11/19/2024
Good evening!
I am sure most of you received the IKEA text blast and phone call regarding our present strike. IKEA stated they are committed to keeping you informed of your options during this time.
Twelve years ago, the warehouse workers at IKEA Perryville voted to have the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) represent us. The IAM sent the negotiations committee to the Winpisinger Center (https://w3iam.org/) for negotiations prep classes. From someone who attended and was part of the initial contract negotiations, I can categorically state that it was a great experience. The IAM is committed to its members. Furthermore, the IAM is the only international union left in the US that has a training center which operates year-round offering leadership courses and various other training classes to help their members.
Local 460 is part of District 4 which is part of the Eastern States Territory (https://www.goiam.org/territories/eastern/). Dave Sullivan, the General Vice President of Eastern States was one of the first members from District 4 who negotiated our first contract demonstrating District 4’s commitment to Local 460. If you visit the page, you will note that Grand Lodge Representative George Edwards came out of District 4 as well. Our present Grand Lodge Representative Tiwaan Bradley has been directly involved in the 2024 IAM-IKEA contract negotiations. GLR Tiwaan Bradley was a shop steward from IKEA Westhampton before working full time for Eastern States. As a twenty-year IKEA employee, Tiwaan knows IKEA well. Like many people throughout the IAM organization, these men exemplify the spirit of “The Fighting Machinists”. Who are they fighting for? You and me.
Do not be discouraged during this time.
You voted “no” on the contract and “yes” to strike for a reason. The three pillars of a contract are a) wages, b) hours of work and c) working conditions. We elected the IAM to represent us because we wanted a better work-life balance, and we wanted better wages because we’re not just General Warehouse Coworkers, we’re Industrial Truck Operators – which means a big difference in pay because you are considered a skilled operator and not just a general laborer.
IKEA Perryville is no longer the only large operation in the area like it was twelve years ago. There are other large employers up and down the Route 40 corridor. The wages at IKEA Perryville are falling behind other warehouses and employers in the Cecil and Harford County area. We saw no cost-of-living adjustment language in this contract and nothing to future proof our present wages against inflationary activities. In fact, what we saw just the opposite. The minimum starting pays will not change over the present proposal and yet the turnover at IKEA Perryville continues to this day. We see new employees get trained, stay a while and go elsewhere. IKEA just can’t get people to stay. Yet, right now, IKEA is more than willing to pay contractors to come in and do our jobs and they are probably paying them well.
Those of us who have already demonstrated our commitment by being long term employees are being told we need to give up more of our seniority rights and accept the meager pay increases that don’t even cover the cost of living. Over the last twelve years, IKEA has continued using language like “You need to work with us.” during negotiations as we’ve given ground in an effort to accommodate their needs. What’s the end result? We’ve bled rights each and every contract. For example, we had one senior employee who IKEA named by name stating it was too cumbersome for them to allow him the freedom to come in late and have to be placed in the function of his choice. Thus, we conceded that if you were over an hour late, you would lose your seniority rights for job placement and IKEA could place you where they needed you in your respective department. Even that seniority right went away with the last contract despite that IKEA will routinely move people around throughout the day. Was it overly burdensome? No. It was just about control. This is just one example where the members of Local 460 have bled rights contract after contract in an effort to get along with IKEA. Now we are simply saying “no more IKEA”.
As mentioned earlier, wages and working conditions are pillars of a union contract. Why does IKEA want to do away with the remaining seniority rights in these present negotiations? It’s a fact that inflation over the last four years has greatly eroded our earning power. COVID was a gut punch to many businesses, but not IKEA. Why? We were deemed not non-essential. We worked through that period of uncertainty. How did IKEA make out?
$1.548B FY23
$776.78M FY22
$1.7B FY21
$1.26B FY20
$1.93B FY19
$7.215B TOTAL
As you can see, IKEA did just fine as they netted over $7 billion dollars. That means they paid all their bills and pocketed $7.215B. IKEA doesn’t have shareholders or stockholders to pay dividends. IKEA is a privately held company. When Local 460 negotiated our first contract, IKEA was netting between $3B-$5B annually. IKEA has had a bit of a turndown in their net income due to heavily investing in their supply chain over the past few years through automation and the expansion of the Customer Direct Center (CDC) warehouses and Store Distribution Services (SDS) warehouses to shorten their delivery times. How has that affected IKEA Perryville? We’ve seen our headcount drop by almost fifty percent. Once we had nearly six hundred employees in the warehouse, now we’re down to three hundred or so. They’re more than willing to pay $50-70M to automate the crane buildings, but why is IKEA unwilling to provide us with fair wage increases over the next contract?
We all know there is chaos inside the building. Team Leaders who have done our job in their past lives are now back on the warehouse floor trying to do the best they can. These same people who we work with on a daily basis are now having to relearn old skills to try and keep up with the demands of the stores and the website customers. Their job has always been to manage the work. Ours is to be productive and complete the work. They have a job to do. We have a job to do. Who ultimately is failed by IKEA not willing to negotiate in good faith? The customers who are buying IKEA goods.
The present leadership at IKEA Perryville isn’t big on negotiations. This has been born out during the final days of negotiations and in their Last Best and Final Offer. IKEA is once again unwilling to leave our seniority alone. Somehow doing away with the departments and nilly w***y planning the day’s work at the start of shift is supposed to be more efficient and more beneficial to the operation. You do this. You do that. If you’re an older person like me who did their time (almost a total of four years) case picking in the Plock Department, under IKEA’s latest proposal, I could easily end up being assigned to that work again. I’m no spring chicken. I’ve been able to move departments over the years and demonstrate that I’m a skilled and safe equipment operator. There are many, many people just like me. We come in, do our job to the best of our ability to get the day’s work done.
In closing, don’t worry about the people who may be crossing the picket line. Most are dues objectors who don’t understand the value of the contract we have with IKEA. Everyone’s making the decisions they believe are best for them. Let them. You stick to your guns with the rest of us and we may end up with a decent contract from IKEA. We’re not asking for a lot.
- Don’t do away with the departments.
- Respect our seniority rights.
- Give pay increases that offset inflation (since the One IKEA bonuses aren’t guaranteed).
- Don't eliminate the grace periods. The warehouse is 1.8M square feet, leave the grace periods we have alone.
Heck maybe even give the Buddies, Save Team, Trainers, Smart Mentors who are all voluntarily doing extra work IKEA management doesn’t have to do a differential. IKEA’s done it in other DCs why not ours?
So, see you on the picket line. There will be Strike Captains, the Local 460 leadership, and other IAM leadership coordinating things during the strike. Show up when you're scheduled, stay out of the roadways, listen to your leadership, not IKEA. We need to cover times from 6am to 10am for the morning shifts and the afternoons 5pm and 7pm when they are leaving.
In solidarity.
An old guy from IAM Local 460.
