September 18, 2009

The Union Bargaining Committee met with representatives from Fred Meyer for the first time today.  The Union presented a comprehensive proposal that addressed virtually all areas of the contract including wages.  After taking time to review the proposal, the company, while agreeing to some of the Union’s proposals, responded that they were not looking to drastically change the language in the contract, rejecting most of the Union’s proposals.  The company did respond with some proposals of their own; the company’s response did not include a wage proposal however.  The committee is scheduled to meet with the employer again on October 13, 2009.  When asked if they would be providing a response to wages at that meeting, the company representative expressed a hesitancy to engage in wage response at that time.