No More Picketers at Tacoma City Grocer
It would appear that after more than a year of picketing the downtown Tacoma City Grocer, members of UFCW Local 367 have packed in their pickets and banners, and called it a day.
Visitors to the grocery store at 13th and Pacific this week may have noticed that, for the first time since the store’s opening in September, 2011, the sidewalks out front are free of picketers with signs attempting to discourage passersby from buying at the non-union store.
The first few days of 2013 have been picketer-free, and it looks like we can expect that to be the new normal. There’s been no agreement or changes in the grocery store’s operations, from what we hear. Kathleen Cooper at The News Tribune called the union rep, and received what sounds like a pretty terse response. The union has done what it set out to accomplish, and feels its work there is done. Period.
Filed under: Downtown Tacoma, Tacoma Business, Neighborhoods, Retail
6 comments
J John January 4, 2013
I’ve held nothing but union jobs since I was sixteen years old. That’s 37 years of being a proud, dues paying, staunch, pro-labor supporter and advocate. I’ve walked picket lines, and have always refused to cross existing picket lines. That having been said, I’ve never understood the reason for this particular protest. The opportunities were there at the onset for this to be a union shop, but there were no takers. I haven’t heard any details of the pay/benefit package offered by the owners of this store, but I also haven’t heard of any complaints by the workers. Would I have preferred this store to be union? Of course, but it’s not. Am I glad the picketing is over? Very.
M Matthias January 4, 2013
It’s about Time. It was getting ridiculous.
F fred davie January 5, 2013
“Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.” Abraham Lincoln
C Chalky White January 6, 2013
UFCW 367 did themselves a disservice. I am a labor supporter but this was an embarrassment. The only thing they accomplished was adding more people to the growing anti-union club. Clueless.
K Kat January 8, 2013
UFCW Local 367 ends informational picketing of Tacoma IGA
An open letter from President Denise Jagielo and Secretary-Treasurer Daniel Comeau
After picketing the Tacoma IGA for well over a year, UFCW Local 367 has ended its successful informational Shop Union campaign in downtown Tacoma. Local 367 was successful in accomplishing our goal of educating the community about the importance of shopping union.
Local 367 strongly dedicated this union to the effort of informing shoppers that when they support union-represented stores, they are supporting the families who live and work in their own neighborhoods, and they are helping to maintain a robust local economy.
Local 367 will always fight to protect our members’ jobs. We will continue to take a proactive approach to ensure the economy continues to grow and provide family wage jobs.
This union demonstrated to the community that by picketing Tacoma IGA, Local 367 is serious about keeping Tacoma, an important union city, strong and vibrant. For decades Local 367 has been an integral part of this community. We are determined that the people of Tacoma continue to create good lives for themselves and their families. There is no better way to make that happen than for workers to join together to fight for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.
Local 367 doesn’t agree with those who suggest the union kept good businesses away from Tacoma by picketing IGA. It is our experience that good business owners know when they provide family wage jobs with good benefits to their employees, their businesses grow and they profit.
Local 367 will continue to stand by our members and our union employers as strongly in the future as we have in the past. And we will continue to educate the community about the importance of shopping union by reaching out to community allies and utilizing the many communication options available to us.
The community, the economy, and our members are all better for Local 367’s successful fight to keep union shops strong in Tacoma.
T Tacoma Thinker January 10, 2013
I go to this store 3-4 times a week – passing and observing the protesters hundreds of times over the past year or two. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I saw them speak to a person outside their group. I highly doubt the success – or even intent – of informing the public. I count myself as one of the many who have now changed my opinion about the usefulness of unions.