Bargaining Update September 2023

NSLU Files Charges for Bad-Faith Bargaining

On September 11th, New Seasons Labor Union filed labor board charges against New Seasons management for bargaining in bad faith, an unfair labor practice. The charges follow the contentious August 24th bargaining session in which NSM hard-lined their egregious new attendance proposal. This charge prevents NSM from declaring an impasse in negotiations and unilaterally implementing their proposed terms. The charge is also grounds for another unfair labor practices strike, in which strikers cannot be replaced by the company. Talk to an NSLU organizer at your store to sign a strike pledge card and show New Seasons that we will not take one step back.

NSLU Economic Proposals: What’s on the table?

On August 24th, New Seasons Labor Union’s bargaining team also released an economic package deal to the company. The economic package will be negotiated after our non-economic articles are. Here are the main points:

• Living Wage: $21.85/hr minimum starting wage, adjust current wages and pay scales accordingly.
• Cost of Living Adjustment: Adjust wages to inflation up to 5% annually.
• Profit Sharing: Bring back 20% profit sharing.
• Premium Pay: $5/hr for overnight, weekends, and Wednesdays.
• Increased Retirement Contribution: Keep the 401(k) scheme for now but make a larger contribution so that members can retire with a reasonable savings rate.

These demands are in addition to our non-economic proposals already under negotiation, including but not limited to:

• A Fair Attendance Policy: Designed and negotiated by members to excuse legitimately uncontrollable events and keep reliable workers employed. 
• Part-Time Equality: Allow our DMs to promote into part-time lead or assistant manager jobs when it makes sense for the department.
• Just Cause: Only discipline or fire members for causes that a neutral arbitrator would find to be just.
• Progressive Discipline: Work with members to improve and correct behavior before firing.
• Contract Enforcement: Let stewards reasonably assist their co-workers during the working day.

Reach out to an organizer at your store if you would like to read our full binder of proposals!

Bargaining Update

Our first in-person bargaining sessions in late September progressed a bit faster than our online sessions. Your coworkers on the bargaining team reached tentative agreement with New Seasons on these articles:

• Reasonable Seating: Provides seating for cashiers who want it. When the contract goes into effect, NSM will provide 8 seats per store to the front end.
• Union Security: Standard contract provision that requires employees to join you as union members within 31 days of hire in order to work at a union store.
• Force Majeure: Standard article, which protects the company and the union in the event that they cannot fulfill a contract obligation due to overwhelming external forces.
• Labor-Management Committee: Creates an advisory committee of workers and management to discuss any problems during the contract term.

The next all-day bargaining sessions will take place on October 24th and 25th and November 9th in person (location TBD). If you would like to observe either of these bargaining sessions, sign up at the link below. Reach out to your store reps if you have any questions or need any accommodations.