Workers say union no longer effective

I will shop at Woodman's regardless of it's union status. Yes, the workers are generally unfriendly and unhelpful, but so am I. As long as the prices and selection remain, I will be pushing that huge red cart around Woodman's for two hours every couple of weeks.

Wow, livinthedream,
There are so many things wrong with what you said in your last post. To anybody else who reads these, I say this. It is people like livinthedream here that create the bad press about employers such as Woodmans. They create it themselves by not listening or reading their letters. I don't know how long that she has been with her husband, but as a pair, they apparently have no clue about their insurance or retirement. They go for thirty-six years without listening and blame Woodmans (or Dan Wright) when things happen exactly as they were told that they would.

I will explain what all was wrong with her post, but I would guess that even if she reads this, she will either refuse to believe it or not understand it. It always has to be somebody else’s fault.

First of all, Woodmans only pays insurance premiums for current employees… not retired ones. If your husband is retired from Woodmans, then you have little business relating your current situation to our insurance plan. Insurance is now your responsibility, but Woodmans does leave you an option. They will sell you a policy to tide you over until Medicare kicks if you choose not to find your own policy. The policy that they sell costs $680 per month for family coverage. Pay attention, that $680 is an insurance premium that you have chosen to pay. It is not a “contribution” as you have called it. If you do not like paying it, then find another insurance plan. We all know from day one that Woodmans stops paying for our insurance when we retire.

Second of all, livinthedream, when Dan Wright referred to contributions and matches, it was related to the ESOT. For those of you reading this that don't know, that is our version of a 401k. I guarantee that your husband never contributed to his ESOT. The contributions only come from the employer. Since your husband retired, he has either withdrawn his ESOT or is in the process of doing so. Again, your comments don’t apply because you are no longer part of the program.

You see, I am currently in my thirties. I am quite a ways from retirement. However, I read the letters that we are sent in the mail. I ask questions about the things that I don’t understand. Livinthedream is confusing her insurance responsibilities with the companies retirement program. They are not linked in any way. If her husband retired without knowing that, that is his fault. Woodmans doesn’t hide it. Dan Wright was quite “straight” on his facts.

Dan Wright said in the article “Our insurance is 100 percent paid with no deductibles, and we can retire without making any contributions or matches,”... my husband (who worked for Woodman's 36 years before he retired last year) and I pay $680.00 a month contribution for our family's insurance coverage. And we have ever since he retired! I guess Dan Wright doesn't have his facts straight.

There is a number of years before you are fully vested in the program. I think that the number is seven years. It’s been a while and I could be off. When you were asking questions about part time employees, the answers were kind of confusing. Employees have to work (I think) one thousand hours to qualify for this year’s contribution. The contribution this year was fifteen percent of our gross. For a full normal time worker, that was in the vicinity of $4500 - $5100. USAmerican said that his went up $90,000. The bulk of that was appreciation of the program. The neat part is that if USAmerican went part time and worked less then one thousand hours, his ESOT would still appreciate. His ESOT still would have gone up around $85,000.

is there a minimum number of service years before you can quit and cash out your ESOT?

Yes, part-time can earn ESOT if they make the minimum requirements (it's the same amount of hours that are needed for insurance). I know several every-other-weekend employees that have ESOT and even more night and weekend employees with the benefits. Basically, if you are willing to work for it, it's there.

I'm intrigued. Do part-time employees also earn money for their ESOT? Is it based on number of hours worked?

I had 90k added to my account this year. I know employees that had 225k added to their account. These contributions had nothing to do with the union.

it sounds to me like the Union has outlived it's usefullness.

diamondback,
A little off topic, but I have to comment. The new hires at GM (non-core, by the way) will be getting less wages in order for GM to survive. The alternative would be worse. While GM has many other problems, it is the union that squeezed the Big 2.8 in the past. Meanhile, the foreign companies could come in, build better vehicles, and still provide a good wage.

momof,
You ask a good question about the non union stores. You are right. They are on the same insurance, they are in the same ESOT program, and they are on equivalent pay scales.
I think that people fail to understand that this current situation is only about the grocery department (not meat) in four of the twelve Woodmans stores.

