Pittsburgh Grocery Workers Go IWW

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Stacey Clampitt (412) 758-9045
Evan W. Wolfson (412) 951-5204

East End Food Co-op Workers Committee
PO Box 90315 / Pittsburgh, PA 15224
WeRunItIU460@yahoo.com

East End Food Co-op Workers Organize to Improve Conditions and Restore Healthy Workforce at Local Organic Food Store.

PITTSBURGH, PA – Workers at the East End Food Co-op, Pittsburgh’s only member-owned natural and organic food market, have organized with the Industrial Workers of the World to improve working conditions, pay and benefits, and to address long-standing issues of low staff morale and high turnover. The Co-op employs approximately 50 workers who could bargain collectively with their employer.

Since launching their organizing drive on May 15th, Co-op workers have requested that the Board of Directors agree to recognize the workers’ demand for collective bargaining rights based upon a showing of majority support for the union. The workers want the Co-op to accept the union through the authorization card-check process, whereby workers who support unionization sign cards authorizing the union to represent them during collective bargaining. To date, the Co-op Board has not accepted the workers’ demand for recognition, but has stated it is willing to re-examine a 2003 Board decision, which states that workers must vote for the union during a representation election held by the National Labor Relations Board.

Workers want the Board to decide at or before the June 26th Board meeting if it will accept the card-check process and count the cards. The union asserts that because a majority of workers have signed cards and are ready to have them counted immediately, any other process toward recognition is unnecessary and pointless, if not obstructionist. “We’re eagerly awaiting a response from the Board so we can begin bargaining,” said Co-op customer service representative, Stacey Clampitt. “We want the Board to accept the authorization cards instead of putting us through a long and tedious election process.” Once an employer agrees to accept the card-check process, a neutral third party will verify the cards and report if they represent a majority of eligible workers. If they do, the employer then officially agrees to recognize the union for the purposes of collective bargaining.

Even without recognition, Co-op workers point out that since their efforts to unionize began on May 15th, management has been encouraged to formally respond to some of the workers’ issues and concerns. Employees received confirmation of a higher starting wage with some increases for current staff, promises of a renewed retirement plan, and plans for an early profit sharing check. “We welcome management’s inspired improvements to our pay and benefits,” said Scott Reigel, produce clerk. “But we need to sit down at the bargaining table as equal partners to negotiate and guarantee improvements in our wages and working conditions.”

The Industrial Workers of the World was founded in 1905 and advocates for the organization of workers within their industries, rather than by trade or occupation. The I.W.W. is a democratic, member-run union, open to all workers with or without collective bargaining rights. The East End Food Co-op Workers Committee is affiliated with the Pittsburgh General Membership Branch of the I.W.W.

Living Wage a Direct Result of Unionization Attempt:

by CM4CP editorial hoodlums 2/18/05

If you’re a Coop member who remembered workers’ attempt to unionize last year you might be under the impression that it failed. Yet just one year after La Montañita used classic anti-union tactics to pressure employees into giving up a living wage is being implemented. In the January issue of the Coop Connection La Montañita claims to have begun research into such a wage one and a half years ago, just seven months before the scheduled NLRB (union certification) election. So at the same time as co-op employes were preparing to make real demands La Montañita was already planning on making things better?
In fact, things were quite different. Hours and staff were being
consistently cut, turnover was high and there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the corporate behavior of the new General Manager C.E. Pugh. When his salary was “leaked” (it did not become public until Coop members pressured him at a standing room only board meeting in the middle of the unionization attempt) workers and members were amazed. He was making almost $100,000 a year while entry level clerks were at $6.50 an hour!
La Montanita’s claim that changes in the wage structure were already in the works before the unionization attempt are false. At the time, the Vice-President of the Board, Marshall Kovitz, told an employee in January 2004 that even a 25 cent raise for the lowest paid workers would “put the co-op out of business within four years." So either Mr. Kovitz was wrong or misled about the financial situation of the Coop. Presumably the new "living wage" which management is being so nice to give the workers won't put the Co-op into bankruptcy.

The new "living wage" isn't a gift from management. It is a response to the attempt to unionize last year. It is a bribe so that workers don't try to organize again. When the union busting antics of managemnt were exposed to the community the Coop lost many members and was shamefully embarrassed.

What the new "living wage" scale shows is that La Montañita could afford to pay workers more and wasn’t willing to meet halfway at all. If we want La Montañita to live up to it's proclaimed principles we’re going to have stop being passive bystanders and make it happen. Wages are just the beginning; workers organize unions for many reasons, and most of them have to do with respect and a desire to have a say at work.

*see the January 2005 Co-op Connection at www.lamontanita.com to
verify Pugh’s wage as being "6 times the living wage."