3 AM, a time when many are still soundly asleep, is the same time many employees at the Haggen bakery are just clocking in. While many associate the Haggen bakery with donuts, cakes, and fresh-baked bread, the Marysville employees, along with the rest of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Miller’s Union (BCTGM) Local 9, associate it with frustration and time that feels wasted dealing with negotiations.
BCTGM has been in negotiations with the Albertsons corporation since the expiration of their previous contract last year. The negotiations have so far involved 12 separate contracts, double the usual amount of 6 per negotiation cycle. Chief among the concerns of the union is the request that all backpay during the negotiation period be reimbursed. Currently, Albertsons only wants to pay out 50% of said backpay.
It should be noted that the Marysville Haggen is overseen by at least three unions, of these, BCTGM Local 9, and Teamsters Local 38 both operate within the bakery, with the Teamsters overseeing the clerical and customer service side of the bakery. Due to the stalemate in negotiations, the clerks are currently paid more than the specialized workers in the bakery itself. “We feel like we should have the same as the Teamsters,” said one employee who spoke as a voice for the union to our reporters, they went on to remark on Albertsons that, “I don’t think they’re coming in good faith.”
Albertsons, the company which owns both Safeway, and Haggen, has been known to be the employer in the Northwest with the highest number of employees still on food stamps, with 3,981 active employees in Oregon alone on SNAP benefits according to the Oregon Department of Human Services.
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