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UNFI northwest drivers, warehouse workers vote to strike; no date set |
09.14.2012
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Some 185 drivers and warehouse workers employed at the United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) distribution center in Auburn, voted to strike in early September, rejecting the company's Last, Best, and Final contract proposal. However no date has been set, and the union is hopeful that negotiations will resume. UNFI has not commented.
The central issues have been a stiff production standard and UNFI's refusal to bargain about a large compensation gap between the company and its local competitors.
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"In the highly-competitive grocery warehouse industry, UNFI is insisting on providing substandard wages and benefits to its employees so that it can continue to maintain an unfair advantage over its competition," said Tracey A. Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117.
UNFI's revenues have increased 83 percent in the last five years, and the company has maintained an average profit margin of over 18 percent during that time.Yet the company compensates its employees at a rate of 25 percent less than the compensation provided by other major unionized grocery distributors in the area.
"UNFI is raking in record profits while cheating middle-class workers and their families out of the means to pay their bills and put food on the table," Thompson said.
UNFI supplies organic and specialty foods to major supermarkets throughout the Puget Sound area, including Whole Foods, PCC, and the Metropolitan Market.
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