Diamondback,
Over half of that $120,000 was from the growth in my ESOT. (I wont see that until I quit, but it is mine.) The ESOT is a stock ownership program compared most easily to a 401k. The contributions are paid exclusively by Woodmans. (no employee matching) Because of the success of the program, we willing gave up our employee pension three years ago to allow a bigger percentage to be put into our ESOT. Part of that $120,000 is also from divendends paid out to me quarterly from the ESOT program.
That number was not a typo at all. If you ever read in articles or posts like this about millionaires that work at Woodmans, this is how it happens.
I know much more about GM pay and benefits then you may know. (retired family members) I used to be envious of the hourly pay, but that has obviuosly changed. The retirment has never compared to Woodmans ESOT. I know that the numbers sound way off, but they are not. We do well at Woodmans and programs like the ESOT program have never had anything to do with the union.

Pretty sure the 120k/year was not a typo by vocal1. Compensation from an employer covers more than just what shows on your W-2. I'd bet that GM employees "make" 150-175k/yr once all the insurance policies, 401K contributions, and other NON-HOURLY monetary compensations are factored in to their "benefit package." And, I'm not a gambler, but I'd bet anyway!
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Has anyone done a cross comparision of the union vs. non-union Woodman's stores? I'm guessing that compensation between the two types are pretty euqal.
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And, I can't help but wonder: why does anyone who does not work at Woodman's care to get involed in the debates about this? I shop there, sure. But, I shop at a lot of stores. I don't care to be privy to backroom information between an employer and its employees period. It's called dirty laundry, and I don't know about you all, but I hate laundry.

vocal1-I'm not sure what to think of your comments?? you are on here saying nothing will change for you/others without your union ??First I work at GM,everyone knows/think they know what we make in pay/bennies..My question to you is that you said you made $120,000.00 last year in pay/bennies ?Was that a type-o?? If not you are saying that you make $57.00/hour working at Woodmans as a peon.Lets see if you will make that kinda money with out your union !New hires at GM (no thanks to our union)will be making $29,000.00 a year vs.$60,000.00 and you think that you will see no change.Once the union is gone it's my opinion that Phil Woodman wii never allow it back.

As long as people just come in and do their jobs. Life at work goes on as normal. The customers don't want to or need to hear about this stuff while they are trying to get their shopping done, so there is no reason to bring it into the workplace. With that in mind, nobody will have any idea what your opinions are about the union. Shutupandfish seems to believe that all Woodmans workers go around with nametags on announcing their union preference. The sad part is that the treatment that people would have to be concerned about has nothing to do with management. The UFCW has been with Woodmans for longer than even Phil knows. Management cares far less then you think whether or not they go. The friction that exists is most often between co-workers. The program of mistruths and scare tactics initiated by the union has made the workplace uncomfortable at times.
The process in the news right now affects only four Woodmans stores (two Madison, Janesville, and Beloit). There are currently twelve stores plus a separate corporate office. Some of the readers of these posts are under the misguided notion that a large percentage of Woodmans employees will miss the union. That is simply not true. Most of us realize that it has been a very long time since the UFCW has done anything in our interest.

I'm worried about the hundreds of people that want to continue with union representation. Will they be treated fairly? I doubt it.

Consider this: As simply as the UFCW was petitioned out (supporters would argue that they're done), they can also be voted back in. This is all about money, and the union would take the employees $$ again if asked. I'm sure Phil Woodman understands this. So, no worries about loss of wage or benefits from this employee.

I just hope all you union haters that vote the union out won't come crying back when you dont have the benefits and your wages get cut. Who are you going to have help you? The union will be gone and you will be wondering why you made such a bad choice getting rid of it. There are no garantees and at least with a union you have some support.

I check the comments every couple of days. As stated before I am a proud building trades union member and always will be. I am well aware that when this is all said and done the decert. will happen. Just as the people that want to decert. say its unfair to stay in the union how about the people that want the union don't seem to fair to me that the are losing that right. The people speaking up for the union are more than likely going to be treated different after this, not only by the higher ups but also the anti-union non-higher ups. Maybe even lose there jobs or forced to quit do to unfavorable working conditions. I hope nothing changes and you get good raises and bennies after the decert. but if it does change I hope someone reports that to the public also. Good Luck

Not one grocery store in the area can compete with Woodman's on selection and price. As long as that continues they will get my business. Wal-mart can't even compete with Woodman's and they are non-union. So, the union has no effect on the price of a product. The employees should be given a chance to vote it is their store after all.

