- QUESTION: What are some of the benefits that the Union can provide to a member?
ANSWER: The Union itself is not able to provide ANY employment benefits to
members. All the Union can do is ASK the Company to agree to provide certain
benefits, but the decision on whether or not to grant such a request always lies
with the Company. However, if you become a Union member, you will have to pay
dues, fees, and other assessments, and you will be subject to the Union's rules,
regulations, and disciplinary policies.
- QUESTION: What is a Union?
ANSWER: A Union is a political and business organization that collects dues and
other payments from its members in order to compensate Union officers and
leaders whose job is either to (a) speak on behalf of Union members to their
employers in contract negotiations and grievances, (b) administer the internal
operations of the Union, (c) attempt to persuade additional employees to join
the Union, or (d) determine whether the members of the Union are complying with
the Union's own rules and regulations. When the labor union movement began
nearly a hundred years ago, there were few laws protecting employees, they were
afraid to complain about work-related issues to their bosses, and unions gave
them the strength they needed to stand up to abusive employers. Today, however,
the books are full of laws that protect workers, and, as demonstrated by the
success of our Open Door Policy, our members feel very comfortable raising
issues with their supervisors. Thus, unions (including the UFCW) don't have the
role to play today that they had in the 1930's.
- QUESTION: What's going to happen if some people want to join the Union and some
don't?
ANSWER: If the Union gets 30% of the members in an appropriate bargaining unit
(for example, 30 members out of 100 members in a given store) to sign their
names on authorization cards or petitions, the Union can file a document with
the Labor Board and demand an election. If more than 50% of the members that
vote in the election say "Yes" to the Union, then all of the members in the
bargaining unit will be represented by the Union - even if they don't want the
Union to represent them. (This means that, if there are 100 members in the
proposed bargaining unit and only five members vote and three vote "Yes" for the
Union, all 100 members - not just the five - will be represented by the Union.)
Accordingly, if you don't want the Union in your store, let your voice be heard.
If the Union gets into all of our stores, the work environment that we now know
and enjoy will change. If you don't want that to happen, say "No" to the Union
organizers and let your co-members know how you feel.
- QUESTION: How can we get in touch with the Union or a Union representative?
ANSWER: The Union attempting to get into our stores (and our lives) is the
United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). The UFCW has an office in
Phoenix and in Tucson. You have the right to contact the UFCW to learn about
the Union just as you have the right to contact the Union to tell the organizers
to "Go Away." If you decide to contact the Union, please remember that the UFCW
is a business and its needs new members (like you) to keep its business alive.
It cannot survive without collecting dues money from hard-working people like
you every month. The Company does not believe you need to pay the Union to
speak for you. And, when you consider everything that the Company already
provides you without paying dues or being subject to the Union's control, we
think you will agree that the cost of having a Union is just too high.
- QUESTION: Did Bashas' vote to have a Union and, if so, why wasn't my store
allowed to vote?
ANSWER: First of all, no store within the Bashas' family of companies has ever
voted the Union into its store. In nine of the stores that we purchased from
Arizona Supermarkets and ABCO (Store Nos. 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 124 and
125), the Union already represented store employees at the time of purchase.
However, a few months ago, a group of members at Store 124 presented a petition
requesting a vote on whether they wanted to remain unionized. The Union
rejected that request. The Union has not sought a vote on this issue in any of
our stores because it knows that the majority of our members do not want a
Union. Instead, the Union's goal is to put so much pressure on the Company
through its smear campaign that the Company will let the Union represent our
members without a vote. Rest assured that Bashas' will never let this happen
and we will fight for your right to a secret-ballot election.
- QUESTION: Can store personnel band together and picket against the union and
their dishonest practices so our customers and the media know how we feel?
ANSWER: Absolutely. You have every right to campaign against the Union and let
your voices be heard. As you know, the Union is continuing its smear campaign
against our Company by circulating negative fliers about us in hopes that we
lose customers. We think this demonstrates how deceptive the Union really is.
How can the Union claim that it wants to represent our members when it is doing
things that jeopardize our members' jobs? Remember, if the Union succeeds in
its current smear campaign, we will lose customers. If we lose customers, we
will not be able to provide our members with as many hours. If we lose a
significant number of customers, we may have to lay off some members and,
possibly, close stores altogether. If you don't like what the Union is doing,
tell them. We strongly believe that if enough of our members tell the Union to
"Go Away," the Union will realize that it is not going to get any money from our
members and it should look to some other Company's employees to increase its
membership.
