Last year, Local 771 members elected new local leaders on a program of building union power by involving members. Now nearly 500 grocery Teamsters at Albertsons have won a new contract that includes record wage increases and benefit improvements.

Contract highlights include:

• Wage increases of $7.55 over five years, a 31.5% jump and the largest in the facility’s history.
  
  
• Cost of Living Adjustment to fight the effects of inflation.
  
  
• Holidays: Martin Luther King Day as a new paid holiday, and double time on all holidays.
  
  
• Job Security: Successorship language and protection from automation.
  
  
• Health and Safety: New language protects workers in the event of another pandemic or declared national emergency.

Local 771’s new leadership came to office wanting to involve members in order to win more at the bargaining table, and that’s exactly what they did. 

They increased the number of rank-and-filers on the bargaining committee to 13 and did weekly walkthroughs of the worksite in order to keep members updated.

Members made contract sweatshirts and organized specific days to wear them. More members voted on the contract than ever before. 

“This is by far the best contract we’ve ever gotten in my 24 years with the company,” said shop steward Kent Wenger. “The new leadership is fighting harder for members and in response participation is going up.”