Rite Aid workers in 35 Rite Aid stores from the Akron, Canton and Youngstown area tried to negotiate their union contract with company officials on Wednesday, April 16. The contract for these workers – separate from the 25 Cleveland area stores – expires on April 2, 2011.
Rite Aid management appears to be using the same tactic against these workers as they did with workers from 25 stores in the Cleveland area: strip workers of the right to participate in the union health care plan – then force all families into Rite Aid’s higher-cost private plan.
Union members are scheduled to meet again with Rite Aid management at the end of March to see if the company will drop their scheme to gouge workers and families with unfair health care costs.
ILWU Organizing Director Peter Olney was on hand in Ohio to observe the negotiations on March 16th, as well as contract talks during the previous day in the Cleveland area. “The issues seem to be the same for Rite Aid employees across the country, with the company trying to shift outrageous health care costs onto the backs of workers and their families, “ said Olney. “Rite Aid workers are coming together and approaching this in a united way,” he added.