James,
You are completely right in that this should have stayed away from daily operations. I am sorry that it makes it difficult for you to shop there. Unfortunately, if that is why you don’t shop there, the UFCW has won in your case. They have created a quite a scare among the employees. It is a scare bad enough that too many of them can’t keep it away from the customers that don’t want to hear it. Each and every customer that they affect in this way is another victory for them. Its been dubbed the “slash and burn method.” It is an attack against us, the employees, using you, the customer, as weapons. I am sorry, James.

Sentry Foods is where it is at. Who has time to go shopping to 2-3 hours? I can get what I need and get out of Sentry in a hurry. I prefer to shop at a store where the focus is not union issues, and the focus is on the customer.

I shop at Woodman's every week and my average bill is $290.00-$325.00. I like shopping at the store ,what I don't like are a few of the rude checkers.I will not go thru their lines even if they just opened and all the other lines are long .I would bet that the ones on here yelling the loudest are the rude checkers that I'm taking about ! No I will not stop shopping at the store ,but I do pick what checker I go to.

I’ve been following this discussion from the beginning and although we haven’t been there in years, today we will be driving 16 miles to shop at Woodmans

Lets try not to digress into personal attacks. I think that people really have a hard time understanding how Woodmans is different. I want to believe that people like toyota are making their comments out of genuine concern for us. Toyota may believe that we are doing the wrong thing. Without having worked here for as long as I have, I may not believe it either. With all of the negative press that the UFCW is attempting to spread we need to help people understand that we really have it good. We need them to understand that the UFCW is telling lies to serve themselves.
I truly believe that Woodmans has so much to offer a blue-collar worker like us. The union doesn’t want others to see how well we do after desertification. More and more, people are seeking other forms of representations across the country. It is a trend that the unions want to stop and a company like Woodmans may be far too good of a poster child for desertification to let it go unchallenged. They (the UFCW) have to convince the public that life here is terrible without them here. They don’t want others to follow our lead. Some, like Toyota, have bought into it. We have to understand though that it isn’t him that is threatening our livelihood. The attacks on us are now coming from the UFCW itself. They are trying to convince the public, I guess, that reducing our sales and costing us our hours is in our best interest. They want the public to believe, somehow, that their actions are not based in self-interest.

Toyota--Just wondering why you are so concerned about us poor misguided Woodman employees? Is it because you have nothing better to do with your time, or are you a part of the UFCW scum. Seems to me that you know alot about the decert process. Why dont you mind your own business and let us Woodman employees take care of ours.

hey wsk-glad you like your piece of pie,becouse you're getting a bigger slice next year.welcome to the family.

Toyota obviously has no clue as to what we are and how our stores work. I am an every other weekend employee. I received my first ESOT this year. I had to ask several long term employees if the number on my statement was correct. I couldn't believe that anyone would but that much money into my retirement for working less than half time. Everyone that I asked, pro and anti union alike, laughed and said yes the dollar amount was real and would only get better. I just got a taste of the pie and I certainly don't want the union sticking their dirty fingers into my pie. For those of you that don't know Woodman's, take my word for it,...Phil ROCKS!!!!

I will admit, brinintoyota that I don't know what our raise schedule will be for the future. I do know that if Woodmans feels that it can't give us a raise, the UFCW would not have been able to change that. If you refuse to believe that, you need to take a trip into one of the stores and find an employee of 30 years plus. There have been wage freezes at Woodmans in the past already. The UFCW was there and didn't stop it. The truly ironic part is that you are worried about Woodmans affecting our livelihood and there is another group directly attacking it right now. The unions, that have some people convinced they are interested in our rights, are circulating petitions and flyers urging people to stop shopping at Woodmans. If that happened, what do you think that the result would be. Woodmans wouldn’t fold. They did over 1 billion dollars in sales last year. They opened a new, very profitable, store this year. They would simply cut labor (our hours) to compensate for the sagging sales and trudge on. It is fair of any of us working at Woodmans to say that the greatest threat to our wages, or benefits, or job security is the union, at this point, and their attacks.

bringintoyota,
Your last two posts are funny. You accuse me of not reading posts, but you are obviously guilty yourself. In my last post, I put it in caps. We have no union benefits to lose. If wages are your only hang up beyond that, then I will say this. Over half of our company has never been union. I expect that our wages will match theirs.

