Serving Colorado & Wyoming
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Kim C. Cordova Kevin R. Schneider President Secretary-Treasurer Serving Colorado & Wyoming PAGE 2 VOICE OF 7 UFCW LOCAL 7 Kim C. Cordova Union Leadership President Message From The President Page 3 Kevin R. Schneider Message From The Secretary-Treasurer Page 4 Local 7 Elected Officials Create Historic Hardship Fund Page 5 Secretary-Treasurer Member News JBS & King Soopers Local 7 Member Memorial Page 6 7760 W. 38th Ave Reflection on 2020 - Advocating for our Essential Heroes Page 7 Wheat Ridge CO 80033 UFCW Local 7 Protests at Denver OSHA Office Page 7 (303) 425-0897 800-854-7054 It Pays to be Local 7 Union Wins Page 8 www.ufcw7.org The Fight Against Right to Work Page 8 Union Privilege Discounts Page 9 Colorado Springs, CO 1120 N. Circle Dr. Member Information Finding Your Union Representative Page 10 Suite 140 Local 7 Scholarship Winners Page 11 (719) 528-1572 Free College Benefit Page 11 Cheyenne, WY Local 7 Retired Staff Page 12 & 13 3415 Cheyenne St. 2019 & 2020 Retired Local 7 Members Page 14 & 15 Suite B Retiree Clubs Page 16 (307) 432-9968 Beck Letter Page 16 In Loving Memory of Local 7 Staff Page 17 Grand Junction, CO Local 7 Members’ 2020 Milestone Anniversaries Page 18 & 19 518 28 Rd. Suite B 105 Union Announcements (970) 361-3440 Healthcare Benefits Update Page 20 & 21 Consider Switching to Kaiser Permanente Page 22 & 23 Greeley, CO Consider Switching to UMR - A United Health Company Page 24 & 25 1006 9th Ave Save Money - Complete Your Health Assessment Page 25 (970) 304-9971 Important Colorado Legislation Updates Page 26 & 27 Local 7 Endorsed Candidates Page 28 Pueblo, CO Vote Yes on 118 - Paid Family and Medical Leave Page 29 720 North Main St Beware of Safety Concerns Page 30 & 31 Suite 311 2020 Contract Updates Page 32 (719) 561-0360 UFCW Local 7 In The News Noteworthy Mentions Page 31 President Kim Cordova Guest Commentary Page 34 & 35 Fall Edition 2020 The Voice of 7 is published by UFCW Local 7 semi-annually. VOLUME 1 ISSUE 5 PAGE 3 Dear Sisters and Brothers, In my 35 years as a member of UFCW Local 7, there has never been a more challenging year for our members and for our country. I couldn’t begin to talk about this year without mentioning our biggest loss; our nine sisters and brothers we lost to the coronavirus: Saul Sanchez, Tibursio Rivera López, Eduardo Conchas De La Cruz, Daniel Avila, Way Ler, Tin Aye, Randy Navarez, Karen Haws, and James McKay. Each of their memories serves as an inspiration for me, and for us all, for why we will never stop fighting to protect each other. This year we have faced unprecedented challenges, but we will stand together as we always have and get through this as a Union family. From the beginning of the pandemic, UFCW Local 7 sounded the alarm to our employers knowing they needed to act swiftly to protect your safety. Beginning in March we started to meet with the employers and the Governor to provide paid leave, safety interventions, PPE, and help with childcare and hazard pay. We established a million dollar hardship fund to help our members who had COVID-19 or COVID-19 related issues. We requested the collaboration of the NFL, the NHL, the MLB, and the NBA to partner with us and bring awareness to the essential workers such as meatpackers, retail, and healthcare. We took our concerns national when we got your stories in the Washington Post, the New York Times, every local and national network, and beyond. It has truly been disgusting to see how the employers have turned their backs on their essential workers. In the beginning of the pandemic they called you heroes and thanked you in commercials and on billboards. Once they started to see a spike in sales and began raking in billions of dollars, they took hazard pay away and have scaled back significantly on safety. Local Presidents and I continue to call on the employers to demand hazard pay and increased safety in your facilities. Instead of protecting and compensating you for taking care of our communities and risking your lives while doing so, they have stuffed their pockets and turned their backs on the people who needed them most. The COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the grocery stores at an alarming rate. We are closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on the health fund and pension funds. We have seen an increased cost in high dollar claims. United Healthcare reported approximately 161 COVID-19 claims totaling $3.3 million dollars. We are