- QUESTION: Will a Union help Bashas' service its customers better?
ANSWER: We don't think so. History teaches us that unions negatively affect a
company's ability to compete in an ever-changing marketplace. Look at the huge
layoffs that GM, Ford, and Chrysler have had over the last several years to see
if the Union has helped those companies compete. Think about the number of
grocery chains that did business in Arizona 15 years ago that are now gone -
Lucky's, ABCO, Southwest Supermarkets, Mega Foods, Smith's, Smitty's, Garrett's,
Bayless, and Q-Fresh just to name a few. In Arizona today, we also have new
competitors in the grocery business that were not here 15 years ago - Wal-Mart's
Supercenters and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets are changing the ways
we compete for customers. We believe having a Union in our stores reduces our
ability to remain flexible and compete with those new businesses.
- QUESTION: Do employees still get a paycheck when they are on strike?
ANSWER: No. If you got out on strike you do not get your Company paycheck or
benefits and you are not eligible for unemployment compensation. The Company
also has the legal right to permanently replace you if you go on strike for
economic reasons (e.g., better wages or benefits). While the Union might
provide you with "strike pay," it often is a fraction of what an employee takes
home in his/her paycheck. The risk of a strike is best understood by example:
Assume a member is Full Time (40 hours) and makes $12/hour; the member makes
$480/week. If the Union provides its members only $100/week for strike pay, the
member loses $380/week on strike. If the strike lasts 10 weeks, the member
loses a total of $3,800 during the strike. If the member gets $1.00/hour more
after the strike, it will take 95 weeks (or nearly 2 years) before the member
sees any benefit of the $1.00/hour raise.
- QUESTION: How much would it cost per week to have the Union in the store?
ANSWER: From what we have heard, Union members at Fry's and Safeway in Arizona
now pay approximately $10/week in dues to the UFCW. That is $520 a year! And,
typically, the more you make, the more you pay in dues. Unfortunately, members
usually have little (if any) say on the amount of dues they pay to the Union.
- QUESTION: What if someone from the Union comes through my line and tries to
talk to me about the Union? Am I allowed to ask that person to leave? What do
I do?
ANSWER: Here is what you do. Tell the person you are working and store policy
does not allow outside organizations to solicit inside the store. If the person
keeps talking to you about the union (or any other outside organization, other
than a Company-approved Charity), call for a manager immediately. The manager
will take it from there. Also, remember that if a union organizer contacts you
during non-working time outside the store, you have a right to listen, but you
also have a right to tell the union organizer to "go away and leave me alone."
The choice is yours.
- QUESTION: What can we do to stop the Union from trying to destroy our Company?
[Store 25]
ANSWER: Thank you for your support! We help each other because we work
together as a family. Like you, we want the Union to stop trying to destroy our
Company. Because we believe the majority of our members don't want the Union in
our stores (or in our lives), the Union is trying to smear our reputation to
make us lose customers, which could cost hours and jobs. Unfortunately, this is
a very common tactic of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union. In
another smear campaign run by this union, Thomas McNutt, president of UFCW Local
400 was quoted as saying that the UFCW intended to "bleed" Food Lion, a nonunion
grocery store on the East Coast, economically "until they either agree to do
business with him or are forced out of business." He further said, "If we can't
organize [nonunion supermarkets], the best thing to do is to erode their
business as much as possible." Former UFCW leader Joseph D. Crump stated,
"Organizing is war" and that means harassing nonunion employers and "costing
them enough time and energy and money to either eliminate them or get them to
surrender to the union." In an article Crump wrote, he stated:
After a three-year struggle, the battle with Family Foods is over. Do we
represent the employees? No. The company went out of business. Perhaps
even more important is the message that had been sent to nonunion
competitors: There is no "free lunch" in our jurisdiction.
Despite the Union's bullying tactics, Bashas' will never surrender to the Union.
Nor will Bashas' give up your right to decide whether or not you want a union.
We strongly resent what the Union is doing to our Company and we know that many
of you feel the same way. If you do not like what the Union is doing, you have
the right to speak your mind. You have the right to tell your co-workers how
you feel and you have the right to tell the Union to leave you (and your
Company) alone. You also have the right to campaign against the Union and tell
the public what you think about this Union that is claiming it wants to help our
members, but is really trying to "bleed" us and put our jobs at risk. These
rights are yours and the Company will not interfere with your rights in any way.