There are so many employee (not corporate) complaints filed against 1473 with the NLRB, that the NLRB had to assign a case worker to handle just us. If the union is for the employees, why are there so many complaints? Why does a union that so desperately wants to remain in a store go out of its way to harass people it wants to represent?

Toyota- You must be amazed that anyone that doesn't work for a union is happy enough to get up out of bed in the morning. Isn't it possible that unions are part of the reason for some companies failing. (i.e the company giving up to much when the going is good. Only to realize that what they gave, led to the downfall of the company)

Toyota-As far as Woodman's is concerned, you know nothing, and seem to refuse to acknowledge anything.

I said it twice here and I'll say it again;

Do you really think that getting rid of your Local will keep your wages and benefits, or increase them in these tough times to come? The de-certify. All the folks thinking you'll maintain what you have, look to Wal-Mart for another job!! LOL!

more and more companies acknowledge that a happy employee (either through financial benefits or work environment) is important to the success of the business, reduces hiring and training expenses, and encourages longevity. It also helps to have employees who are recognized by customers. It increases overall employee satisfaction AND business profitability. I know many of the Woodman's employees and they have been there for 10-20 years. The average employment in today's world is 4 years and people move on. The employees of Woodman's know what is best for them. If you don't work there and never have, but just have "union shop" experience, I don't think your input matters. Woodman's is NOT an operation such as GM. As a matter of fact, I believe that Phil Woodman offers a great employment opportunity. And in my opinion, the union is what has created the dissatisfaction among the "rank and file".

shutupandfish: you said"...going to loose your benefits and get lower wages. I've seen this before and it isn't pretty." Can you name a couple of examples where this has happened in within the last 50 years? I can name you a couple of places where the UNION "negotiated" themselves right out of town.

Vocal1-some people just don't get the concept that some employers want to be fair to their employees and even go above and beyond. Phil and many other employers in the county know their employees are the most important asset they have. They give profit sharing, scholarships for employees children, daycare centers, work out rooms, wellness programs etc. Some people blindly listen to union rhetoric and when they see employers such as Woodmans they either refuse to believe there are employers who would do that or are jealous they work in a management vs union environment. I agree that at some companies and even industries unions are needed. Woodmans doesn't seem like one of them.

bringintoyota,
I am reading the posts just fine. I also understand why you and others like you find the situation difficult to understand, but the union just wasn’t working anymore. I am going to say this knowing already that you simply refuse to believe it. People have been asking what it takes to get rid of our union for quite some time now. You are locked on the notion that is solely the idea of management. You are way off the truth. Nothing that you or anyone else is afraid that we will lose was being protected by the UFCW.
bringintoyota,
You seem to mention wages and benefits most often. If you had read the posts, maybe you would understand that we have NO UNION BENEFITS. The capitalization is not meant to be sarcasm. I am merely stressing a point. We really have none. As far as wages go, I base my confidence in several observations….
1. Woodmans has always paid out money ABOVE AND BEYOND what the union contract mandated. When business is good, we do well. We get dividends quarterly; we get occasional discretionary bonuses (most often at Christmas time). I have worked here for over twenty years always knowing that what the union gets us in the contracts isn’t all that we make.
2. We have seen already seen non-scheduled cost of living raises. Admittedly, it doesn’t happen very often, but we have received raises when Woodmans felt that we deserve a pay increase. When that happens, the union isn’t involved.
3. We have “every other weekend” positions available now. Their pay scale wasn’t originally in the contract. As an enticement to attract a one-day per week employee, they are started at a rate within a couple dollars of my own wages. (darn nice wages for starting employees) The union did not bargain for their original wages at all.
4. We get annual profit sharing contributions. The contributions are to the stores ESOT plan and hover on decent years around 15% of our annual wages. Last year, for me, that was over $5,000. Do the math and that’s almost $100 per week.
5. We, as union members, were in the minority in the company. Some people forget that. A minority group never sets standards for wages. We are all on equivalent pay scales.
Listen, I could go on forever. The point is, I am basing my confidence in our future on what I have observed for over two decades. I have already said that nobody can tell the future, but we have every reason to be optimistic. The real problem is that the UFCW wasn’t working for us and it was time for a change. With change comes risks, but they are at least calculated.

