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
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
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
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?
The Union Difference
Participation in job-provided health insurance1
Union members are more likely to have quality health care as part of their employment.
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.
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.
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.
