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A Message to Warehouse Teamsters from Division Director Steve Vairma

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  • A Message to Warehouse Teamsters from Division Director Steve Vairma

    This is a big deal so I am going over the allowed paragraph count.

    As one of the largest divisions in the Teamsters Union, the Warehouse Division has been working with our local unions in the Grocery and Broadline industries during the coronavirus outbreak.

    In a number of states. restaurants and schools have been closed affecting our members in the Broadline Industry and putting even more pressure on the Grocery Distributors and our members to meet the demands of the public.

    We have and are working with Kroger, Albertsons, US Foods and Sysco to develop a plan to utilize our members facing layoffs in the Broadline Industry, to keep them working with as little disruption as we can. Our discussions are centered around co-sharing the displaced workers from Sysco and US Foods to help supplement the Grocery work force allowing the workers to continue receiving their health and pension benefits and continue receiving their wages. I believe that we are close to reaching an agreement and once we have, we will send it to all affected Local Unions.

    We are insisting that all distribution centers follow CDC guidelines, which, in our opinion nullifies any enforcement of productivity standards. The standards are built around a normal work environment and certainly do not reflect the need for selectors to stay six feet apart while pulling orders, not to mention the stress, and other complications they are facing.

    Our locals in many areas have increased premiums for overtime work from the standard time-and-one-half to double- or even triple-time, while ensuring that our members receive proper rest periods and time away from work.

    We know that all our Local Unions have been working extremely hard to represent our members during these difficult times and are having to make temporary changes in some cases to your existing agreements. Local unions that reach agreements with employers in a LOU or MOU need to submit those agreements to the Warehouse Division for approval.
    https://teamster.org/news/2020/03/me...r-steve-vairma

  • #2
    Re: A Message to Warehouse Teamsters from Division Director Steve Vairma

    As the above story outlines the work the union is doing during this virus outbreak, it seems one company in particular is not adding hazard pay like just about all the other have done. Excessive work hours and a lack of truthful information caused this group of Teamsters to walk out on a wildcat strike.

    Memphis Teamsters Wildcat Strike at Kroger’s Crucial Southern Warehouse
    Today, a group of mostly African-American workers, members of Teamsters Local 667, went on a wildcat strike at a warehouse in Memphis, after a co-worker tested positive for COVID-19.
    “We really in a hazardous situation and we scared,” Maurice Wiggins, a fork-lift driver told The Commercial Appeal’s reporter Sarah Macaraeg.
    Despite being the largest grocery chain in the U.S., Kroger has yet to give its workers’ hazard pay, unlike other chains like Safeway, H-E-B, and Giant Eagle. Workers complain that the company has not taken adequate steps to protect themselves against COVID-19.
    The Memphis workers join a growing wave of wildcat strikes of workers being forced to work through COVID-19 pandemic in what many see as the beginning wave of strike action that the United States has not seen since the great General Strikes of the 1930s.
    “Half the workers have gone home. They scared for their safety. The ones that is here, they so tense they scared to touch the equipment,” said Wiggins, who had worked 97 hours on a mandatory seven-day-a-week shift.
    https://paydayreport.com/memphis-tea...ern-warehouse/

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    • #3
      Re: A Message to Warehouse Teamsters from Division Director Steve Vairma

      Kroger has finally agreed to "hazard pay".

      KROGER FINALLY AGREES TO $2 PER HOUR HAZARD PAY
      Previously, Kroger had only given a $300 bonus and only $150 for part-timers who average under 30 hours. Albertsons (including Safeway, Jewel Osco, and Vons) and many other companies have a $2 bump for all their front-line retail and distribution workers. These include PepsiCo and Frito Lay, UNFI and many others. Some major nonunion companies including Target and Whole Foods have done the same. Anheuser Busch and Stop & Shop Teamsters and other workers have a 10% pay bump.

      Increasingly, front-line workers are demanding hazard pay, although the primary issue remains protection of workers’ health and that of their families. This means adequate PPEs, safeguards, distancing, notification, and other health protections for essential workers.

      Kroger has 453,000 employees and operates under various labels, including Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Roundy’s, King Soopers and Fry’s. Grocery clerks along with warehouse Teamsters and drivers are going to work every day to keep us fed, and are among the most likely people to be hospitalized with COVID-19.
      Kroger Finally Agrees to $2 per Hour Hazard Pay - Teamsters for a Democratic Union

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      • #4
        Re: A Message to Warehouse Teamsters from Division Director Steve Vairma

        What they give, they take away too.

        Kroger plans to eliminate ‘Hero Pay’ for grocery workers, UFCW Local Unions respond
        Kroger-owned grocery stores across the West, including stores in Colorado, will eliminate “Hero Pay” for grocery workers starting May 17.
        Kroger-owned grocery store workers have been receiving an extra $2.00 an hour for serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling the pay, “Hero Pay.”
        When hearing that Hero Pay would be eliminated, seven UFCW Local Unions called on the public to support these workers in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.
        The unions are hoping that Kroger will maintain Hero Pay, improve store practices and provide testing to all employees.
        These local unions represent more than 55,000 grocery workers at Kroger stores.
        https://kdvr.com/news/local/kroger-p...nions-respond/

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        • #5
          Re: A Message to Warehouse Teamsters from Division Director Steve Vairma

          A Message to Warehouse Teamsters from Division Director Steve Vairma

          "As one of the largest divisions in the Teamsters Union, the Warehouse Division has been working with our local unions in the grocery and broadline industries during this unprecedented time. The division is working at all levels to ensure that those still working are doing so safely and fairly.

          We continue to call on employers to fully enforce CDC guidelines — whether on the federal, state or local level — in the workplace. The division is also not backing down in our effort to push for mechanisms to hold employers accountable for protecting workers.

          Last week Kroger announced that it will no longer provide hazard pay (‘Hero Bonus’) to employees starting May 16. The circumstances have not warranted any reason to discontinue workers’ “Hero Bonus” (hazard pay) at Kroger, and the division has put out a petition to tell Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO, that this is not the time to cut hazard pay for essential workers still facing extreme conditions on the job:https://teamsters.salsalabs.org/krogerheropayaction/index.html."
          Read more.....

          https://teamster.org/news/2020/05/me...r-steve-vairma

          Sent from my SM-J327T using Tapatalk
          Last edited by 222lifer; 05-13-2020, 04:12 PM.

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