awaiting Kaiser Permanente’s report. As the world suffered from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, we have seen the volatility of the stock market and the impact on our pension fund. We are working closely with our consultants and plan professionals to monitor the health of both funds. COVID-19 exposed the reality and conditions our members work under everyday. Local 7 members are critical and essential workers and work through any manmade or natural disaster. During the next cycle of contract negotiations, we will propose language that will allow us to strike or reopen our contract during situations like we faced this year. If we had the right to walk off the job because of unsafe working conditions, the employers would think twice about refusing to prioritize workers and their needs. We will be fighting for essential and hazard pay. Quality and affordable healthcare and retirement benefits will continue to be a priority as well. On behalf of our Union, we continue to be proud to represent you and your courage during these difficult times. Our Union remains steadfast in our advocacy for all of our members and to show our country that Union solidarity will get us through this crisis together. In Solidarity, Kim C. Cordova PAGE 4 VOICE OF 7 To Our Local 7 Membership, At UFCW Local 7, we value each and every one of our sisters and brothers. It is my pleasure to report the updates from the last year. It is hard to believe that 2020 is coming to an end and 2021 will be here before you know it. While 2020 has been a challenging year, 2019 was a very good year for our Union. Our retail and meat pension plan produced 13.9% gains and continued to maintain its green status. The expected rate of return for the Pension Plan is 7.5%. Performance this year through the end of July is a negative 1.4%. Returns have been better the past few months and will hopefully continue on an upward trend through the rest of this year. Our Health Plan for the major grocers has been holding its own. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and continual increases in the cost of healthcare, whether it is the cost of medications or services rendered by doctors’ offices or hospitals, we have been able to maintain a few months of reserves in case we experience a couple months with significant claims to be paid. For those who are getting close to retiring from the stores or from Denver Processing or the Darling packing plants, our Retiree Health Plan is doing well. To be eligible for the Retiree Health plan, you must have been covered by the active health plan for 15 years. Having health coverage when you retire, especially before age 65, is important and can be very costly on the open market, especially if you have pre-existing conditions. However, the retiree health plan is capped at $500,000, so if you have exceeded $500,000 of Plan expenses during your career, you would not be able to participate. The employers have not increased their contribution level into the Retiree Health Plan since June 1993 and as a result, retirees who are on the Plan have been the ones to pay for all their increasing health care costs for the past 25 years. As it stands currently, the monthly costs for retirees who wish to be on the Plan are $735 per month for a single person or married couple who are both under age 65, $625 per month if a couple is married and one is under 65 and one is 65 or older on Medicare, and $330 per month for a single person or couple who are both 65 or older. A single person would thus pay $735 before age 65 and $330 per month starting at age 65. There is a one-time opt out choice; you have to waive coverage at the time you retire if you can get onto your spouse’s coverage and then you can exercise your option to take our retiree coverage at the time they lose their/your coverage as long as done within timelines defined within the plan document. Or if you become eligible for coverage under a new employer after you retire, you can do a one -time opt out of our retiree plan and then when your new employers coverage ends you can pick back up our retiree health coverage if you so choose (as long as done within timelines defined within the plan document), but you must contact the Plan office to discuss that opt-out option. Contact Zenith American Solutions at 303-430-9334 for more information. Despite the soberness of the moment, you will see a few things in this publication that are well worth celebrating. Your Strike Fund as of July 31, 2020 has grown to $24,142,906.87.