Teamsters Local 166
Business Representative
Ralph Ferri
Ralph Ferri representing
Canteen Vending Services
Canteen employees with questions concerning their Health and Welfare benefits should contact Jackie at (800) 237-9834.
Azusa Costco Wholesale #412
Chino Hills Costco Wholesale #473
Coachella Costco Wholesale #441
Corona Costco Wholesale #432
Montebello Costco Wholesale #459
Moreno Valley Costco Wholesale #455
Rancho Cucamonga Costco Wholesale #449
Employees having questions regarding their pensions should call the Local Union office on Tuesdays during regular business hours and ask for Emerson Diaz .
Costco employees having questions regarding their benefits should contact their Human Resources Manager or Administrative Manager in the warehouse.
Contract questions, grievances, and other issues should be directed to me at the Local Union office @ (909) 877-8326
June News Report
By Ralph Ferri
At Costco, most warehouses are having a big push for member service and employees are being told to sign documents that say they must greet every customer that comes within five feet of them as well as many other things. At the bottom of these documents it says that the rules are a condition of employment and failure to comply may result in termination. While the intention of these documents is obviously to improve member service, the wording and the threat at the bottom leave much to be desired. At the July 1, 2010 Joint Labor Management meeting held at Local 542 in San Diego, the issues that have come to the attention of the Union Business Representatives were discussed in length with Mike Mosteller and Jack Stephens from the Costco Labor Relations department. Mike M. explained that they had no knowledge of these documents prior to them being released and also explained that the push for member service was going to continue because many businesses are pushing member service to keep customers. The Business Agents at the meeting fully recognize the importance of member service but also feel that the policy should make sense. Most of what is on the member service documents is nothing new but the 5ft. rule and the threat at the bottom of each document is not found on any of the old documents. Mike Mosteller explained that this is supposed to be a “common sense” type of thing and employees only need to greet members that make eye contact with them. I asked why then didn’t the policy say that but I didn’t really receive a good response. After all agents in attendance offered up their complaints on the issue, Mike M. did say that he was going to go to his boss, Dennis Zook, and ask him to have just one document for everybody that includes a clearer explanation of what the Company is looking for. Mike M. also told the committee that if any of us are having a problem at any particular warehouse to call them and they would talk to the manager of that location.
Local 166 is waiting to see if they do consolidate all these member service documents prior to deciding what further action to take, if any. At this time an Et Al grievance has been filed for a contract violation. The Company is supposed to post and simultaneously send a copy to the Union of any new rule or policy, the breach of which is cause for disciplinary action. That was not done. The grievance also contends that the new policy is unreasonable and un-enforceable, specifically the 5 ft. rule. Hopefully this can be resolved without having to involve the Labor Board.
Another hot topic at the Costco/Teamsters JLM was a recent memo that was sent out to the warehouses telling the managers to be sure that all their employees are properly statused. At the Rancho Cucamonga Costco, management has been calling employees into the office and telling them that they must assume full-time clerk positions or be demoted to assistants. In one specific case, the employee is a 27 year employee who works as a stocker/front end person. If you earned your clerk in a combo position, Mike Mosteller confirmed that you do not have to do clerk work your entire shift. You must, however, do clerk work in the portion of your shift that you earned the clerk status in. In other words, if you earned clerk coming to the front end and cashiering, you can’t just refuse to cashier after you get the clerk status. You do get clerk pay for your entire shift though.
Summer is here and many of you will be taking vacations. Please keep in mind that you can only carry over one week of vacation from this year to the next. In some cases, employees repeatedly put in for vacation and are denied. It is recommended that you keep all denied vacation request so that if this happens to you, we can show that you tried to take your vacation and were continually denied and therefore should be allowed to carry over your vacation in excess of the one week allowed to the next year.
Local 166 will be having membership meetings through the summer this year on the second Thursday of each month at 7:30 at the Local Union office.
