More than 200 union employees of Fry’s Food Stores in Maricopa could join a group of nearly 20,000 statewide to walk off the job if a contract is not agreed upon by Friday at 6 p.m. “The union has worked for a long time to support the rights of this store’s employees and without them, I don’t know what kind of benefits we would have,” said Maricopa Fry’s employee Debbie Griffin. Griffin said she doesn’t think most of her fellow employees at the local store will support the union, and called it a “shame.” United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 99 has been in contract negotiations with Fry’s and Safeway grocery stores for more than a year, but could not get over a crucial roadblock in contract negotiations, health care. In the past, contracts with the stores have been structured so that employees were not guaranteed any annual raises or reviews, but instead had 100 percent of their health-care benefits paid by the company, according to union spokesman Bob Grosfeld. “The grocery store is suggesting UFCW members don’t want to pay for insurance, but that is not the case,” Grosfeld said. “Most people in the union have seen an average raise of 25 cents (an hour) during the past four to seven years; they choose not to get raises in place of having health-care coverage provided.” It is a decision Grosfeld said saved the company a lot of money in the form of labor costs. Now, the store is proposing that new-hire employees pay between $5 and $15 per week, depending on the coverage plan. Current employees would not be affected. “It is difficult for young employees to be able to afford health insurance. We are not talking about high-paid CEOs,” Grosfeld said. “The $5 to $15 per week could be the choice between feeding their family or paying for coverage.” Union members voted nearly a month ago to go on strike if a resolution to the contract situation could not be made. The union delivered its ultimatum to grocery stores last week when no progress in contract negotiations could be made. “We are continually working to resolve the contract dispute,” Grosfeld said. “No one wants to strike.” However, since that initial vote, Fry’s Food Store spokeswoman JoEllen Lynn said the company has approached the union with a new proposal that the union won’t let its membership vote on. Lynn said the proposal includes new employees paying their health-care premiums, but also offers retroactive raises in the form of Fry’s gift cards. “We feel the employees deserve a voice and the union should give them an opportunity to vote on this proposal,” Lynn said. One of the hang-ups that Griffin said she sees in the current proposal is the gift cards. “They want to give us our back pay in the form of a Fry’s gift card based on if you are entered in the computer as a full-time or part-time employee,” Griffin said. “Almost 90 percent of the people entered in the system as part-time workers work full-time hours.” The compensation would not be fair, she said. The union represents the majority of hourly workers at the store, including checkers, stockers, meat cutters, produce workers and others. In preparation for a possible strike, Fry’s recently hired thousands of workers at a rate of $9.50 an hour and is continuing to hire more. “We believe we have made a fair offer and will be disappointed if there is a strike. But if this strike happens, we will not have a glitch in operations,” Lynn said. “I hope and pray an agreement is reached, but if not, I will have to support the union,” said local Fry’s employee Werner Andersen. Photo by Michael K. Rich |