SOUND

UFCW 555

TOP 20 UFCW UNIONS: WEST COAST REPRESENTATION

100 BIGGEST UFCW UNIONS: BY MEMBERSHIP

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

LOCAL 555

[ THE WEST COAST ]

[TOP 20]

We’re a Force to be Reckoned With!

Watch Us Grow!

S E C R E T A R Y - T R E A S U R E R ’ S N O T E

Bigger isn’t always better, right? But often, it is. Our Union is one of those cases. The bigger we are, the more of a success our collective bargaining can be. So, we thought you might be inter-ested in learning that as of 2015 we were #17 on the list of biggest UFCW Locals in the nation. That’s impressive in and of itself—and even more so when you notice how much we grew in 2016. If every other Local stayed approx-imately the same size, we’ll find ourselves moving up even more notches when we get the 2016 national numbers.

It’s also interesting to look at the role that the west coast plays in Unions nationally. Turns out we chose the right (or is it, the left?) coast on which to live and work! 6 of the top 20 slots are taken by unions in Washington, Oregon, or California.

We’ve achieved so much to date, and if we build on the mo-mentum we’re gathering in 2016 we’re going to get even bigger, faster. What does that mean? It means we’ll have more ammu-nition to use to fight our collec-tive battles. It means we’ll have more political sway with ABC,

J E F F A N D E R S O NSecretary-Treasurer

The influx of new members that Local

555 gets each and every month keeps us

empowered. Just look at how quickly and

consistently we’re growing!

UFCW LOCAL 555 NEW MEMBERS: BY MONTH

0

300

600

900

1,200

1,500

JUNE ’16JULY ’16AUG ’16 SEP ’16

#1—Puget Sound, Local 21

#5—Southern California, Local 770

#6—Northern California, Local 8

#8—San Jose, Local 5

#13—Southern California, Local 324

#17—Oregon and SW Washington, Local 555

our Active Ballot Club. It means we’ll get even more attention and be able to protect each other even better.

So, check around. See if you have any friends, family, or col-leagues who might want to join up. Tell them to join one of the biggest and the best: Local 555! •

6 OF THE TOP 20 UNIONS ARE ON THE WEST COAST!

Contacting UFCWUFCW staff can be reached during business hours at 503-684-2822 or 800-452-8329.

Visit us online at www.ufcw555.org.

Please send any correspondence to our mailing address: P.O. Box 23555 | Tigard, OR 97281.

The UFCW fax number is 503-598-6394.