Here’s the TL;DR:
Management came with some proposals — but nothing on wages or AI.
We asked management to start meeting weekly to speed up negotiations — and they said no.
What’s next for the union? Please read to the end.
At Tuesday’s bargaining session, management opened with a reconciliatory tone about “narrowing the gap” between both sides of the table — and then proceeded to not address any of our proposals about wages, artificial intelligence, remote work or severance.
Management’s latest “mini package” deal focused on the company subsidizing additional medical leave in certain situations related to the Family and Medical Leave Act, which was one of our requests starting back on Day One. In return for this concession, management requested we agree to its paid time off and leave of absence proposals: one floating holiday and one more day for bereavement (up to four from three). Accepting this offer would mean no more bargaining over the amount of PTO we get, additional holidays (like the day after Thanksgiving), bereavement and issues related to leaves of absence.
Despite weeks of pressure from workers, a petition with nearly 2,000 signatures from the public, flyering at farmers markets, an informational picket that garnered local coverage and a flood of emails, that's all management came to the table with. As the bargaining committee has said before, it’s hard to agree to anything without seeing the company’s complete offer on other major issues like wages, AI and severance. We told management as much.
Management did not share a reason for why it did not bring an updated AI or wage proposal to the table. And they have still not shared any information about the company’s financial health to justify its positions.
We also asked management to make these bargaining sessions weekly, rather than biweekly, to help speed this process along. Management flatly rejected the request.
Overall, it was a lackluster session that spurred conversations about what comes next for the union.
We have all exerted an incredible amount of pressure against the company, but we have yet to see management budge on key issues related to wages or AI. We now need to make a decision as a unit about next steps.