The problem is the way Phil Woodman went about this. He hired lawyers with questionable backgrounds and then sent his supervisors into the stores with false information to make things worse. The Union NEVER wanted to take over the profit sharing program. All they wanted was to see if the contribution to the profit sharing program could be increased to benefit ALL profit sharing program members. Whats wrong with US getting more of the profits? Phil has handed out many "discretionary bonuses" over the years. Have any of you heard of a cashier, a bagger, or even a warehouse worker getting one of those "discretionary bonuses" because they did their job correctly? Me either. Im all for those that work to get rewarded but come on!
This fight is long from over. The NLRB has yet to rule the first petition valid. Now the second petition is going to be reviewed by a Federal Judge. At some point, do you think that Phil and his lawyers could be quiet for a minute and let some decisions be heard? He says he is listening to what the employees want...yet...I think he is only hearing what he wants to hear. I want my union representation. I want that guarantee that I have a full time job and insurance waiting for me everyday. Without the union....where is our guarantee? Phil wont give you a guarantee. He wont even give us straight answers, when we asked him and Clint. Perhaps you all forget the responses he gave us in his meetings a few months back. "I cant discuss that with you because you are under union contract....but trust me!" Of course Im paraphasing but Im sure you all heard something similiar to it, just as I did. Well, Mr. Woodman...hear this! I WANT MY UNION REPRESENTATION and Im deeply offended by the way YOU have handled this situation. You say its our store too. You are quite proud of this chain of "Employee Owned" stores. Im proud of my work and my co-workers. I am NOT proud of the way this is going down and I hope it ends soon for all of our sakes and the sake of OUR customers.

www, why does the truth hurt so much. It is not my fault that their fish and meat do not even compare to fresh food markets such as Logli's.

majormojo-nice post,not,since you wrote ALMOST the same post a month ago.but you left out about,waiting in line behind 300 people on the south side.grow up there is life after shakeys.you said,woodys meat@ fish dept. was the joke of the town. i think garyprimer and you take the cake on that one.

Could we please stop the comparisons to Wal-mart and GM? Honestly, the issue is that over half of the Woodman employees signed a petition to decertify the union. It was accepted by corporate last week and I believe filed with the NLRB. The union sent all of the Woodman employees Union Withdrawal Cards on April 8th, and yet they can't accept the fact that we don't want them. The union is harassing the employees and whining to the NLRB and the press. Local 1473 needs to get over the fact that they lost Woodman's and concentrate on fixing their problems with other stores like the one irishgirl works at. This pep-rally just demonstrates how much the union is in denial.

gmretirednow:

Service is only one aspect-so is choice. Walmart on balance has been a huge benefit for american consumers, especially rural consumers,so has home depot, every major deparment store, every large grocery store, and so on. I must be the only one who consistently receives great service from people. No, I dont think so, because if those large big box stores did not provide service at competitive prices-they would not exist.

I would be curious to know if you employee a third party mediator to negiotiate wages and benefits for your unskilled labor? This is the issue, unskilled labor. I worked at gm during the summer to pay for my college education-I paid union dues, did not receive any benefits, but I earned a disproportionatly high wage for a high school student. GM has far more problems than union labor.

Jay- you are the one providing for your family-not your union. Did you ever consider that you might be underpaid? Perhaps you are worth more than the union payscale based on seniority. The fact remains that 90% of private employees belong to a union. If the vast majority benefits without one-why is this difficult to understand?

As for mom and pop stores-the goal in business is to turn a profit. No one is guaranteed a living. Were have all the buggy whip and horse drawn carriage companies gone? Hell were, is Parker Pen?

I would like to see Mr. Woodman do something right for the customer for once. 3 times in the last couple of months I had to return rotten food after getting home and opening it up!! Their meat and seafood selection are the joke of the town. Logli's gets my business for all my fresh steaks and seafood needs.

As a retired union worker I think that all need to experience the difference working with or without a union. I had no problem being backed up whenever I needed my union rep. to help me. Also as a small business owner, it sure would be nice if us American people would wake up and smell the coffee when making a purchase from a big box store and not the local mom and pop stores. You will not ever get good service from a big box store. I believe Mr. Woodman will do what is right for his employees if he can. I know how he feels with all the big box store competition!

i have been shopping at woodmans for about 15 years now. in that time i have gotten to know many employees. i have heard them say they had not been paid that week because checks were late and it had happened more then a few times. how can people pay their mortgage if they are not being paid at work on time ? my biggest concern is that many employees come to work sick and then i get sick and so do you.

Woodmans has the lowest prices around, now they want to pay the lowest wage! Welcome to walmart and badger care. It's unfortunate, I always thought the Woodman family was more concerned for their workers and not their pocketbook. Oh well.

Seeing woodmans in operation since I was a child, and knowing quite a few people who work there including higher up management. I can tell you one thing.

Its employee owned, but those who have enough time in to see the benefits of their work through stock in the company are either pushed into management or out the door. That is with or without a union, without a union its easier. Then they use as many workers as they can until they cost more than hiring a new employee to train.

Welcome to Walmart.