Say there Vocal1; I can see by *reading* your posts that you are not actually *reading* what others have written-I came right out and said here that I don't work at Woodmans, you don't have to make snotty suppositions about where I do/don't work. However, I am a Union worker, a 4th generation Union worker and I will tell you this; the decertification process has worked whether the vote passes or not. The rank and file are at each other's throats, the Pro-Union folks are out in the open for Phil Woodman and his lackeys to see, the workers are divided. Divided you fall.

Divided you will fall, your wages will fall, benefits will decrease, firings will increase for favoritism, and on and on. I am NOT stating this as opinion for a scare tactic. This is a statement of truth; With the decert. of your Local from all Woodmans stores the rank and file will lose money, the managers will see an increase and continuance of their HUGE bonuses, and Phil will pocket more cash than ever. That's just what happens after a decert.. How do I know? I have lived through and seen several decerts. in the Midwest; you lose money and the management wins money. Plain and simple. You can blame ..." the Union" all you want, but YOU ARE the Union together. It's not too late for the employees of Woodmans to organize against the Union decert. and derail this decert. process. Good Luck to you Brothers and Sisters who are Pro Union and still have families to raise. Solidarity.

I'm hoping shutupandfish will go fishing soon. vocal1 and others posting here have been clear in why they are dissatisfied with their union representation, or the lack thereof. We also received a card in the mail, and I'm sure it's just a last ditch effort from the union...I have never worked at Woodman's but there isn't a grocery store that is as efficient and economical around. I will continue to shop at woodman's and I applaud the employees who have had to deal with this struggle. I hope once the union is out of there, you can get back to work in a good environment!

Shutupandfish,
You still don't get it. Phil didn't promise us anything. He isn't trying to convince us to get rid of anyone. This is all about the employees. When he came into the stores to talk to us, it was mostly to clear up confusion about what was happening. Empty promises aren’t a concern. He didn’t make any. He didn’t need to.
If you think that Pick and Save is better because of their Union, ponder this. Between wages, retirement, dividends, and insurance benefits, my earnings last year reached nearly $120,000. The union claims to have helped with the wages. I don’t believe that, but even if they did… that only accounts for a little over $30,000. The other $90,000, they don’t even claim to have anything to do with. Keeping in mind that I am just a peon, does the union at Pick & Save do as well for them? The answer is simply, no. Woodmans is a demanding employer, but they will take care of us.

I too am one of those who received the union sponsored mailing yesterday. I am retired & have never worked at Woodmans or any other grocery store. My only dealing with a union came when I worked in Madison & is not favourable as the union only wanted my monthly dues. The union rep in my work area was also a drinking buddy with my boss so you know how far any problems with the boss went!

With out the union the workers effectively get a $30-40 per month pay raise which isn't too bad actually

One thing about die-hard union people, that when it comes to union issues, a proctologist with ice cold fingers can't get them to open their eyes.

shutupandfish-if you ever seen our esot reports,your eyes would open up!!!!

standupandfish- that $150 won't go to far at picknsave. I stopped there one timeto pck up just a fw items. My bill was almost twice the amount of what I would have spent at Woodmans. I have shopped there for over 30years and I love saving my money to buy other things needed. Wake up and smell the roses.

You are all just upset cause you know that without a union representation that you are going to loose your benefits and get lower wages. I've seen this before and it isn't pretty. The management and owner/ceo will promise you the world if you don't have a union and then once you agree he/she stabs ya in the back. Sheridan is a brother of the union he knows what unions do for a company and what they mean to the working people. He was simply standing up for the brotherhood, The pick-n-save in janesville is union and I will be spending my $150 a week there instead of woodmans. Woodmans says they are employee owned but, that's just on paper Phil Woodman owns the company he has more stock than the employees ever will he makes the decissions not the employees. Your being blinded by the whole employee owned ploy. Open ur eyes.

tjncj, I agree with you 100%!! After getting the ignorant and attacking junk mail from the union, I will be giving Woodman’s ALL of my business from now on. The idiots that mailed this out and the employees that support the "boycott" of Woodman’s, are obviously cutting off their noses to spite their face. Wake up union, if the employees wanted you, they would not be asking for a desertification!!

