Lunds & Byerlys workers to get $3 to $4 hourly wage boost under new contract

Workers at Lunds & Byerlys stores in the Minneapolis area will see average raises of $3 to $4 an hour by next spring, under a two-year contract that was ratified over the holiday weekend.

The agreement, which union United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 663 hailed as “historic,” covers about 2,500 grocery employees at 22 Lunds & Byerlys stores in Minneapolis and the western suburbs.

Part-time courtesy and custodial workers will also receive wage boosts, with those with more than five years with the company earning another $3 per hour. These positions traditionally had no wage scale, UFCW said in a statement, and the new contract brings these employees “closer to the regular part-time scale.”

“We’re excited to expand the courtesy and custodial scale and bring it closer to the regular part-time scale,” Charlie Mullen, assistant produce manager at the Nokomis Lunds & Byerlys, said in a statement. “When I talked with courtesy and custodial members at my store, they were relieved to hear that they’ll have more opportunity to build better lives with this increase.”

Workers also successfully lobbied for the creation of a joint labor management committee to set parameters and put in place the first phase of pay increases by this fall, UFCW said.

“It was great to see the smiles on my coworkers’ faces when they read the agreement today,” Rosemary Luoma, who works at the St. Louis Park Lunds & Byerlys store, said in a statement. “This contract is truly historic. In the 35 years I’ve been in the retail grocery industry, I’ve never seen such a rich contract. Cub paved the way for us. They set the standard for wages. Lunds & Byerlys has now set the new standard for the grocery industry.”

In April, Minnesota-based Cub Foods and parent United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) negotiated a new contract that will raise wages by $2.50 to $3.50 an hour by next spring. The agreement, also negotiated by UFCW Local 663, called for the creation of a safety committee.

Workers at Lunds & Byerlys had voted to go on strike during the busy July Fourth weekend but reached a tentative agreement with the grocer just days before. The regional grocer’s employees had been working without a contract since early March.

The new contract also includes upgrades to the company’s healthcare benefits, a move the grocer called “much needed” in a statement after the tentative agreement was reached.

“Our resolve from the onset of these negotiations has been to champion industry-leading wages and a better healthcare plan for our team members, and we’re pleased the tentative agreement provides these benefits to our team members,” the grocer said late last month.