Conditions at the Virginia Food Lion I work in aren't too bad, but they're emblematic of a large company pretending to care about its workers while still not giving a shit about them.
This is my first job and I'm just a part-time To-Go shopper (customers place orders online with the Instacart app and we walk around the store shopping for them so they can pick up the groceries at a scheduled time) but after watching and listening to my coworkers for almost a year I want to at least try making things better before I leave for a more suitable job (I'm weak as fuck so walking all day hurts a shit ton; I want a desk job but haven't received any calls back).
Also, I've heard no talk whatsoever about unions at my job. The most is a conversation I had today wherein my coworker began whispering conspiratorially so as to not be overheard because “Company doesn't want us talking about unions”.
My main goals right now for which I want to create a union are:
1) Pay everyone what they deserve. Duh. We are essential workers during a pandemic. I got hired on 11.25 an hour. After working a year I now make 12.50. Minimum wage in the US would be like 26$ an hour had it grown alongside productivity. Many people today get paid less while doing more work than their parents and grandparents.
2) Give the cashiers chairs. Standing up for their long shifts is not fun. During afternoon shifts when we're put of orders to shop I sometimes get made a temporary cashier and it fucking sucks.
3) Stop basing To-Go shopper performance on how quickly we shop, and instead on how well we prepare the orders. The thing is we ALWAYS finish shopping all orders on time to the extent that those who get scheduled the afternoon shift sometimes just sit around trying to look busy, waiting for a new order to drop. And our particular Food Lion store receives the most orders in the state. So if we're doing our jobs so well, why are they always fucking telling us to shop faster? Shopping quickly comes at the cost of quality, which is partly why I'm one of our slowest. Other reasons being feet/leg/knee/back pain and letting the order drag as long as I can during afternoon shifts when there is nothing else of this job to do, inflating my Items Per Minute.
Of course I don't know enough about every position in the store to have goals pertaining to everyone, but after talking with them more I imagine we can add a lot to the list.
I've looked a little bit into UFCW–The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union–but my education has been mostly about why unions are good rather than how to start one. Can anyone help shore up my knowledge? Am I wasting my time because Virginia is harder on unions and I'll just get fired?