A Message from UFCW 1518
President Ivan Limpright

2008 Negotiations:
This is all about
the members

Negotiations with Overwaitea and Safeway are heating up as this issue of Update is being prepared, and Ivan Limpright, President of UFCW 1518, has been very impressed with the level of interest and support that union members have shown in this year’s negotiations.

“The strong strike votes from the members at both Overwaitea and Safeway speak volumes, and that’s exactly the kind of message that needed to be delivered to Overwaitea and Safeway management,” said Limpright.

“Management needs to figure out that these negotiations are not about Ivan Limpright or the individual people on the Union Negotiating Committee,” he said. “This is all about the members.”

“Our objectives are to get good wage increases, get everyone on one wage & benefit tier, and put a stop to Overwaitea’s threat to our members’ job security with their PriceSmart conversion programs. With the members showing this kind of support, it gives the Union Negotiating Committees real strength at the bargaining table.”

“Our Union Negotiating Committees have been working hard since the beginning of the year,” he said, “and we made ourselves available to get down to business and try to negotiate a new contract that meets the members’ needs. The employers clearly didn’t take the members’ proposals all that seriously, but strong strike votes get their attention.”

“It really became apparent about a week or so before the strike vote that Overwaitea management did not like the idea that their employees were going to have the opportunity to have their voices heard at the ballot box, as management got up to all kinds of disrespectful and dishonest tactics to try and persuade members from exercising their right to vote,” he said.

“Our members are good, hard-working people who deserve to be treated with respect, but instead are being used and abused under a contract that doesn’t work anymore,” said Limpright. “The strike votes were a sign of just how dissatisfied the members are with the old contract. We’re going to do our best to address the very serious issues that are out there, and with the members continued support, we have the opportunity to make some positive changes this time around.”

2008 Negotiations: This is all about the members

2008 Negotiations:
This is all about
the members