Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189 voted last month to ratify a first contract with Mississippi Market after 11 months of bargaining with the St. Paul co-op grocer.
Union negotiators said the three-year contract delivers on the demands that sparked co-op workers’ organizing drive, including more agency in the workplace, economic gains and improvements to scheduling.
Clara Cady, produce buyer and lead who served on Local 1189’s bargaining committee, described the process as empowering.
“I feel like I have a voice in the workplace now, and I feel like my peers and my co-workers have a voice in the workplace,” Cady said. “That’s what we all deserve.”
The bargaining unit brings together over 150 workers at Mississippi Market’s three locations. They voted to form a union with Local 1189 in October 2024.
Bargaining began the following January, after the busy holiday season had passed – and after union members had an opportunity to participate in a survey of what they wanted to accomplish in a first contract. At the top of the list, Cady said, were fairer scheduling policies and more communication with management.
The new contract delivered on both.
A new labor-management committee (LMC) allows workers to bring their issues and ideas to management in a formal setting. Cady, who works at the co-op on Dale Street and Selby Avenue, said she envisions the committee as a place to work through ongoing safety concerns at her location.
“A lot of these concerns have been brought up to the market, and people feel like it’s fallen on deaf ears,” she said. “A lot of what, I think, people wanted was that feeling of being heard – and in return, hearing from management, ‘We’re going to address this, and here’s how.’
“Now, anyone can go and voice their concerns regarding whatever issues they may have, and it will be addressed in those LMC meetings.”
Workers also now get their schedules two weeks in advance, with changes allowed only if they are agreed to by staff. The contract includes protections for workers who are late or miss work during a severe weather event, and it bars managers from scheduling them to “clopen” – working consecutive closing and opening shifts.
The first contract improves union members’ wages and benefits, too. A restructured wage scale will deliver two raises per year – one on a worker’s hiring anniversary date and another on the anniversary of the contract ratification.
Co-op workers also won more paid time off, longer breaks and a more generous and flexible bereavement policy.
Local 1189 President Adam Evenstad credited Mississippi Market workers, who “trudged through a long, hard-fought process” but “never wavered” in their support for each other.
“Their solidarity has been inspiring,” he added.
For her part, Cady said she was proud of the new contract and glad she participated in the negotiations process, even if it meant stepping outside her comfort zone.
“I think a lot of us felt very out of our element sitting in a room across from a lawyer and all of these higher ups from your job,” Cady said. “But I learned so much about myself, and I feel really good about the way we were able to advocate for my peers and for my co-workers.”
– Michael Moore, UA editor
Union Advocate 