ACME vs. Local 1776- Contract Negotiations
ACME sent us all a letter about contract negotiations. Our union has until July 10th to ratify ACME's last offer, if they don't then ACME will implement it anyway. Um, hm.. Being an English major I carefully picked through the letter and saw that they carefully chose to not tell us about what the offer actually is. Example:
"What does your final offer say about healthcare? Under our previous proposals and final offer, you would continue to have access to a superior health care plan that is significantly more generous than the average employer plan in this area."
Notice how they avoided saying whether that means we will have to pay more for it, as well as neglecting any other details. The entire letter is like this. They keep mentioning that under the new contract we "would continue to" have a better deal than other area grocery stores, which could mean that we'd get less under the new contract, but still more than other stores get. The letter (written by ACME's president, Judy Spires, and included with a sheet of Q&As) says that ACME has had to consider "increasing labor costs to operate our business and unprecedented competitive pressure", then she writes that "not taking these steps would have put your future in jeopardy, and that is not something we were willing to do". Well, by that she obviously means if the store fails there will be no work for us.
However, right down the street a Wegman's is being built. Perhaps, this will increase the "unprecedented competitive pressure" too. Of course it will. Wegman's is a superior grocery store, hands down. They have a much larger selection AND lower prices. Not too mention, that in the Downingtown Wegman's one can buy and drink their beer in the cafe section of the store. It is well known to many that ACME has replaced Superfresh(whose stores are now Pathmark) as the King of Overpriced Supermarkets. No wonder ACME is under pressure: their high prices are pushing people to go elsewhere, like Giant(5 minutes away), Pathmark(5 minutes away), and soon enough Wegman's(2 minutes away).
So really, this letter has taught me that ACME is hiding the facts of their offer from their employees, telling them that "we are not sharing the details of our last, best and final offer until the union has had a few days to review it. As soon as we are able to present more information to you, we will. In the meantime, you can request a copy of the offer from the union". We are the union, therefore, give us a copy to review.
I only work part time at ACME, I will be moving out of Paoli in the next 6 months, I will be finishing college and I will be looking for work outside of ACME, but all the same, I pity and sympathize with every union member who has to work under what is to come.
"What does your final offer say about healthcare? Under our previous proposals and final offer, you would continue to have access to a superior health care plan that is significantly more generous than the average employer plan in this area."
Notice how they avoided saying whether that means we will have to pay more for it, as well as neglecting any other details. The entire letter is like this. They keep mentioning that under the new contract we "would continue to" have a better deal than other area grocery stores, which could mean that we'd get less under the new contract, but still more than other stores get. The letter (written by ACME's president, Judy Spires, and included with a sheet of Q&As) says that ACME has had to consider "increasing labor costs to operate our business and unprecedented competitive pressure", then she writes that "not taking these steps would have put your future in jeopardy, and that is not something we were willing to do". Well, by that she obviously means if the store fails there will be no work for us.
However, right down the street a Wegman's is being built. Perhaps, this will increase the "unprecedented competitive pressure" too. Of course it will. Wegman's is a superior grocery store, hands down. They have a much larger selection AND lower prices. Not too mention, that in the Downingtown Wegman's one can buy and drink their beer in the cafe section of the store. It is well known to many that ACME has replaced Superfresh(whose stores are now Pathmark) as the King of Overpriced Supermarkets. No wonder ACME is under pressure: their high prices are pushing people to go elsewhere, like Giant(5 minutes away), Pathmark(5 minutes away), and soon enough Wegman's(2 minutes away).
So really, this letter has taught me that ACME is hiding the facts of their offer from their employees, telling them that "we are not sharing the details of our last, best and final offer until the union has had a few days to review it. As soon as we are able to present more information to you, we will. In the meantime, you can request a copy of the offer from the union". We are the union, therefore, give us a copy to review.
I only work part time at ACME, I will be moving out of Paoli in the next 6 months, I will be finishing college and I will be looking for work outside of ACME, but all the same, I pity and sympathize with every union member who has to work under what is to come.