I’m using a fresh account as I don’t want to risk being tracked back to this.
I’ve been working at a grocery store in the Twin Cities for over a year now. I’m a part time cashier who’s also a full time student in college. Over this year we’ve seen prices soar at our store. Nearly every other week, prices increase across the board at our store. Sales are no longer sales, but the previous price and an excuse to raise the price once the sale is done. I’ve got friends in bookkeeping, and I’ve gotten to see for myself the massive increase in profit the store has been making.
Our union contract expired in April and our union has been negotiating over the past two months for the new contract. Our first vote was held last month, where the union negotiated basically nothing for us part-timers except a 25¢ wage increase in our contract (or 40¢ if you’ve been there for 7 years). We overwhelmingly rejected that contract with a 96% no vote.
However, it seems our union has done diddly squat because virtually the only things that changed in the new contract offer (which the union is recommending we approve) is healthcare contribution(increase of less than 25¢ per hour and also doesn’t not apply to many of us who still are under our parent’s insurance), an increase to 401a contributions… of 3¢/hr, and a changing of the 40¢ pay increase to $1 (but only if you have worked there for 7+ years).
As a result, me along with most of the other part-timers are left with nothing but a 25¢ raise. I feel betrayed by my union for failing to increase wages by even the rate of inflation (base pay of $10.50), and am seriously considering finding a new job. I am dumbfounded by how the union can claim to be acting in our best interests when I can literally make $6/hr more at the grocery store literally next door. The only reason I stayed at this job was because I (apparently incorrectly) assumed that the union would have all the leverage it needed to get us up to a fair wage considering the insane increase in basic cost of living and, well, wages across the board across other retail stores in my area.
I’m sorry this got a bit rants, just had to vent my frustrations.
TL;DR: Union is pushing us to accept a 25¢ pay raise in 2022.