TCB, I agree the global economy has boomed, but a big reason for this is the continued search for cheaper and cheaper labor and we have no one to blame but ourselves. Unfortunately companies are being pushed to find ways to sell their products or services at the cheapest possible price and the consumers are doing the pushing. We use to take pride in buying products locally, now we would rather save a few dollars at the nearest mega mart with products from third world countries than shop at locally owned mom and pop shops. (Oh wait; there aren’t any mom and pop stores anymore!) Say what you want about unions, but I have been able to provide very well for my family because of my union and I am very proud to belong to a union and will raise my kids accordingly.
In a race for lower wages, there are no winners.

Why is the union afraid to let the employees vote, they are the ones that wanted to decertify the union in the first place? They arel located in CA and never did anything for the employees anyway except take there dues. And I am sure now they dont to lose that.

seems to me many of these commenters are forgetting the high prices of everything now. Or maybe, THEY are the ones who have all the money and can write-off their gasoline to the taxpayers. Truth can be so blind at times.

work with our unions or you will find every illegal immagrant in the US working our jobs for pennies

Phil Woodman is a good business man. He knows he needs good employees. That's just shallow saying that he could drop wages. If you want good help then you need to pay them. Phil knows that and the employees know that and a union isn't going to help that at all.

I agree with WSK and Wahoo_35 - Labor Unions are a thing of the past. They'll toot their own horn, "We got you this..." but are quiet on what they gave up. Profit Sharing is an excellent idea and I'm not talking about just for the big dogs, I mean EVERYONE in the company shares in the success. It is amazing how that first profit sharing check jump starts an interest in the welfare of the company, creative ideas for promotions, cost-saving suggestions, and definitely more frugality in how the business is run, especially in terms of quality workmanship. When I think of labor unions, I think of GM and how hard it is to fire the bad seed employees...workers comp fraud, fighting, chronic absenteeism, drugs... At the least, the dreg employees drag morale down, undermine management, and give the company a bad image through word of mouth. It would be interesting to see how Janesville stacks up against the other plants in those categories.

Jay22:

Where have you been? Today, only 7 percent of private-sector workers belong to unions (down from 20 percent in 1983). What has happened to the global economcy since 1983-massive expansion. Today, the national unemployment rate hovers around 5%. This despite an influx of illegal aliens, a looming recession, a housing crisis, a gas crisis-an so on. Based on your view of the economy you'd think we were a nation of soup lines and day laborer shops-nothing could be further from the truth.

I have written this before, once upon a time unions represented legitimate grievances of workers and offered a counterbalance to businesses that conspired to restrict competition at the expense of consumers.

That was then, this is now. This is one reason why many of Woodman's employee wish to decertify the Wooman union-they dont see the value in it. Not a conspiracy-it's a practical move.

Don Diego-What will stop woodman from reducing wages? Competiton. If the wages that Woodmen offers are less than the wages his competitors offer-guess what- in order to retain his employees, Woodman will be forced to pay higher wages to retain those employees. This is how a market clearing economy works.

To Don_Diego--Happy employees make more profit. Phil is not stupid. He will not mess with a good thing. It's a win-win situation. All of the good things that we enjoy are because of Phil and his advisors, not the union. The union just causes chaos in our stores. As to Jay22's comment--Maybe if the unions weren't so greedy and actually looked out for the employees, these things wouldn't happen as much. But keep in mind, we aren't talking unions in general, we are talking about UFCW Local 1473.

Let’s see, unions losing members and strength, more and more American jobs going over seas, anyone think that may be related? I guess when people hit rock bottom they’ll wake up, it’s just too bad history is doomed to repeat itself. Maybe they should teach a little more labor history in our schools and explain what happens when big business runs the country. As to the employees of Woodman’s, remember the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Good luck.

What will stop Phil from dropping wages and benefits when the union is gone? What recourse will the employess have then?

Labor Unions are a thing of the past, I know I used tp belong to one, UAW 95, they too, are worthless, as you can see.
I was paying 50 some bucks a month and I am out of a job.

If the union thinks that Phil Woodman is trying to make his employees get rid of the union, why won't they let us vote on it? If they think he's behind it, just let us vote. They know the majority doesn't want them and that is why they are dragging this out, not letting us vote and making false claims. Thankfully they are no longer taking union dues out, so I don't have to pay for their worthless reps anymore.

To miltonalum, we don't have a pension anymore, because it kept losing money. We have only profit sharing, which grows a hell of alot faster than that pension ever did.

I take issue with the title of this article. The Woodman's employees did NOT plan this rally. This is propoganda by the union, not us. Why would we plan a rally after we've kicked the union out?

I too pay union dues at my job, to the same union Woodman's belong's to. The only thing they have done for me is take my money, and I would be happy to see them gone from my job as well. Stay strong Woodman employees!!

Are you nuts? The union has done NOTHING for us, except harass us non-stop for the last three and a half months. Phil pays better than average, gives better benefits (of which the union has nothing to do with), and gives a better retirement than the union could ever dream of. The union representatives cannot even tell people what it is that they have done for us when asked directly. When someone does not do their job, you fire them. The union has not done their job, so we fired them. It's just that simple.

If it's employee owned why would you need a union? Seems counter productive to me.

He must have them all brainwashed into pushing the union out, letting wages fall and benefits suffer along with the pension plan. A good business move on his part, sad the employees dont see the writing on the wall.