We strongly believe that if enough of our members tell the Union "No," "Go
Away" and "Leave Us Alone," the Union will realize that it is not going to
increase its bank accounts with our members' dues money and will move on down
the road to another Company. We are confident that if we stand together, we
will win this "war."
- QUESTION: Is it true that if you are a part-time employee with the Union that
your hours can't be cut below 20 hours a week?
ANSWER: No. While the Union can "promise" you that you'll get 20 hours a week,
it cannot guarantee it. In fact, just a few years ago, in a video that the
Union created to announce a dues increase, a member of UFCW Local 99 in Arizona
talked about how her union store was having trouble competing with non-union
competitors. She stated that under the union contract she was supposed to be
"guaranteed 32 hours a week" but was only receiving "12" hours a week.
Remember, the grocery business is extremely competitive and today we are facing
fiercer competition than we've ever faced before. A number of grocery stores
(such as ABCO, Lucky's, Smith's, Smitty's, Southwest Supermarkets, and
MegaFoods) have closed their doors and shut down altogether because of this new
competition. You have to ask yourself whether a union will make us more
competitive or less. We strongly believe that a union will not make us more
profitable, and could make it much more difficult for us to compete. If we are
unable to compete, we too may have to cut hours, layoff members and/or close
stores.
- QUESTION: Why does the Union want to get into our Company so badly?
ANSWER: The Union has lost thousands of members over the last few years and is
trying to recover all of the money it has lost to prevent itself from going
extinct. If UFCW Local 99 unionized Bashas', it would double its Arizona
membership and revenue overnight. The Union could get over $5 million each year
in dues money from Bashas' members alone. So, why does the Union want to get in
here? To get your MONEY!
- QUESTION: How much do Union organizers make?
ANSWER: Based on its public reports to the government, the UFCW paid some of
its "organizers" over $86,000 in 2006. Here in Arizona, UFCW Local 99 paid one
of its "organizers" who has been going to our members' homes to sell Union
memberships $72,508 in 2006. Remember, Union members' dues money pays those
salaries. That is why the Union is interested in selling more memberships and
collecting more dues. The more Union memberships they sell, the more money the
Union bosses and organizers make. We have heard that some Union locals pay
their organizers a $30.00 "commission" for each signature they receive on Union
Authorization Cards or Petitions. So, if a Union organizer makes you a bunch of
promises in return for your signature or your support, remember, that person
gets paid to "sell" you on supporting and joining the Union.
- QUESTION: If the Union wins, will the ones who do not want the Union also
belong to the Union?
ANSWER: First of all, Arizona is a "right to work" state, which means you
cannot be forced to join the Union. This is different from some states, like
California, where employees can be forced to join the Union or be fired. Even
though Arizona is a "right to work" state, employees should not think that they
can hide behind that law to avoid the union issue. If the Union won an
election, then all of the employees in the "bargaining unit" would be
represented by the Union, even those that did not vote for the Union and even
those who did not join the Union. For example, if the "bargaining unit" was an
entire store and that store had 100 employees, then all 100 employees would be
covered by the collective bargaining agreement and the Union would be the
designated representative for each of those 100 employees. Because the Union is
not a charity and doesn't make any money unless it has Union members who pay
dues each month, the Union typically puts tremendous pressure on employees in
the "bargaining unit" to join the Union. The Union usually does this in two
ways: First, the Union will encourage the employees who join the Union to treat
those "right to work" employees like outsiders and call them names like
"freeloader" and "scab." After being hazed for a few weeks or months, those
"right to work" employees often join the Union simply to avoid the harassment.
Second, the Union may not represent the "right to work" employees as effectively
as employees who join the Union. For example, if a "right to work" employee -
who is not paying union dues - has a grievance, she still has to go to the Union
to talk about her problem. (Remember, the Union will be in complete control of
the grievance process, including which claims get settled, dropped, compromised,
or fought.) Do you think the Union will pursue that "right to work" employee's
grievance as aggressively as an employee who joined the Union and is paying
dues? While the Union is legally obligated to represent "right to work"
employees, the Union's track-record demonstrates that is not always the case.
