PCC Store Staff Vote to Ratify a Substantial Labor Contract That Reflects Co-op Values

Dear co-op members and shoppers,

Earlier this week, our union staff voted to accept the final contracts reached between our co-op and UFCW Local 3000. We began this process in June 2023 with PCC’s firm commitment to achieving a contract that reinforces our co-op’s reputation as a great place to work while also securing our long-term financial success. I am happy to share that we have successfully concluded this essential exercise to align with our staff members and design a collective agreement that will help shape the future of our organization.

This ratified agreement is the most substantial in PCC’s four-decade history of collective bargaining with the union, and it took more than eight months to complete. I certainly wish that we could have shared more details about our progress along the way, but in the spirit of collaborating with union leadership, bargaining in good faith, and respecting the overall integrity of the process, I hope you can understand that it would have been inappropriate for us to do so. Still, I deeply appreciate your patience, feedback and support along the way.

Our people are the heart and soul of our co-op, and this contract will make PCC store staff members among the best paid grocery workers in the region. In addition, our benefits package will continue to be among the strongest in the industry. We recognize that many factors determine just what it means to be a great place to work — wages, benefits, training, safety, and alignment with our purpose. We are extremely happy to implement a union contract that reflects our values, holds us to the highest standards possible and moves the co-op forward.

Through this contract, we are also welcoming increased staff involvement and voice in the co-op’s governance. Staff members now will have the right to nominate two staff trustees for the co-op’s board. As we have learned over the past three years, these two positions, currently served by Donna Rasmussen and Laurae McIntyre, are invaluable in amplifying the voices of staff and member-owners in the Board’s decisions. We have also partnered with the union and our staff members to establish a new Labor Management Committee that will work closely with PCC leadership and the Board to recommend ideas that enhance the co-op’s strategic direction as well as our mission regarding people, planet and profit.

This bargaining cycle required significant effort and focus to ensure that whatever we prioritized in this contract did not also compromise PCC’s long-term financial future. As many of you may have read in our annual Co-op Purposes Report, the co-op has made little or no profit in the last three years — and the triple bottom line focus of this business relies on sustained profitability for us to serve our people and the community better. Returning the co-op to sustained financial health is a multiyear process that began more than a year ago, and with the uncertainty related to this contract now resolved, we can commit fully to this journey.

Please know that throughout this process, all of us here at PCC have deeply appreciated your advocacy on behalf of our people, and your input and feedback along the way has been invaluable. Some of you have even asked what you can do to help, and while that question was hard to answer while we were bargaining, I want to answer it now.

Without hesitation, I invite you to visit and shop our stores more often —– this will help us more than anything else. As a local, independent, and community-owned grocer focused on good food that is sourced ethically and sustainably, our future and success is inextricably intertwined with the food choices of our members and shoppers. Shopping your neighborhood PCC is the best way to show your support for what we do, and how we do it — every basket of groceries at the co-op helps support a community of suppliers, producers and organizations who share our values.

A belief in community and the power of cooperative principles unites us within the walls of our stores — and has never felt more important to uphold. When you visit us, consider becoming a member (if you are not one), ask what specials we have for you, sample our fresh offerings and taste our wine, and experience the wisdom and friendliness of our team.

With gratitude,

Krish Srinivasan

CEO & President