United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 announced on Sunday that its members have voted to authorize a potential strike. The union local represents grocery workers at Safeway, Albertsons, Fred Meyer and QFC stores in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
The union held a series of 92 strike authorization votes over the past two months in cities throughout its jurisdiction. The final meeting took place Saturday evening in Baker City, Ore., and the aggregated results showed a “nearly unanimous” vote to authorize the strike, according to a press release from the union.
The authorization vote does not automatically trigger a strike, but it does give the local’s bargaining team the discretion to call for a strike anywhere in the union’s territory as bargaining continues with the four grocery chains. Bargaining has been in progress for more than a year, and the next session is scheduled for Thursday.
The potential strike is being organized in response to what the union previously characterized as the grocery employers’ unwillingness to “consider the financial hardships consistently demonstrated by their employees.” The union’s Sunday press release also discussed a gender pay gap at Fred Meyer stores, citing the results of a recent third-party study commissioned by the union.
