Berkeley Bowl Workers To Unionize

Attn : Community Members - please feel free to call (510-843-6929), email (info [at] berkeleybowl.com), and or stop by and give management a few words (there are also customer comment cards at customer service).

Official Press Release*********************************

Berkeley Bowl Employees to Unionize


Employees at the Berkeley Bowl Marketplace are working to improve labor/management relations and to set forth a basic agreement covering wages, hours, and conditions of employment. "There is a sense of dignity in working for ‘little produce market that could,’ but now that it is does, and does so extraordinarily well, the workers need a union’s presence to ensure that the 200 employees are treated at level commensurate with the work and the love that they infuse into the store. My work as a cashier is only rewarding if I know that the owners are not building their fortunes by
impoverishing the employees," said Irami Osei-Frimpong, cashier at the Berkeley Bowl Marketplace.

All workers at the Berkeley Bowl Marketplace are employed "at-will," which
means they are placed on permanent probation and are subject to termination
without reason or explanation. In addition, salary increases are not scheduled, nor are they decided by a formal review. This informal arrangement creates stark wage disparities without a mechanism for the employee’s salaries to be appealed or explained. Produce workers who, after working for almost twenty years, earn as much as the cashiers who have been working for the store for one year: both wages and benefits are below the industry standard for their respective positions.

"I like the Berkeley Bowl. I shopped there before I worked there, and three
years later, I still shop there. However, I see through the ‘worker-friendly’ image, and I’m disappointed in the way most employees are treated. We work at least as hard, if not harder, as Safeway or Andronico’s employees, and we’re forced to expect a lot less compensation."

The Berkeley Bowl Marketplace employees are striving to become members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) to create a contract with the owners of the store, Glenn and Diane Yasuda, to clarify both party’s responsibilities to each other and to the community. "It’s a community store and we endeavor to keep it that way. We believe that Mayor Tom Bates, the city council, and our community shoppers support a store which includes, low prices, economic success, and social justice," Meyer said.

"There is something shameful about the way courtesy clerks are treated," said Eric Feezell." At least one courtesy clerk has been working 32 hours a week for nearly fifteen years and does receive medical benefits. Even if courtesy clerks work as full-time employees, the Berkeley Bowl does not consider the position, whose job description includes aiding disabled shoppers, bagging groceries, and corralling carts in the parking lot, worthy of medical benefits. "Front-end employees understand that courtesy clerks are indispensable," said Osei-Frimpong. "The store refusing to grant
benefits to full-time clerks is a visible reminder that we need a union and a contract to protect the workers’ rights."

"Anytime the courtesy clerks are ill, the store backs up a substantially, the parking lot is a mess because of the carts strewn about, and disabled people just don’t shop," said an employee who wished to remain anonymous.

The management at the Berkeley Bowl has responded to the worker’s efforts by discouraging union involvement. "[My manager] asked me if I signed a card,"
said another employee who wished to remain anonymous. "I didn’t want to answer the questions. I was afraid I might get fired." Asking employees about confidential union matters, such as "who attended a union meeting," and "who supports the union," is strictly prohibited by the National Labor Relations Act.

In another direct violation of the National Labor Relations Act, Managers at the Berkeley Bowl Marketplace have made threats to fire up to 100 of its 220 hundred workers.


Contact Information:

Kevin Meyer
510-499-4694
finite42 [at] yahoo.com

Irami Osei-Frimpong
510-843-2682
snowden440 [at] hotmail.com

Eric Feezell
510-839-0697
poofsapped [at] hotmail.com

The Berkeley Bowl Marketplace
510-843-6929

Mayor Tom Bates
510-981-7100