New Seasons workers strike for better working conditions in NW Portland
PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - About two dozen front-end employees at New Seasons Market’s location in northwest Portland walked off the job Sunday demanding better working conditions and better pay.
The day-long strike started mid-morning and lasted most of the day. NSLU, the labor union that represents hundreds of New Seasons employees, has been in contract negotiations with the grocery store company for more than a year.
Taylor Orendruff, a cashier at New Seasons, said Sunday’s strike was in response to a growing workload that they said is not in their department’s job description.
“We are striking because of the duties of Instacart shopping, there was a position in the store specifically for that,” Orendruff said. “It’s now being rolled into front-end duties in addition to all the other duties we have as cashiers.”
They said the company made this unilateral change to all of its locations while contract negotiations were still ongoing.
“It’s a pretty big job, it’s time-consuming, and because we’re already short-staffed in the front end,” Orendruff said. “We already have the duties of cashiering and taking care of all the people who are coming in person to the store. That would be a lot of work to add to our plates.”
New Season Market was founded in 2000 and has become a staple in the Portland community with locations spread across the metro area. On the company’s website, they pride themselves in being a progressive company with a focus on the community and the neighborhoods their stores serve. Orendruff said for workers, the community-focused culture has changed over the years.
“That feeling of community and friendliness is not what it used to be. I think that’s something were trying to change too.”
Orendruff said striking is more than just protesting the new workload, they said it’s about safer working conditions and better pay. Across the company, they said there is a general feeling of frustration among store-front employees that negotiations have been going on for over a year, with no deal close to being made.
“I think that having a good contract would positively affect so many people at New Seasons to have a living wage, to having an attendance policy that allows people to keep working and not being fired when they’re sick or taking needed time off, or having health care to live,” Orendruff said.
New Seasons Market sent FOX 12 a statement about the strike:
“New Seasons staff are the heart of our business, and we’re proud of our legacy as a progressive and community-focused employer....”
“...We respect and support the union’s right to organize and express themselves. We will continue to negotiate in good faith, following the process set by the National Labor Relations Board.”
Orendruff said a better contract would not only benefit all front-end workers but also the customers.
“I think that if workers are well-paid, they’re healthy, they’re happy. They’re not having to come to work sick we can offer a lot more to our community that way,” they said.
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