Contract on table for Tidyman's workers
Tidyman's and the United Food and Commercial Workers union have reached a tentative agreement on a contract covering employees at the grocer's Kalispell store.
Tidyman's and the United Food and Commercial Workers union have reached a tentative agreement on a contract covering employees at the grocer's Kalispell store.
The proposed contract still must be ratified by the employees. A meeting to do so is planned early next week, said Marlene Sewell, business agent for the UFCW Local No. 4.
"We believe we've come to a very good agreement, an agreement that's equal to the surrounding stores," Sewell said. "It's always tough to take on a store that's new to the collective bargaining agreement. It takes a great deal of time."
Store workers narrowly voted for union representation in November last year. Negotiations took place off and on until Friday.
"We're pleased that the Tidyman's management and the union have reached a tentative agreement," company spokeswoman Patty Kilcup said.
If approved, the new contract would institute a pension program for employees, replacing an employee stock option program. It also guarantees paid holidays and vacations and protects seniority rules stipulating raises for workers according to how many hours they have worked in their classifications.
"The complete compensation package is very comparable today to what it has been in the past," Kilcup said. "Both plans offer some different elements. They've very comparable."
Employees had access to health insurance before the contract, Sewell said, but now can obtain lower-cost insurance through the union.
She said the wage scale is "within pennies" of other stores in the area.
Union negotiators had worried that the grocery chain would delay talks until the union vote's one-year anniversary had passed, at which point the company could call for another vote on union representation.
"We felt they were going to do that, but they finished bargaining with us in good faith," Sewell said.
The union already has contracts covering employees at Kalispell's Rosauers and Albertsons stores and Safeway stores in Whitefish and Polson, as well as meat department employees at Smith's and Super 1.
The Tidyman's company, based in Spokane, includes Tidyman's Northwest Fresh Marketplace, County Market and Dissmores IGA stores in Montana, Washington and Idaho.
Some of the company's County Market stores are unionized.
Reporter Alan Choate may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at achoate@dailyinterlake.com