With the simple, direct message of 'You Are Worth More,' United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 has begun recruiting cashiers, stock clerks and other employees at Twin Cities big-box retailers such as Target and Wal-mart.

The campaign hopes not only to successfully unionize stores within the giant retail chains, but to raise public consciousness and to drive up wages, benefits and working conditions for retail workers across the Twin Cities.

That, says Local 789 president Bill Pearson, will do more than just improve the general standard of living for some of the state's lowest-paid workers. It will also help protect the jobs of 18,000 unionized grocery workers represented by Local 789 in St. Paul and Local 653 in Minneapolis.

'The last 10 years have been incredible for a lot of workers,' Pearson said. 'But the last 10 years haven't been incredible for a lot of workers. We've forgotten about them.

'As a union in retail, we have to set the standard. We know the discount stores are going to open. They can drag us down or we can drag them up.'

Retail wages, conditions lag
Driving up wages in retail is more than a union issue, Pearson said. 'The economy is treating these people like throwaways,' he said. 'We need to talk about a real living wage. We need people to ask, ?Why can't I make a living at this job?' We need to create a movement of citizens committed to better wages and benefits for the workers in our community.'

Retail is one of the fastest-growing areas of the economy, Pearson notes, and job growth is forecast at 15 percent. Yet employee turnover is almost 50 percent, wages for even full-time employees are usually less than $10 an hour, only 38 percent of employees have health benefits, and virtually none have pensions.

'The fact is, the marketplace treats them as second-class citizens,' Pearson said. 'If you're not happy, you leave.'

In the Twin Cities, the median wage was $7.48 an hour for retail cashiers and $8.06 an hour for retail stock clerks, according to the Minnesota Department of Economic Security Research and Statistics Office's 1998 Salary Survey.

But retail workers under union contracts with Local 789 average more than $13 an hour, Pearson said, with health insurance, pension and other benefits.

Spreading the message
Pearson and Local 789 organizer Bernie Hesse say their multilevel campaign will combine traditional organizing techniques with new strategies. At the root of it all is the message 'You Are Worth More.'

'We want to send a positive message,' Hesse said. 'Everybody deserves a decent job, everybody deserves respect, everybody deserves to be paid more.'

The message will be backed up by statistics comparing wages and benefits between union and non-union stores.

'If it's the same job, why the difference?' Pearson said. 'Our whole campaign is to convince those workers and the community that they're worth more.

'It's not a bad thing to work there. What's bad is not being paid what you're worth.'

One message, multiple strategies
Organizers already are talking with workers individually, distributing literature and attracting the attention of store managers. The local has created a web site - www.YouAreWorthMore.org - where workers can get more information on building a union campaign at their store. Through its local magazine and at meetings, the local is recruiting volunteers and building support among its own members, stressing the advantages of union contracts and the risk superstores present.

Other tactics and events are being developed to involve other union members and the community at large.

'Our task is to decide how we capture people's imaginations,' Pearson said.

'We're not going to be asking people not to shop at a certain store,' Hesse said. 'But everybody's a consumer. They can talk to workers, hand them a card that says ?You Are Worth More,' with our number on it.

'We can raise the profile of grocery workers, make sure other union people know these are union workers,' he said.

'This has nothing to do with Target being good or bad,' Pearson said. 'It's about workers. If Target doesn't want a union, it's simple. They pay their workers more. If we don't succeed in organizing Target workers, but everybody at Target gets a $2 raise, I'll sleep fine.'

Superstores put union jobs at risk
Unionized grocery stores in the Twin Cities - such as Byerly's, Cub Foods, Lund's, and Rainbow Foods - face increasing pressure as national retail chains such as Target begin opening 'superstores,' which add full-service grocery departments to their traditional stores.

A prime example of the new trend in retailing is the SuperTarget concept. Such stores combine the merchandise found in a Target Greatland with what Target calls an 'upscale' supermarket.

The supermarket portion, called Archer Farms Market, includes fresh meat, seafood and produce; a bakery and delicatessen; a floral department; a bank; a portrait studio and one-hour photo service; and a juice and coffee bar. A typical SuperTarget covers 175,000 square feet, compared with 135,000 for a Target Greatland and 90,000-125,000 for a regular Target.

Target expects to open its first local SuperTarget in July at 3400 N. Lexington in Roseville. Two other SuperTargets are scheduled to open in October in Chaska and Minnetonka, and four others have been proposed for Inver Grove Heights, Lakeville, Lino Lakes and Rogers. Wal-mart has Super Wal-marts in Hibbing and Rochester, and Costco opened a Twin Cities superstore in November, near Highway 100 and Interstate 394 in St. Louis Park.

This article was written for The Union Advocate newspaper. Used by permission. The Union Advocate is the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org