Southern California UFCW Contract Expiring 3/6/22

[CalItalian]

Starting informational picket lines
https://ufcw135.com/grocery-rally-press-release/

https://ufcw135.com/grocery-negotiation-update/

[CalItalian]

"Grocery workers rally for higher pay, more staffing, better COVID-19 safeguards. The contract for 60,000 under UFCW is set to expire Sunday, March 6."

Looking for a $5 per hour raise over a 3 year contract. Currently average wage is $19 per hour.

https://www.pe.com/2022/02/28/grocery-w ... enterprise

[storewanderer]

Recent contracts I've seen taken in Denver and in Pacific Northwest look pretty terrible (for the unionized employees)... we will see where this one goes.

Given the absurd inflation that is taking place in real time, the union really needs to push hard for pay increases using VERY current inflation data to project what is going to happen over the next few years.... using data from even 12/31/21 isn't going to cut it... they need real time data to negotiate.

[CalItalian]

"UFCW Locals 8GS, 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1424 and 1448 have filed legal charges against Stater Bros. with the federal government’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after hearing from many of you that store managers are circulating surveys with questions about bargaining and trying to bypass your right to union representation."

https://ufcw135.com/staterbros-alert/

[storewanderer]

"UFCW Locals 8GS, 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1424 and 1448 have filed legal charges against Stater Bros. with the federal government’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after hearing from many of you that store managers are circulating surveys with questions about bargaining and trying to bypass your right to union representation."

https://ufcw135.com/staterbros-alert/

I wonder if Stater is trying to gauge if their employees would be interested in a no negotiate/me too agreement like they had in the last strike. The union may need a refresher and remember that arrangement was really good for the union (they placed employees from Ralphs/Vons/Albertsons in Stater and they could actually work while they were on strike at their home chain) and really good for Stater. It certainly screwed over Ralphs/Vons/Albertsons as I think it helped prolong the strike against those three, then after the strike sent many customers to Stater for good. That tactic may be a wise business move (if not illegal) if it looks like there is going to be a strike. However I highly doubt there will be a strike (who can afford to strike right now with how high everything is priced?). So Stater is going to need to go the negotiation route.

[ClownLoach]

"UFCW Locals 8GS, 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1424 and 1448 have filed legal charges against Stater Bros. with the federal government’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after hearing from many of you that store managers are circulating surveys with questions about bargaining and trying to bypass your right to union representation."

https://ufcw135.com/staterbros-alert/

I wonder if Stater is trying to gauge if their employees would be interested in a no negotiate/me too agreement like they had in the last strike. The union may need a refresher and remember that arrangement was really good for the union (they placed employees from Ralphs/Vons/Albertsons in Stater and they could actually work while they were on strike at their home chain) and really good for Stater. It certainly screwed over Ralphs/Vons/Albertsons as I think it helped prolong the strike against those three, then after the strike sent many customers to Stater for good. That tactic may be a wise business move (if not illegal) if it looks like there is going to be a strike. However I highly doubt there will be a strike (who can afford to strike right now with how high everything is priced?). So Stater is going to need to go the negotiation route.

I wonder if Stater Bros wants out of their prior agreement about no self checkouts.

Self checkout is turning into something customers want especially for small purchases and/or what I'll call "embarrassing purchases". And it enables retailers to shift labor from checkout stands to pulling those darned online orders without cutting payroll.

Customers are increasingly looking to online orders. It is clear out in the IE that Target and Walmart are doing box office bonanza online pickup business - much more than their other SoCal markets like OC, LA and SD. The newly remodeled Target in Redlands had a 2nd entrance added (as if it was being remodeled into a old style SuperTarget or Greatland) to accommodate a pickup warehouse and about 30 parking spaces for order pick up. It appears that the fact that Stater Bros is the dominant Inland Empire traditional grocer and the fact they only offer high priced Instacart for online may be costing them market share in their stronghold markets.

Stater doesn't have to lose much business to Target or Walmart over online ordering... Any negative comps will seriously injure the financials of a store and at times of increasing rents, utilities and labor cost a closure could become necessary if a store loses just a few percentage points of their market share.

Self Scan Checkout is not even current technology anymore. It is already becoming obsolete with RFID now economical at scale and being rolled out as self checkout at retailers like Uniquo right now (you literally just throw all your clothes into a bag and the register totals your transaction completely in one second flat). We know about Amazon and their expensive gadget systems. But the real winner is almost free to implement and a true game changer.
App based self checkout is turning the once moribund Sam's Club business into the highest performing segment of Walmart - driving new membership sign-ups and traffic increases to the point they're remodeling and rebranding stores and just ran their first ever Super Bowl commercial in advance of their first new stores in almost a decade under development. App based scanning is a game changer that customers will become hooked on quickly and will change their shopping habits as waiting in line becomes completely obsolete.