It is tough for Sheridan to remove the union hat for the politician's hat. I can't believe he hasn't done something to recant those comments after his retirement. I applaud the Gazette for their "thumbs down" on Sheridan in the editorial section last night.

tjncj,
You bring up an interesting point about Sheridan catering to unions and union businesses. I want to further that thought by adding that he seems to care little for the people that work in those stores or pay those union dues.
If you read about the petition that he presented the UFCW at the rally, understand this, Woodmans did over 1 billion in sales last year. They opened a new, extremely successful store this year. If people follow Sheridan’s petition, it will not damage Woodmans as a corporation. It could, however, depress a local market. The normal reaction by Woodmans to adjust for slumping sales would be to reduce hours (thanks for that one). I have to wonder what his motivations are.

Brinintoyota and shutupandfish,
I can tell by your posts that you don’t work at Woodmans. If either of you do, you haven’t worked there very long. We get the wages that we get because of the financial strength of the company. The wages are not because of the union. A good example of how this works would be the corporate office. The office has been around for far longer than I know. The office has never been union, yet the wages have always rivaled the stores’ clerk wages. Although the non-union stores have been around for a lot less time, they too have equivalent wages.
The ESOT (see my earlier post) is invested primarily in Woodmans stock. It rose over 19% last year. That is why we have the good wages.
Since the conception of the ESOT, Woodmans has made yearly contributions to our ESOT program. I don’t remember ever having less then 3,000 in contributions. Now that we no longer pay into pension, last year we got the entire 15% put into ESOT. That was over 5,000 for me. That’s almost $100 per week above and beyond our wages. The union had nothing to do the ESOT, ever. If you doubt the stability of our wages, realize this. If Woodmans wanted to reduce what they paid per year for us, that would have been the easiest place to start.
As for you, shutupandfish, if you elect to boycott shopping at Woodmans, you are not boycotting Phil. We, the hourly employees, want to decertify the union. Phil is just giving us a hand. You are boycotting us. Yes, there are a few who want the UFCW back, but they are definitely in the minority. The majority of our bargaining unit has come to realize that we can be better represented without the UFCW.

minority.

After receiving the mailing we plan to shop at Woodman's more and fully support any candidate that is running against Sheridan. We need representatives that will represent everyone in the district and all businesses. By his words and actions he will only be catering to union and union businesses and both are a miority.

Bringintoyota:

Going to the old playbook of scare tactics! How predictable, the fear and threat of lower wages, fewer benefits, massive layoffs, reduction of vacation days rings hollow-for those not belonging to or those decertifying unions.

Another feable attemtp to search for a solution to a problem that does not exist. The rank and file do not want the union-perhaps some do-but it appears that the majority do not want a union.

I can only hope this union shows its true colors and hires faux protesters at less than union scale to picket Woodmans. The UFCW has a history of these tactics.

On another topic, Your union mailed me a flyer yesterday urging me not to shop at Woodman's because of their treatment of employees. Well, I don't shop at Woodman's, but now I think I will since Woodman's does more for the employees than the union does.

Anybody besides me think its funny that a guy calling himself bringintoyota is promoting a union???

Decertify and look to $10 an hour wages, less benefits, and fewer vacation days that are approved. Good luck with working more, getting paid less, with less healthcare to fall back on with less money for your deductibles. Good Luck. The PW spin machine is in full force; He learned well @ the Union-Busting worksop he recently attended. Congratulations Phil!!

I really can't improve upon the posts here by vocal1. When I first read about the beginnings of this move to decertify, I posted that many moons ago, I worked at Woodmans and the management was vicious. But, whenever I looked to the UFCW for support, they were invisible, "Do you want to continue the process..." WOW, vocal1, that is EXACTLY their words to me.
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Being pro-union and a big supporter of Mike Sheridan since our childhood, I thought among the 2 evils, Phil and UFCW, the tie-breaker goes to the UFCW.
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No more. Vocal1 has persuaded me.
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By every standard one would measure the success/need/viabiity of that union - wage negotiation, retirement/pension, benefits, workplace safety, etc - the UFCW has failed miserably. Their inability to bargain for higher wages than non-union stores, or more time-off, whatever, or their complete failure to provide more comprehensivc health insurance than what Phil provides, just screams of union ineptitude.
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You might say the UFCW, by failing to put any level of victory on the board for their union brothers & sisters, is guilty of theft.
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Chalk it up to, allowing management to belong to the UFCW, while simultaneously allowing management to write grievances against their union brothers and sisters. THe UFCW forfeits their right to represent at that point.
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And to my UAW Local 95 family and friends back in Janesville, you know that this is not how a union behaves. You would not permit the UAW to behave even 10% like the UFCW has performed.

