The United Food & Commercial Workers, the mega-union that represents grocery workers in many states, has refused to recognize employees' right to quit the union, according to a complaint issued by the National Labor Relations Board.
Fry's Food Stores of Arizona and the United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 99 violated labor laws by refusing to recognize an employee group's efforts to quit the union, according to a complaint issued March 31 by the National Labor Relations Board.
The ruling could make it easier for some 30,000 UFCW members in Arizona to quit the union.
Union spokeswoman Ellen Anreder said the UFCW plans to fight the complaint. A Fry's representative did not return calls seeking comment.
The action stems from unfair-labor-practices charges filed in December by the National Right to Work Foundation on behalf of seven Fry's employees. The charges allege that the workers resigned their union memberships in writing at various times in fall 2009, as the organization was preparing to strike against grocers Fry's and Safeway.
The union refused to acknowledge the resignations and continued to collect dues, which were deducted from the workers' paychecks by Fry's, despite written notices rescinding the authorization, the charges state.
We've written before of the UFCW in Arizona, including its attacks on Arizona-based grocer Basha's.
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I recently quit/discharged supposedly bc i didn't come back from leave bc my grandfather passed away, after having to clear getting fired the first few days of my leave bc they said i did no call no show. Which was a lie. So went in to check my schedule and speak with the manager about the funeral was pushed back a couple days,but when i went in my coworkers said what are you doing here, told them u didn't hear that my grandpa passed away,they said no that they were told i just didn't call or come in, then i asked for the schedule and they replied, umm...we heard that you were on suspension/fired and i wasn't on the schedule. Wow! Came back the next day to speak with a manager on duty and asked him what's up with me being taken off the schedule.he said well you didn't call in for days.yes i did, long story short..they put me back on the schedule after manager e-mailing the other managers that I had called in every night. Long story short, I was on leave, while on leave i figured I'd take care of some serious issue i hadn't had time to get to since transferring stores,working at 2 other stores..I was receiving letters of levy from the i.r.s so hired tax auditor to help me get to the bottom of it. Found out Fry's paystubs showed so many discrepancies that I was indisbelief, first off no wonder why I.r.s was on me, all 3 in a half years of working for Frys deli, they were reporting to i.r.s that I wasn't paying taxes,when in fact i was getting couple hundred taken out from each check, though my stubs said deductions were 0. Then paycheck to paycheck the tax percentage deducted was all over the place, then year to date was being adjusted, and so many more incidents were going on, began to do research about the company and discovered that their was so many embezzlement cases within the company, and especially payroll. I went forward to speak with management,payroll,hr department, union, and corporate and shown them most of what I've uncovered but they all replied with it's above our heads. I was in disbelief, gave them benefit of the doubt and assumed they didn't know anything about this problem but with their reaction and comment, had to realize they were seriously not going to do a Damn thing. I said they are going to levy my property and vehicles,bc you don't want to take ownership and fix it, I'm sorry i can't work for a company that doesn't stand for integrity or make it right. Which integrity is one of the many core values of the Fry's stores, and make it right, is our motto.. Then i spoke with lawyer and he was guiding me what to do bc he said it is in fact a whistle blower case, but he couldn't represent me bc of conflict of interest.but he asked me to find out if I was union, when asked union for everything in my file i discover i wasn't even union. Wth?! It explains why they never backed me up or did anything for me. But yet union deductions were being taken out since 2nd week of being employed by Fry's food and drug when it clearly states in handbook that you have to be with the company for more than 12 consecutive months then be asked in a year from date of hire if wanting to eligible for union. So $11 dollars every week,was being deducted for Almost 4 years.I also had been waiting for my pay for 1 1/2 months bc they had terminated me from the last location and they were bullshitting, and I'm still waiting and looking for some lawyer to be brave enough to help. Jessica sandoval Gilbert,maricopa,and phoenix locations.christinesandoval11@gmail.com
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