Stater Bros has agreed with the union not to give the customer what they want - technology enabled convenience. They have to get this changed. And the union has to recognize that this new technology is here to stay and if they are smart they can embrace it to protect the jobs of their members by agreeing to shifting existing labor to these services.

Twenty years ago this deal gave Stater Bros an advantage. Now they are at a tremendous disadvantage - and their other union competitors all have the ability today under the current contract to have self check out, order picking, and even self scan tech such as the hand-helds Ralphs was using at selected stores.

I think they have no choice but to negotiate massive changes or they are set up for their demise. Much sooner than anyone might think.

[storewanderer]

I wonder if Stater Bros wants out of their prior agreement about no self checkouts.

Stater Bros has agreed with the union not to give the customer what they want - technology enabled convenience. They have to get this changed. And the union has to recognize that this new technology is here to stay and if they are smart they can embrace it to protect the jobs of their members by agreeing to shifting existing labor to these services.

Twenty years ago this deal gave Stater Bros an advantage. Now they are at a tremendous disadvantage - and their other union competitors all have the ability today under the current contract to have self check out, order picking, and even self scan tech such as the hand-helds Ralphs was using at selected stores.

I think they have no choice but to negotiate massive changes or they are set up for their demise. Much sooner than anyone might think.

I agree with you that self checkouts are a consumer expectation at this point.

Stater still can't add self checkouts due to their union agreement?

I guess there are still quite a few grocery-like stores in SoCal without self checkouts.
Do the ethnic stores have them (Northgate, El Super, 99 Ranch, Seafood City, etc.)? I've never seen a self checkout in any of those chains.
Also I have never seen a self checkout in a Dollar Tree or 99 Cents Only Store (there are supposedly some Dollar Trees with self checkout in VA).
Also do any Food 4 Less units have self checkout (none of the FoodCos do)? What about Smart & Final?
What about the upper end stores? Gelson's? Bristol Farms?

I feel like SoCal is a bit behind on self checkouts at grocers. Ralphs still had few stores with them back around 2010 at a point when every Fry's, about 50% of the Smiths, and every Fred Meyer had self checkout. Ralphs since seems to have caught up and has them in most stores. It also seemed like Vons was very slow to implement self checkout (got better in later lifestyle remodels), Albertsons had it in fewer stores in SoCal than they had it in NorCal/OR/WA then Albertsons made that weird decision around 2015 to remove self checkouts from all but a couple dozen SoCal Stores but rather quickly reversed that decision.

I am guessing basically every Target, CVS, and Wal Mart in SoCal have self checkout at this point though.

[ClownLoach]

I wonder if Stater Bros wants out of their prior agreement about no self checkouts.

Stater Bros has agreed with the union not to give the customer what they want - technology enabled convenience. They have to get this changed. And the union has to recognize that this new technology is here to stay and if they are smart they can embrace it to protect the jobs of their members by agreeing to shifting existing labor to these services.

Twenty years ago this deal gave Stater Bros an advantage. Now they are at a tremendous disadvantage - and their other union competitors all have the ability today under the current contract to have self check out, order picking, and even self scan tech such as the hand-helds Ralphs was using at selected stores.

I think they have no choice but to negotiate massive changes or they are set up for their demise. Much sooner than anyone might think.

I agree with you that self checkouts are a consumer expectation at this point.

Stater still can't add self checkouts due to their union agreement?

I guess there are still quite a few grocery-like stores in SoCal without self checkouts.
Do the ethnic stores have them (Northgate, El Super, 99 Ranch, Seafood City, etc.)? I've never seen a self checkout in any of those chains.
Also I have never seen a self checkout in a Dollar Tree or 99 Cents Only Store (there are supposedly some Dollar Trees with self checkout in VA).
Also do any Food 4 Less units have self checkout (none of the FoodCos do)? What about Smart & Final?
What about the upper end stores? Gelson's? Bristol Farms?

I feel like SoCal is a bit behind on self checkouts at grocers. Ralphs still had few stores with them back around 2010 at a point when every Fry's, about 50% of the Smiths, and every Fred Meyer had self checkout. Ralphs since seems to have caught up and has them in most stores. It also seemed like Vons was very slow to implement self checkout (got better in later lifestyle remodels), Albertsons had it in fewer stores in SoCal than they had it in NorCal/OR/WA then Albertsons made that weird decision around 2015 to remove self checkouts from all but a couple dozen SoCal Stores but rather quickly reversed that decision.

I am guessing basically every Target, CVS, and Wal Mart in SoCal have self checkout at this point though.

