Strike looms at 33 Cub Foods stores in Minnesota

Tomorrow, members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663 plan to launch a two-day strike before the Easter holiday at 33 Cub Foods stores in Minnesota.

About 95% of UFCW Local 663 members voted in favor of an April 7-8 work stoppage—dubbed an “Unfair Labor Practices Strike”—in a Tuesday night tally, the union said on social media, including Facebook and Twitter. Roughly 3,000 workers are expected to participate in the first-time strike at the corporate-owned Cub locations, published reports said. The supermarket chain is part of distributor United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI).

The UFCW Local 663 members, whose contract lapsed March 4, are calling for higher wages and improved benefits and working conditions. In particular, the workers seek compensation for their extra efforts amid high demand during the pandemic, which they said required store associates—but not customers—to wear face masks, putting them and their families at risk of catching COVID-19.

In terms of wage increases, the union reportedly has proposed another $4 per hour for full-time workers over two years, split as $2 hourly gains each year.

The workers, including grocery and pharmacy employees, said they plan to hold the strike from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and picket during the daytime hours at the Cub stores, which are situated mainly in Minneapolis and the western suburbs of the Twin Cities.

Members of UFCW Local 663, including President Rena Wong (center), held a news conference about the planned strike outside a Cub Foods store in Maple Grove, Minnesota. / Photo: UFCW Local 663

“It’s been disappointing,” UFCW Local 663 President Rena Wong said at a press conference outside a Cub store in Maple Grove on Wednesday. “After what our members have worked through, you would think that UNFI/Cub Foods would come to the table with proposals that a respectful and show gratitude for the work that they have done. But they haven’t. They have come with proposals that have takeaways. They have come with proposals that have regressive wage structures for our part-time workers, trying to move them from raises every six months—as it currently is—to raises based on hourly progression, meaning our 15-hour-a-week part-timers, which is quite common, would have to work almost 140 weeks before they see a raise.”

Stillwater, Minnesota-based Cub Foods said it was disappointed that UFCW Local 663 opted to authorize a strike after informing the company it couldn’t return to the bargaining table until April 11. According to Cub, the 2018 five-year contract with Local 663 included hourly wage hikes each year, and the grocer’s current offer is triple the wage increase of that agreement.

“Cub cares greatly about its team members and has negotiated diligently and in good faith with UFCW local union #663 to finalize a new collective bargaining agreement,” Cub Foods said in a statement. “As part of its current offer, Cub has proposed historic wage increases and agreed to ongoing union health and pension plans on terms specifically requested by the union. We’re deeply disappointed that the union elected to spend yesterday [Tuesday, April 4] taking a strike authorization vote instead of using that time to meet with us to reach agreement on terms for a new contract.”

Cub described its proposal to Local 663 as a “historic offer.” That includes a $2.75 hourly wage hike over two years ($1.50 in the first year and $1.25 in the second) to full-time employees at the top of that scale or over-scale, plus what the company called “a completely new wage grid” for part-time workers starting at $14 per hour, a 40% increase from the previous contract. Under the retailer’s offer, all employees will receive an hourly increase of at least 75 cents.

About 3,000 UFCW Local 663 workers at Cub Food stores are expected to picket this Friday and Saturday. / Photo: UFCW Local 663

For part-time staff, the proposed wage progression includes raises at 1,040 and 2,080 hours worked and then raises every 2,080 hours up to the top of scale at the equivalent of five years worked, the same as full-time workers and as an agreement reached last year with Local 22 bakery workers, Cub reported. The company added that it offered to guarantee retro pay if UFCW Local 663 would agree to a contract extension “that provided for labor peace” but said that offer was rejected.

Cub said Local 663 represents its Minneapolis and west metropolitan meat cutters and retail associates and that, in the proposed contract’s second year, a full-time meat cutter with over five years of experience would make at least $50,294, an ASD or department head would make at least $63,606 and a journeyman meat cutter would make at least $63,835. The proposal also includes continued union health and pension benefits.

“It is our strong hope that the union will choose to continue negotiations rather than pursue a strike,” Cub Foods stated. “In the event there is a strike, we are prepared to implement contingency plans to ensure the continued availability of the products and services our guests have come to count on from Cub.”

Overall, Cub Foods has a retail network of 80 supermarkets and pharmacies, primarily in the Twin Cities market area but with one Illinois store. UFCW Local 663 posted on its Facebook page a list of the Cub stores with expired union contracts plus locations of unionized Cub stores that it said had “good contracts.”

“We survived the pandemic as a team and as a union,” Local 663 spokesperson Jill Craig said at the new conference. “Now we want to be respected, protected and compensated for what we did.”