Grocery Strike Could Lead to More Scarcity Across Washington State

Empty shelves and shortages might be coming to some of your local grocery stores as a strike among 1,000 grocery warehouse workers and drivers across Washington could start as early Monday.

The final scheduled collective bargaining date between the workers and Safeway and Fred Meyer was Thursday. Grocery distribution employees will vote to authorize a strike Saturday and Sunday. If approved, a strike could be called as early as 12:01 Monday morning.

Secretary Treasurer of Teamsters Local Union 117 John Scearcy said grocery companies reaped record profits during the pandemic, but disregarded their workers by not respecting their efforts as they worked without many safety measures.

"So when members go through that and then come to their collective bargaining process, they're going to have demands." Scearcy said, "The demand is for respect in the form or better working conditions, safety measures, and compensation."

Scearcy added that the strike could definitely expand to other union members in the supply chain.

Concessions the union is looking for a two hour cap to daily overtime, better healthcare and retirement, and language stating that employees cannot be discharged, disciplined or replaced for refusing to work in unsafe conditions.