WinCo — Organizing beyond “Employee-Owned”
by Sim H
Regular shoppers of WinCo Foods will be more than familiar with the company's claim of being an “Employee Owned Company.” They take great care to advertise it. Blatantly displayed in bold red letters on their storefront, many shoppers must assume they boast a workplace where employees share in the success of the company, or at the very least management holds generally sympathetic attitudes towards their workers. With this in mind, those same shoppers would be surprised to learn that the company has spent the better part of a year hard-heartedly cracking down on employees' efforts to organize a union.
However this antagonism didn’t stop a majority of voting workers from successfully voting to join the Teamsters Local 222 in February of 2024. Even so, despite this victory the work is far from done and the struggle far from over. Since then management has been finding ways of disrupting the unions efforts to gather broad appeal amongst employees, many of whom are recent hires.
One of the biggest obstacles organizers are now facing is the store's incredibly high turnover rate. A staggering 70% of employees don't last three months, making it difficult to gauge lasting support for the union as the organized workers prepare to move into the bargaining phase. This turnover is far from accidental, as it serves management in dividing their workforce near this critical stage of the union's development. This tactic from management manifests itself in a way that results in the indiscriminate firing of employees regardless of their views on the union. This works to the company's benefit, as most workers don't even last long enough to engage with the union before being fired or often quitting.
This practice is perpetuated in part by the company’s “point system” which they use to discipline employees. Employees receive points for any number of things, such as showing up as much as ten minutes late to calling in sick. Receive enough points in a given amount of time and discipline is escalated, eventually resulting in the employee's termination. Management enforces this policy rigorously, as one employee describes it, “there are a thousand pitfalls” which can easily add up to a worker losing their job. Employees feel that the points themselves aren’t the core of the problem, but that the system is very clearly rigged against workers. Those who do their best to abide by the current system can still find themselves being disciplined for reasons that are almost entirely out of their control.
Organizers are trying their best to navigate this increasingly frustrating work environment to reach their coworkers and make them aware of the issues facing the store. Oftentimes the first step is getting their coworkers to actually care about what's happening at work, which can be difficult when they don’t even know how long they’ll be there. Even with the odds stacked against them, organizers are hopeful that they can foster the same energy that won them the election again for bargaining.
Now, after nearly half a year of waiting, the NLRB has come to its final decision, deeming management's appeals against the union election as insufficient, and thus the union has been officially recognized. Lead organizers aim to build momentum off this moment to garner widespread support with WinCo workers to really bring the fight to management in bargaining. Winning the election was only step one, now they need to get people involved for the long-run. In order to do this, they’ve identified a number of issues plaguing the store that they hope they can get workers to identify with and desire to amend.
First is the aforementioned point system, an obstacle that is constantly looming over everyone in the store. Something that is so often used against employees to unfairly discipline and demean them is a clear candidate for change. Next is the issue of having guaranteed hours. Both new and more senior employees continue to struggle with securing consistent hours, which can quickly put employees' livelihoods at stake. Lastly, organizers are demanding competitive pay. As the rising cost of living continues to burden the working class, the WinCo union demands that the company provide wages that are equal to or even exceed the industry standard.
Even so, success in these areas is still reliant on their ability to get their coworkers invested in their workplace and mobilize them in a way that can demonstrate their collective strength to management. The store employs roughly one-hundred and thirty people, a substantial workforce that has the capacity to pose a serious threat to the company if not taken seriously. It’s for this reason that organizers believe their union occupies a notable space within the contemporary Utah labor movement. An organizing victory on this scale stemming from a completely grassroots campaign could prove to be a truly watershed moment.
Beyond its strategic importance to a resurgent labor movement in Salt Lake, with WinCo posturing itself as an employee owned and a working class alternative to more expensive markets in the area, it’s attempts at union-busting show that at the end of the day the company sees working people only as a source of profit, as either consumers or workers.
As management continues to show its true colors, the necessity of a powerful organization of workers fighting for their dignity and livelihood only becomes more clear. WinCo’s choice to refuse to bargain is a telling one, showing that they will actively take a stance in opposition to its employees’ interests if it is a threat to their own. In doing so they’ve made something incredibly clear, they would rather make the conscious and clearly illegal decision to decline to bargain rather than sit down at the table with the people who keep their store running. They would rather the turnover remain high, the wages remain low, and the workers remain “in their place.”
However, the store's employees have other ideas in mind for the future of WinCo. In rallying both the workers and the public, they intended to show management the union is a force to be reckoned with and that their decision to refuse to bargain will be one sorely regretted. Their opposition to workers' efforts exists in flagrant conflict with the values they profess to hold, yet because of this the workers are awakening to the blatant greed and exploitation forced upon them. The spirit of a strong and vibrant labor movement may certainly be alive and well in Utah, and it’s more than surely present within WinCo’s walls.