I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a conversation with someone, or we need their rate of pay to pay them for a bargaining session or some other reason and they do not remember their current rate of pay. We typically joke it away by saying something like “wow nice country” or “…isn’t it good to be you – not needing to know how much you make…”. But the truth of the matter is that it could be a more serious problem to not know what your current pay is.
What if it’s wrong? If you don’t know, or check your check, how can you be sure you aren’t being underpaid? We have seen WAY too many pay discrepancies that could have and should have been minimized by the member realizing on week number one that there was a problem with their check. Instead weeks and weeks, and often months go by before the mistake is caught by either the member, their Representative, or in some very rare occasions, their employer. Never trust that the right thing is automatically being done. You must double check!
However, there is another concern: What if you do not know how much you should be making, how can you be certain of the accuracy of your paycheck? Well you can’t. In fact, knowing how much you should currently be making, and when your next raises are, is the first step in making sure you are getting paid properly. As we speak, there is money out there that is owed to at least one of you. Guaranteed. Mistakes and misunderstandings happen people, and we need to be on the lookout.
Mistakes: Sometimes a wage increase is overlooked, inputted incorrectly, or only inputted for one group of people and not another. In some of our CBAs, we have different tiers or different date ranges depending on dates of hire, etc. that could possibly lead to a mistake being made. Plus we are not the only Union that most of your employers deal with so that could add to some confusion in the payroll department too. Remember, a computer program is only as good as the human that originally inputted the necessary information at the time. Humans make mistakes.
Misunderstandings of your CBA: Misunderstandings, or misinterpretations by the employer and their payroll department of your company unfortunately happen more than we would like. This is when the company reads the contract differently than it was intended to be, and implements an incorrect wage increase (or doesn’t implement one at all). We have had many of these situations where we catch it at some point after. In these cases, the Company believes they are paying the member correctly, so there is no chance for them to correct it on their own. And in almost every case, we have to file a formal grievance to rectify the member’s or members’ pay going forward, in addition to paying the retroactive pay that the member should have gotten in the first place. If we don’t amicably reach an agreement, we will arbitrate the grievance, and have a third-party arbitrator decide on the case. This process alone unfortunately takes months to complete.
Call your Rep. Whether it’s a mistake or a misinterpretation, you need to get your Union Representative involved to correct the problem. Also, that particular problem, or something very similar to it may be happening to other folks you work with and may need to be corrected on a much larger scale than just you. Your Representative will know how to move the grievance from just yours to multiple others if applicable.
These are just some reasons why it is important to know what is in your contract. You could be cheating yourself out of money! We often challenge our members to do things. To attend meetings; to participate in a fundraiser; to help out on a political campaign; to help out on organizing. Well I have a new challenge for you. We can call it…Project Contract 2025.
I am challenging you to become more familiar with your contract in 2025. First you need a contract. Don’t have one? Reach out to your Shop Steward or your Representative today and ask them for a copy. Or email us at info@ufcw1500.org. We can mail you a hard copy or email you a digital one, whatever you prefer. `
This concept goes further than just your rate of pay. There are many other benefits to your union contract you need to make sure you are correctly getting. How many vacation weeks do you get? When do you enter your next vacation tier based on your tenure there? Look at your Sick and Personal Days entitlements. You should know every year what you’re entitled to and what you have already taken. You should know what holidays you are entitled to. You should know what the Company can and cannot do with regard to your work schedule. The list of items you should be checking about goes on and on.
Also, how on Earth do you fight for more if you’re not sure what you’ve already got? They say knowledge is power and it couldn’t ring truer here. Get a firm understanding of what you are entitled to and then get an idea of how you would like to build upon that. Then come out to your proposal meeting and let’s talk! The more you each know about your contract the stronger our Union will be. It builds strong members, which leads to strong stewards and negotiating committees with a strong backing behind them in the stores. And this is how we win stronger contracts for you.
We’re negotiating some big contracts in 2025, Fairway and Stop & Shop being amongst them. We need our membership to be as armed with knowledge about their CBA as possible. We want to make sure everyone understands, and is included in the conversation. That’s how we present a unified message to your company.So, from the time you read this until the time we meet up for our proposal meeting(s), crack open that book with the colorful cover and start reading through it. Especially the parts that speak to you the most. What do you like? What do you dislike? What do you want to see changed in 2025? We’ll be waiting to hear from you!