Hey all, I have worked at 3 different grocery stores in the past 2.5 years. I was wondering whether it is worth unionizing at grocery stores. This is mostly out of curiosity, and isn't really going to effect any decisions because I am about to quit and don't intend to work at another grocery store (I learned it's not sustainable for me to hold a job that requires me to be on my feet because I have a fatigue disorder).
At first, I worked at Safeway in Virginia, which paid $14/hr (the area was very close to Washington DC so the wage was higher due to high living costs, I think) which had $2/hr extra hazard pay because this was RIGHT at the beginning of COVID. Safeway is under a union but I never joined it. I don't think the union had much of a role in creating the hazard pay, everything I can find on it says that Safeway did it themselves and then ended the program in a few months.
Second, I worked at an ACME in a different, significantly cheaper to live area in Delaware, for 8.50/hr. no hazard pay even though COVID was still big. I spoke to one of my workers who worked there for over a decade, but he hardly made any more money than I did. But, it's represented by the same union that represents Safeway (UFCW). Safeway and ACME are under the same company, Albertsons.
Now, I work at a Martins. Its in the same state as the Safeway, but its not near the big city anymore. It Pays $12/hr. It is VERY anti-union. When I was doing training videos, there was one video that claimed unions were a waste of money, and that Martins is committed to “providing the best working environment for our associates — one that allows us to communicate directly without the interference of an outside third party”.
While my pay at Safeway was better than the pay at Martins, the difference might be due to the area and not the union. The pay at ACME was just TERRIBLE, and the union was the same as Safeway. I have believed for a while that grocery unions are just dogshit so I never joined one. And I never had good enough mental health to do the whole thing where you discuss wages with your coworkers and suggest collective bargaining. Do grocery store unions work? I tried looking it up, but its like a 50/50 split on yes or no. Apparently according to government data yes, the average union worker makes more, but a bunch of other articles are claiming some other bullshit of why that's not the case. And I might believe it, because again, ACME was terrible
TLDR: Safeway near Washington DC was $14+2/hr, ACME in rural Delaware was $8.50/hr, Martins in rural Virginia is $12/hr. Safeway and ACME are represented by the same union, Martins is anti-union. This doesn't compute, are grocery unions dogshit?