Workers urge Fred Meyer boycott

Since the 2008 opening of the Grand Central Fred Meyer, 79-year-old shopper Patricia Weinkauf has developed relationships with the workers during her visits.

But over time, the employees she knows on a first-name basis have seemed more troubled.

“I could see it on the faces of the clerks who have been there a long time,” she said. “They just weren’t their happy selves.”

Fred Meyer employees’ dissatisfaction with wages took a new turn on Sunday as its union called on customers to boycott more than 50 Fred Meyer stores in Oregon and Southwest Washington, including seven in Clark County.

But the impact of a boycott isn’t clear, said representatives on both sides of the issue.

“It’s really hard to say,” Jeffery Temple, spokesman for Fred Meyer. “Our stores are so bustling at this point.”

Fred Meyer’s parent company, Kroger, didn’t see a drop in its stock prices after Sunday’s announcement; its stock finished the day in the New York Stock Exchange up 0.19 percent.

“The idea (of the boycott) is that it will put financial pressure on Fred Meyer to demonstrate that the community is with us,” said Kelley McAllister, spokeswoman for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555.

McAllister said people have been signing an online petition for months, but the number of petitioners isn’t publicized because negotiators use it in bargaining, she said.

She said she doesn’t have any way of knowing how many people are boycotting, but said UFCW 555 had been fielding calls all day Monday from people supporting the union workers.

Fifteen months of labor negotiations have not resulted in a new contract. The next round of negotiations is set for Thursday and Friday in Portland. It’s closed to the public.

The union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this month alleging that Fred Meyer officials are pulling workers into one-on-one conversations to discuss the union without a union representative present.

Temple said the claims are “simply untrue.” He said Fred Meyer’s focus is on reaching the common ground and landing on a contract during this week’s negotiations.

Fred Meyer is also seeking to hire replacement workers at $15 per hour.

Weinkauf said she’d noticed a trend of Fred Meyer adding more self-checkouts that cater to younger people who are in a hurry. She said she partly contributes the automation to her unhappiness with Fred Meyer, but said she also doesn’t see herself representing the majority of shoppers.

She said since Fred Meyer’s employees have shown more signs of being troubled, she’s been shopping more and more at WinCo. But since the union called a boycott, she is standing with them.

“Count me in,” she said.