Hey, everyone! We want to go on strike, and I could use some help.
I work at a well-known Seattle grocery chain (not going to say which one for obvious reasons). Recently, the evening shift for the deli employees was moved from 12:00—8:30 to 12:15—8:45 (times changed from the actual). Because we were often working until 8:45 anyways, this move was essentially only to prevent us from getting overtime while keeping us working late and doing the same amount of work.
Our union is essentially useless (we don't even have the right to strike in our contract) and as management has resisted changing our schedule back, we have decided to go on strike. It's a simple thing for them to change, and given that the deli is easily one of their most profitable parts of the store, the strike should be very successful. With luck, a successful strike might even give the rest of the store enough confidence to move to change unions to one that will actually do something for us. They've been giving up more and more every contract renegotiation, and all of the employees have no faith in it at all. Most of the employees want to strike, but there's not been enough confidence to convince enough people.
So, what am I asking for? It's simple: read the flyer we'll be handing to customers when we go on strike, and let me know if you have any comments or suggestions on how to improve it. That's it!
On date, the Seattle Grocery deli evening shift was changed from 12:00—8:30 to 12:15—8:45 without warning or discussion with employees. As Grocery Deli workers regularly work past 8:30 while closing the deli, the only purpose of this change is to avoid having to pay overtime. Now we're still working late every night, but for less pay, while the extra 15 minutes earlier makes no practical difference in our lives. Since the deli still closes at the same time, if we finish on our usual schedule and close by 8:30, we may not even get at least 40 hours a week despite working 5 days. This decision is reprehensible and should be reversed.
The employees of the Grocery Deli have decided to go on strike in order to change this. We sincerely apologize for any interruption we may have caused in your day—we realize this is unexpected, but this is important. Many of us live in the nearby area. We are your community, and your neighbors. A small change like this can affect our pay by 5-10% (a conservative estimate). That’s a big pay cut—especially when so many of us still have to live month to month because of Seattle’s skyrocketing cost of living.
Help us so we can get back to helping you! Please show your support for Grocery Deli workers by asking the managers to change the schedule back—it’s an easy thing to do, an easy thing for the Grocery to change, and it makes a surprisingly big difference in our lives.
See you in the Deli!
Thanks for your help, everyone.
x-posted in Omaha Steve's Labor Group
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