The Union Advantage

In every state and every industry, union members earn more, get better benefits and have better working lives than those who have to “go it alone.”

Better Living

Everyone wants a safe and secure workplace with strong wages, excellent benefits and fair work schedules. Your union makes all this possible.

Better Wages

Better wages mean more economic power to build a good life for you and your family.

Better Benefits

Thanks to your union, you and your family can see a doctor when you need to. You can take a day off to be with a sick child. And when it’s time to retire, you can do so with confidence and security.

Smarter Schedules

Our contracts ensure guaranteed scheduling practices, enabling you to spend time with friends and family, attend classes and pursue your dreams with confidence.

Why Organize?

Growing our membership is the key to building union strength and winning better contracts. Local 99 is therefore committed to organizing non-union companies and bringing the wages, benefits and working conditions of their employees up to acceptable levels.

In recent decades, non-union operators have tried to gain an unfair competitive advantage against union employers by paying lower wages, providing few if any benefits and forcing their employees to cope with substandard working conditions. The answer is to bring the advantages of union membership to their employees.

The Value of Union Membership

Union membership is the best investment you can make in your working life. Here are some of the reasons why.

Guaranteed wage increases

Union members earn, on average, 26% more than their non-union counterparts, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. What’s more, UFCW Local 99 members get guaranteed wage increases based on the number of hours they work.

Quality health insurance

Union members are 40% more likely to have quality medical plans. UFCW Local 99’s benefit plans pay more than $200 million for health benefits annually, and thousands of prescriptions are filled each month at little or no charge.

A voice on the job

A voice on the job

Through the union negotiating process, you have a say about the terms of your employment and conditions at your workplace.

Holiday and vacation pay

You have days off and vacations that are guaranteed in your union contract, along with specific rates of pay if you work on holidays.

Grievance procedure

Grievance procedure

The grievance procedure was negotiated in our contracts to help any employee who feels he or she has been treated unfairly in any way. As a union member, you can’t be disciplined or fired just because your boss doesn’t like you, while those who don’t belong to a union are forced to work “at will.”

Seniority rights

Seniority rights

You have rights and protections that correspond with your years of service in your industry. For example, your employer may not replace you with another worker simply because he or she is younger and is paid lower wages.

What is the Grievance Procedure?

1

If a union member thinks his or her rights under the union contract have been violated, the first step is to discuss the matter with a union representative. Should the union determine a violation of the contract may have occurred, there will be an attempt to resolve the issue with the employer.
2

If a resolution is not reached, a meeting and/or phone conference is held with the employer in a further attempt to resolve the issue. If it is still not resolved, the issue may proceed to the final step.
3

This step involves arbitration, in which an outside neutral arbitrator hears the case from both union and company representatives and delivers a binding decision.

The Union Difference

Participation in job-provided health insurance1

Union members are more likely to have quality health care as part of their employment.

Union workers

84%

Nonunion workers

54%

Participation in guaranteed (defined-benefit) pension plans

Union workers usually can look forward to a reliable income after they retire. Non-union workers are not as fortunate.

Union workers

69%

Nonunion workers

13%

Workers with paid sick leave

Union members are more likely to get the time off they need to recover from an illness or injury, or to care for a loved one.

Union workers

93%

Nonunion workers

75%

1095

Union workers’ median weekly earnings

892

Nonunion workers’ median weekly earnings2

1 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2020.
2 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Union Members 2018-2019, January 2020.