Dive Brief:
- Sen. Bernie Sanders has called on United Natural Foods, Inc. as well as two grocery operators to “negotiate in good faith to sign a fair contract” with employees affiliated with United Food and Commercial Workers Local Union 663 after they voted to reject the grocers’ contract offers in May.
- Along with UNFI, the Vermont Democrat senator sent letters to Minneapolis-area grocery operators The Haug’s Companies, which runs two supermarkets under UNFI’s Cub Foods franchise, and Knowlan’s Festival Foods.
- UNFI said in an emailed statement it takes Sanders’ comments “very seriously” and is in touch with his staff about the ongoing negotiations.
Dive Insight:
UFCW Local 663 workers at these Minneapolis grocery banners have been working without a contract since March, Sanders wrote in separate letters to the three grocery operators, noting in his letter to UNFI President and CEO of Retail Andre Persaud that this is “absolutely unacceptable.”
Unionized workers at UNFI/Cubs Foods, Haug’s Cub Foods and Knowlan’s Festival voted in May to reject contract offers from the grocery companies. That month, the union representing the workers filed unfair labor practice charges that claimed UNFI/Cub Foods failed to bargain in good faith and alleged additional violations of the National Labor Relations Board by Haug’s and Knowlan’s Festival.
According to UFCW Local 663, the contract rejected by workers would have imposed additional healthcare costs on workers, failed to provide livable raises and sought concessions from the unions.
UFCW Local 663 represents more than 2,300 workers across 33 UNFI Cub Foods locations, according to the senator’s letter to Persaud.
“I have personally heard from these workers, who have expressed serious concerns about your company’s demands for healthcare concessions and your insistence that workers drop current unfair labor practice charges and grievances – including what I understand to be approximately $2 million in sick time class action grievances alone,” Sanders said in the letter to Persaud.
He continued: “These unlawful tactics, including refusing to negotiate, threatening workers, and surveilling employees over their union activity, are unacceptable and have prompted the filing of multiple unfair labor practice charges.”
UNFI said in its emailed statement that it has been negotiating in good faith with UFCW Local 663.
“As part of the negotiations, we’ve offered strong wage increases, continued market leading union health care and significant increases in our contributions to the union’s pension plan to help address underfunding and protect the benefits of all participants. It is our strong hope that the union will choose to meet with us to continue negotiations toward a new contract,” UNFI said in a statement.
The company added that almost 80% of Cub Foods’ workforce is unionized.
UFCW Local 663 said last month that the companies’ conduct “has set the union on a path to potential strikes,” which could involve as many as 2,800 workers at 38 stores throughout the Minneapolis area.
The threat of a strike is the latest challenge facing UNFI. Early this month, the grocery supplier suffered a cyberattack and is currently relying on manual procedures to receive and fulfill orders from customers after having to entirely shut down its online platform on June 6.
Last week, UNFI disclosed that it is mutually ending its relationship with supermarket cooperative Key Food, which includes a $53 million contract termination fee for UNFI.