Stater definitely agreed to no self checkouts as part of the deal where they preemptively agreed to whatever deal the big three took - the no self checkout concession as I understand it was in exchange for the no strike concession.

I was in a beautiful newer Vallarta in Anaheim yesterday (seriously this looked like the newer Ralphs Fresh Fare design from their La Jolla flagship, but even more localized and expensive). It has self checkout. I think the Northgate across town has them as well.

Whole Foods has added at least six self checkouts to every local store this last year.

I noticed Sprouts has added those terrible NCR units to every store I have visited recently; they still don't even work with their digital coupons.

Five Below new stores here are entirely self checkout. One can be turned into a service desk if someone flagged down an employee for customer service.

CVS might finally have them in allmost all their stores here - but for some reason I think they still have some without lurking here and there.

Costco is aggressively rolling them out, now even introducing payment on the Costco app where you scan the app QR code linked to your Costco Visa Card and it automatically charges you at the end of the transaction. And they are aggressively removing all cash registers from their food courts going to kiosk only ordering - they've already removed from the interior ones that I've seen but they are testing outside kiosks at the #1 store in San Diego too. I am not sure why Costco wants this so much as they seem to take out 3 checkstands to install 6 self checkout units then staff them with 3 cashiers...

For a while they had disappeared from Albertsons and Vons but now I can only think of one store locally that didn't get them added (or put back).

Where self checkout doesn't work is where a store is small format and high volume with consistently uniform, steady traffic - best example is Trader Joe's where their cashiers are all lightning fast and lines would go out the back door if they were to do self checkouts. Also it's problematic in high shrink areas but new "tricks" are helping with this such as the well documented "register freezes" that occur systemically at Walmart and now Target when certain items are detected (and/or the surprising cashier or LP can remotely "freeze" the transaction if a TV is at the register for example then come to "help" the possible shoplifter). The labor savings for Walmart and others is worth it to shift ten cashiers off the front end while keeping one supervising cashier and a LP guy watching cameras in the back - but a conventional grocer or a drugstore doesn't do enough volume to support this model.

Sam's Club has self checkout in every store and it has taken more than half of the staffed registers out.

Stater Bros seems to be the same as Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons in traffic patterns. Self checkout works fine for the other three and should work there too. They're rapidly becoming the only game in town without self checkout options.

[CalItalian]

Chains are offering .60 cents per hour raise. Kroger seems most adamant to not raise wages.

Strike authorization vote scheduled for March 21-23.

Labor Contract For Supermarket Workers Expires With No Deal

http://www.dailynews.com/2022/03/07/lab ... -deal/amp/

https://ufcw135.com/grocery-update/

[mbz321]

Costco is aggressively rolling them out, now even introducing payment on the Costco app where you scan the app QR code linked to your Costco Visa Card and it automatically charges you at the end of the transaction. And they are aggressively removing all cash registers from their food courts going to kiosk only ordering - they've already removed from the interior ones that I've seen but they are testing outside kiosks at the #1 store in San Diego too. I am not sure why Costco wants this so much as they seem to take out 3 checkstands to install 6 self checkout units then staff them with 3 cashiers...

As a Costco employee, the 'Self' checkouts are beyond horrible. I would say 80% of transactions that go through on a daily basis require help from an attendant, either because a null barcode on a multipack gets scanned, the member needs their case of water scanned for them (because giving members scan guns is too much trouble apparently) or bakery item manually keyed in, or about 10 other reasons. In some locations, they are so awful they actually have a staff member at each machine, making them very fancy, expensive express lanes (so much for using them as a way to save labor costs) . We usually have just one, maybe two people overseeing all 6 machines, and very often on busy days everyone needs help all at once...so frustrating. We have no set item limit so if people insist, we have to let them come through with huge carts, which of course takes the members forever as they aren't meat for that many items. Also, they don't take anything except Visa/Debit or Gift cards (or EBT, but they can't include non-food items in the transaction or it will deny the payment and won't let you split it). This time of year, everyone tries to come through and use their Citi credit card reward checks, and NOPE. Nor do they let us put up any signage stating that.

When we got them installed over the summer of 2020, two regular checkouts were eliminated. Costco could have saved millions of dollars if they just kept those two lanes and made them dedicated express lanes. It makes me wonder if anyone at all from corporate actually spent a few hours manning these or gathering any kind of feedback before rolling them out.

And pretty much everyone has figured out by now that you can use anyone's membership (or a photo of the barcode from an active membership) at the self checkout as there is no oversight. Pretty stupid for a company that makes most of its money from membership fees, no?

I hardly see anyone using the 'Costco Pay' function with their Costco app too (it only works with the Costco credit card). Of course, it is a pretty new feature, so maybe that will change.