On Workers say union no longer effective

Posted on June 18 at 3:48 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

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 Since your husband retired, he has either withdrawn his ESOT or is in the process of doing so.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.

On Teens arrested in gun incident

Posted on May 29 at 5:17 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Cocktail,
Your comments are truly disturbing. There is a certain amount of pride in your comments about "Your City's" gang problem. You shouldn't be taking bets on life expectancy. You should be asked for tips on how to reduce a genuine problem. "Wannabe" implies degree, and I for one am happy that Janesville can't be counted amongst the worst cities for gang related violence. However, calling it a problem no matter how big or small does not make sassy a "drama queen". Teen problems unchecked will grow. She is right to be concerned. If you disagree, what level does the violence have to hit before it should become a concern?

On Workers say union no longer effective

Posted on May 28 at 3:59 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

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.

On Workers say union no longer effective

Posted on May 25 at 5:11 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

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.

On Workers say union no longer effective

Posted on May 25 at 5:06 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

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.

On Workers say union no longer effective

Posted on May 24 at 11:08 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

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.

On Workers say union no longer effective

Posted on May 22 at 3:39 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

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.

On Workers say union no longer effective

Posted on May 22 at 6:49 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

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.

On Workers say union no longer effective

Posted on May 21 at 4:47 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

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.

On Workers say union no longer effective

Posted on May 21 at 4:25 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

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.