Save Mart Supermarkets demote senior clerks, cut pay about $5 an hour

[Newsjock]

Source: Sacramento Bee

With tensions already high with its labor union, Save Mart Supermarkets has imposed a pay cut on as many as 150 of its highest-paid union workers in the Sacramento region.

Save Mart said the move was permitted under its contract with the United Food and Commercial Workers. The affected workers were demoted from senior clerk positions, cutting their hourly pay to around $16 from $21, starting Sunday.

Alicia Rockwell, a spokeswoman for Save Mart, said the move was prompted by staffing ratios spelled out in the contract. Because of "store closures and current economic conditions," she said the Modesto grocery chain had more senior clerks than required.

... Jacques Loveall, president of UFCW Local 8 in Roseville, said the union "will do everything necessary to protect our members' rights" under the contract.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/22/4581002/save-mart-supermarkets-demote.html

[senseandsensibility]

1. I'm glad to hear they're unionized.

For some reason, I thought Save Mart workers weren't. I support them, and hope they get their pay back.

[librechik]

2. that's $800 a month--to clerks who already live at the lowest level of "middle class"

OUTRAGEOUS--

GO UNION

[bigtree]

3. how does the contract 'allow' them to cut wages without a new contract?

That's just not a contract.

We got our contract with a modest raise, but it was only a short-term one because the company wanted to stall out this election and our union (UFCW Local 27) thought a short contract was better than none. Our company shifts like 60 % or more of our profits overseas and cries poor when asked to put what we earned back into our stores and workers.

We ALL fear for ourselves; what's happening right now to Save Mart. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

[EC]

4. They're just being smart asses...

The contract likely has a required minimum of senior clerks and they are saying that to keep to the contract, they must maintain only the minimum number of senior clerks. This was likely to protect seniors from being let go just for being old, so they had a minimum to maintain and by golly they were going to maintain that minimum number because that was all that was required.