Oh, FYI, not all Pic-n-Sav stores are union (you'd better check before you shop). Neither are Copps stores. The employees at Cubs are looking at how to get rid of 1479.

as a former baker at woodmans.. my guess its helen up north...lol

shutupandfish: Woodman's mis-handled this? Where the heck has the union been? They never bothered to show up until the petition to decertify was filed. The union reps have threatened and harassed employees. The union reps have told lie after lie to employees. The union reps have tried all sorts of intimidation tactics on the employees, and you have the audacity to blame Phil?! The union's thug-like tactics do not work in Wisconsin or in the 21st century. Mike Sheridan threatened a working class of employees and you support him. Woodman's will continue to open stores and hire people. Can GM say the same? Why doesn't Mr. Sheridan boycott GM...oh, wait he can't since he's a union president. No, there's no conflict of interest there.

shutupandfish:

Boycott? Are you kidding me? Give me a break. "Corporations that are our for themselves"? What the heck does this mean? Who is the corporation in this instance? Its the employees of Woodmans! The employees are the owners-its the employees who think the union is worthless, which is why they want to decirtify it.

A boycott is not going to personally hurt Phil Woodman. Do you think he is going to capitulate to the toothless demands of a union that takes dues but offers nothing in return? There are long term employees listed in this article who believe the union is irrelevant. These employees are the real owners of Woodmans.

Problems with "the Union."? All the people who work in a Woodmans are "the Union."

Think you'll maintain your Union pay and benefits w/o a Union!? That's a good one? LOL!

Woodmans need to be boycotted in their mishandeling of this whole situation. Phil Woodman needs to be held accountable for his actions in which he is clearly trying to get rid of the unions in his store. Mike Sheriden is an honerable man and represents a lot of hardworking people. We need to stand up to these corperations that are just out for themselves. Unions bring in good money for these families and we need them. I'll be shopping at Pick-n-save for my groceries.

Some may believe, as I think that you do, gormly11, that there is more involved to being in a union then what I have covered. There are the little, day-to-day things. There are disciplinary problems, scheduling problems, or maybe seniority problems. Your right, gormly11, there are those things. The problem was that the UFCW didn’t help. You could call and call and maybe get a machine to listen. Your odds of getting a call back were slim to none. If you did get a call back, boy, were you in for a journey then. This would usually start a process involving a series of meetings with different levels of management. That process lasted several months. Each step of the process would lead to the next only if you lived on the phone demanding a response from your rep’s machine. At the beginning of each call (assuming you got one back), your rep would begin by asking, “Do you want to continue with the process?” They actually hoped that you would feel that you were going nowhere and give up. The process would stop before arbitration with your grievance going to the “executive committee”. In short, this committee would decide if the union was going to spend the time and money to take the grievance to arbitration. It is the UFCW’s policy that once a grievance dealing with a particular topic is lost, it will no longer take related grievances to arbitration. They don’t learn from their mistakes. They give up. For most people, over the last several years, it has just become easier to handle things on our own. That’s just not right for us to feel that way about our paid representaion.
You see, the UFCW had nothing to do with insurance, wages, pension, or little to do with day-to-day problems. Many of us were questioning what we needed them for. I can’t say for sure that going without representation completely is in our best interest. I believe that we need some forum by which to be in Phil’s ear. The problem with the UFCW was that they just weren’t working for us anymore. I don’t think that many of us if any at all are really anti-union. We are the ones truly searching for a more effective way to represent our voices. We want change. We want improvement. Phil has mentioned forming a committee. That may be an option. We may find in the future that the solution lies in another organized labor group. I don’t know, as most of us don’t. All that I do know is that the first step to making a positive change involved decertifying the UFCW.