- QUESTION: If the Union is trying to win our members over, why are they using
such dirty tactics? What would they gain if they (hypothetically) got us to
join and then destroyed our reputation as a result of those dirty tactics?
ANSWER: You bring up a great point. If the Union really wanted to help our
members, you would think it would not say such nasty things about our Company
and do things aimed at having us lose customers. Remember, if the Union is
successful in its smear campaign against our Company, we will lose customers.
If we lose customers, we may have to cut hours, eliminate jobs and close stores.
How can the Union think it is going to help our members by doing these things?
The answer is simple - the Union doesn't care about our members! The Union is
here for one reason and one reason only - to get our members' money! The Union
is engaging in all of these "dirty tactics" to put so much pressure on the
Company that the Company gives in and allows the Union to represent our members
without allowing our members to vote on whether they want a union or not. Well,
no matter how many "dirty tactics" the Union engages in, we will never give up
your right to vote on this important issue. Obviously, the Union is afraid of
what might happen if our members voted on this issue - the Union knows it will
likely lose - and that is why it is retaliating against our Company by trying to
smear our Company's reputation in the community. Based on what we have seen
from the Union over the last several months, it is no wonder why the Union keeps
losing members year after year!
- QUESTION: At what point will we know that the conflict over the Union has ended?
ANSWER: Hopefully, the Union soon realizes that the majority of our members do
not want the Union and that it is wasting its time trying to unionize our
Company. Until then, we will continue to keep you posted of new developments
with this union issue - including any information we receive that the Union has
decided to stop engaging in its "dirty tactics" and leave our Company alone.
- QUESTION: Does the Union pay its organizers for getting people to sign the Union's authorization cards or petitions for unionization?
ANSWER: Absolutely. The Union is a business. It does not work for free. Like most businesses, the Union has employees. "Organizers" are the Union's sales employees who are responsible for trying to get people like you to buy what the Union is selling (by getting you to sign Union authorization cards or petitions for unionization) so the Union can get your hard-earned money in the form of "dues." Based on its public reports to the government, the UFCW paid some of its "organizers" over $86,000 in 2006. While we don't know if the Union paid every organizer a specific dollar amount for each signature they got, we do know that some Union locals pay up to $30.00 per signature. So, if a Union organizer makes you a bunch of promises in return for your signature or your support, remember, that person is making money trying to "sell" you. Also, ask the organizer to put his or her promises in writing. The Union will never do that because the Union knows it cannot guarantee any results, except that it will demand money from you!
- QUESTION: I have had a Union organizer come to my house on several separate occasions. I also had a coworker try to convince me to support the Union. I feel like I'm being harassed. What can I do?
ANSWER: The Company has a policy prohibiting harassment of any kind. This policy applies both to those members supporting the Union and also to those members who do not support the Union. If anyone is harassing you about the union issue (whether pro or con), please tell your Store Director. While non-member union organizers have a right to seek meetings with you at home, you have the right to decide if you wish to listen to them or not. You can treat them like any other solicitor that comes to your door. However, they do not have the right to harass you by repeatedly showing up to your home after you have told them "I'm not interested. Please go away!" Of course, you can also call the police if they won't leave you alone.
- QUESTION: Could our Store become Union and what happens then?
ANSWER: We do not believe that our members would agree to pay union dues in order to have some stranger represent them in dealing with the Company. However, if the Union files a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, supported with cards or other evidence showing that 30% of the members in an appropriate bargaining group wish to be represented by the Union, then the Labor Board will schedule a secret ballot election. If more than 50% of the voting members select the Union as their representative, the Union would then be declared the representative of ALL members in the group, whether they voted for or against the Union, or whether they voted at all. If that happens, the Company will comply with its legal obligations and enter into collective bargaining negotiations with the Union over a labor contract. The parties may or may not reach agreement. If no agreement is reached, the Union has the right to call its supporters out on strike, and the Company has the right to continue operating with supervisors or replacement employees (if its an economic strike).
- QUESTION: Are the Union people going to ask for signatures or something else when they are outside our store?
ANSWER: The Union organizers will ask for your signature on authorization cards, petitions, or other forms of documents outside our stores, at your homes, and in other public places. They need to get signatures in favor of the Union from at least 30% of the members in an appropriate bargaining group before they can ask the Labor Board to hold a secret ballot election. Remember: signing a Union card is like signing a legal contract, and you will be giving up to the Union your right to speak for yourself on matters related to your employment.
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