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For
Release: Immediate
Grand Rapids
September 28, 2007
UFCW 951 Reaches Tentative
Agreement on New Contract with Meijer
UFCW 951President Marv Russow announced that the
union has reached agreement with Meijer on a new
four and a half year contract that will affect
27,000 UFCW members who work at Meijer
facilities throughout Michigan. “We are pleased
to have an agreement that provides workplace
fairness for our members and that supports
Meijer’s position as a premier and competitive
business,” Russow said. The previous agreement
expired on September 8 and was extended by
mutual agreement.
“Two things were key to the successful outcome
of the negotiations,” Russow said. “First, the
company and the union approached these talks
with a constructive and problem solving
attitude. And we had a supportive and involved
membership and a well prepared and dedicated
negotiating committee. Our members submitted
several thousand proposals expressing ideas for
their new contract to the bargaining committee.
The bargaining committee itself was made up of a
cross section of UFCW 951 members who attended a
series of pre-bargaining training sessions.”
Highlights of the new contract include immediate
and future wage increases, some on an
accelerated basis, for many UFCW 951-represented
Meijer members and the continuation of a defined
benefit pension plan for current and future
Meijer employees. The overall agreement for the
UFCW 951 Meijer membership incorporates three
different contracts covering members who work in
Retail, Distribution Complexes, and Retail
Property Management Services. The Bargaining
Committee voted unanimously to recommend that
Meijer union members ratify the new contract.
Over the next two weeks, members will have the
opportunity to attend informational meetings
throughout the state explaining the contract in
detail. They will then vote by mail ballot on
the terms of the proposed agreement. Ballots
will be counted on October 12.
UFCW 951 represents 30,000 members who work
across the state of Michigan at Meijer,
Harding’s, Plumb’s, Polly’s, Kroger, Kessel,
Rite Aid, Knouse Foods, Fry Krisp and the
Orchard Grove Extended Care Center.
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