I've been working as a barista at a unionized grocery store for almost a year now, and I'm frustrated with how our GM is treating me and my colleagues. Since old GM was demoted and a new GM took over his place around the middle of February, everything has started to go downhill. The manager treats everyone like disposable garbage with no respect and is only looking out for cooperate.
Despite being in a union job, it feels like there is no union representation or consideration for staff. One of the biggest issues I'm facing is the lack of transparency around tips. My employer is not disclosing how much tips we're making, and there's no clear system in place for distributing them among staff. To make matters worse, our paystubs disappeared online after 2/18/2023, which means we have no way of verifying if we're being paid correctly or if our tips are being included in our pay. We've also noticed that are tips are substantially less then they were before.
On top of that, the new GM is trying to tell employees to put unwanted change in the till rather than the tip box, which is shady and unfair. It feels like she's actively trying to take money away from us and doesn't care about our well-being.
I've had enough of this mistreatment, and I filed an L&I claim. I encourage anyone who feels mistreated in the workplace to do the same. It's important to speak up about these issues and hold employers accountable for their actions.
As a unionized worker, I expected to have more protections and better treatment than this. It's frustrating to see how little my employer cares about our livelihoods and how much they're willing to cut corners at our expense. Not all unions are equal.
I'm not sure what to do next, but I hope that by sharing my story here, I can bring attention to these issues and encourage others to speak up about their own experiences.