Here comes the biggie… RETIREMENT. Up until three years ago, we were all enrolled in the union pension and Woodmans ESOT (Employee Stock Ownership Trust). This is what really sets Woodmans apart as an employer. For those of you that don’t realize it, your employer is limited by your earnings as to how much he can contribute to your retirement accounts. I believe that the number is 17% (max) of your yearly gross. Woodmans seems to pay somewhere around 15%. Since we had two retirement accounts, they split the 15%. Woodmans paid the union for our pension and contributed the rest of out 15% to our ESOT accounts. Non-union parts of the company had the full 15% put into their ESOT. In the years leading up to 2005, the union pension was seeing more downs then ups. Administrative costs were disturbing (can be seen in the pension’s full financial report). Woodmans offered to do for us what they have been doing for the non-union parts of the company all along. We stopped paying into pension and now invest all of our contributions in to ESOT. The results are awe-inspiring. Last year alone, the ESOT appreciated 19%. This is all courtesy of Woodmans. They created it and have run it since day one. It is the reason that many of us retire millionaires. The Janesville store alone has well over ten. That’s not including the several that retired last year. The UFCW can’t claim one bit of that blessing.

gormly11,
I hope that you get a chance to read this. You are the type of person that the UFCW hopes to reach with its campaign of mistruths. You are the people in this forum that I hoped to reach. Too many of the negative comments are from bitter ex employees. There is one in complaint in here going back almost twenty years.
Your concern seems genuine based on what you have seen in the past. We all appreciate your concern. You need to understand one very important thing though and its not that easy without having worked here for twenty years. Woodmans is a completely different animal.
Six years ago and beyond, we were on UFCW insurance paying good-sized deductibles with 80/20 coverage. They said that rising costs forced them to make changes in the plan. They doubled the deductible in July and had us re-pay any that we had covered to that point. Phil stepped in offering a plan with modest co-pays instead of deductibles. The coverage in many areas is actually 100%. It was the plan that he had already been using in the non-union parts of the company. No plan is perfect and some don’t care for this one, but those people are few and far between. I can’t say that insurance cost won’t go up for us because medical costs keep rising. I can say; however, that if the UFCW was here, they couldn’t stop Woodmans from making the changes that they had to. Woomans controls the plan already.
As far as wages go, contrary to what many believe, the UFCW didn’t really negotiate our wages during contract negotiations. It wasn’t uncommon for the wage package that we ended up with to already be in place in the non-union stores before our contract was accepted. Over half of the company was non-union before this process, yet wages have never been a problem. If business falters, raises could become smaller. I will admit that, but the union can’t stop that. Apparently people that believe that the union assures yearly raises don’t talk much to the senior employees (30 years type senior). There have been wage freezes here in the past. Financially, it apparently needed to be done and the UFCW could not stop it.

wsk- The union probably has a pretty fat bank account from the sounds of it they haven't done much over the years except collect the union dues. So, they have a lot of money to spend. I got a letter from the Union in the mail telling me to support the union. I will always shop at Woodman's as long as the prices and selection are what they are now.

I pay $0 for my insurance...double that $0. Even if people with families pay double (which won't happen), it is still cheaper than anything the union had. And while we are talking costs, how much is the union paying to fight this. Hmmm,...two to eight reps (several from out of state) in our break room at $40 per hour for eight to sixteen hours a day for several months. How much are the union lawyers getting paid? How much for the smear campaign that people are reporting in their mail? How much for the pre-recorded phone calls coming to employees' homes? Who do you suppose is picking up the tab for the union...Mr. Eiden? No, it will be the employees that are stuck with 1473. I'm sure that their dues will double before this is all done.

Once the union is gone there won't be a contract for Woodmans to follow allowing them to decide how much of a raise to give and once the union is gone whos going to say the cost of your insurance isnt going to go up and if it does who is going to fight for you then. I know everyone says he has done more than the union has for you but without a contract standard for him to follow it is completely up to Woodmans then. I am very involved in a building trades union and a officer from our union was and a national convention and got word about how much money Phil is spending on a union busting firm from the east coast. Generally when this happens they are not spending all that money to oust the union and give the employees bigger raises. I hope the Gazette reports when Phil gives a nickel raise and the cost of your insurance doubles. Maybe it won't happen but I hope you guys think long and hard before ousting the union.

ok, this is really it for the night, JK was "just kidding". L is the initial. Your clue?

JK? you're initals? i thought you said l for the first name.

Last comment for me tonight...clue as to who you are? I'll be checking in the morning.. I love mysteries!! heehee

See, I was such a trouble maker while I was there that people don't even remember me! JK!

WOW I'M STUMPED!!!!

no

redbedhead:
No, there's no connection between me and a union or a grocery. I have never worked in a retail business. The only places I can think of where they got my name are the phone book or the City of Janesville or Rock County.

hmm!!!related to terri?

r u stumped or surprised at who I am?

you're funny!! L

how about a first name inital?