NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
BUY UNION
September 15, 2017 | PAGE 11
UNION ORGANIZING
Safeway.com drivers in Tukwila
join Teamsters Local 174
Morel Ink: Owners change, union remains
Morel Ink, a union print shop and
mail house, is under new owner-
ship. In July, longtime owners
Bill Dickey and Matt Witham
sold the business to longtime em-
ployees Scott Ballo and Alli
Wood and their spouses Shauna
Ballo and Ben Wood. Dickey will
continue on as an employee.
Morel Ink, named for the wild
mushroom Dickey learned to pick
growing up in Oregon, employs
19 members of Teamsters Local
747-M. They earn wages of about
$26 an hour on average, plus
health and retirement benefits.
Local 747-M is part of the Team-
sters’ Graphic Communications
Conference.
Morel specializes in political
direct mail for union-friendly po-
litical candidates and organiza-
tions. It also produces union mail-
ing, banners and signs, including
picket signs. Production takes
place at its main facility at 4824
NE 42nd Avenue in Portland and
at its subsidiary, ADCO Commer-
cial Printing & Graphics in Van-
couver. Morel Ink also mails the
NW Labor Press.
Scott Ballo, at Morel since
2009, formerly worked for
union-backed political groups and
politicians like former Oregon
governor Ted Kulongoski. His
wife Shauna Ballo was formerly
a communications director for
SEIU Local 49 and for Basic
Rights Oregon. Alli Wood has
worked as Morel’s bookkeeper
since 2004.
Almost 70 delivery drivers at
Safeway.com voted Sept 6 to
join Teamsters Local 174, a
historic victory with poten-
tially wide-ranging effects, as
these are the first Safeway.com
delivery drivers in the nation
to vote to join a union.
Voting was conducted by
the National Labor Relations
Board.
“This is huge for us. Every-
one at this company was a
union member except for us,”
said Safeway.com driver and
lead organizing committee
member Dan Oliver. “And it
was clear from our compensa-
tion, benefits, and the way we
were treated at work that not
being union was hurting us.
All of that is going to change
now.”
“I am so proud of these
guys for standing up for their
rights,” said Local 174 Organ-
izer Meaza Ogbe. “It takes
courage to stand up to your
employer and demand re-
spect, and these guys had
courage to spare.”
The organizing victory
comes at a critical moment in
the home grocery delivery in-
dustry, as Seattle-based prod-
uct delivery juggernaut Ama-
zon has recently purchased the
upscale grocery chain Whole
Foods.
“This is not just a big win
for these Safeway.com driv-
ers, but this is a foot in the
door for other organizing op-
portunities in this same indus-
try in the future,” said Local
174 Secretary-Treasurer Rick
Hicks. “Home grocery deliv-
ery is a growing industry, and
from this day forward, it is go-
ing to be an industry that in-
cludes the Teamsters Union.”
Teamsters Local 174 repre-
sents Safeway distribution
center drivers who operate out
of facilities in Auburn and
Bellevue delivering groceries
to stores across the state. The
drivers and warehousemen re-
cently ratified the richest con-
tract in their history.
The next step is for the
union and the company to sit
together and negotiate a first
contract for the drivers, who
deliver customers’ grocery or-
ders from Safeway stores di-
rectly to their homes, on a
strict timeline to preserve the
groceries’ freshness.
“This just-in-time, right-to-
your-home delivery system is
not just the next step for the
grocery industry — it’s the
next step for the entire pack-
age delivery industry,” said
Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer
Rick Hicks. “This is the fu-
ture, and it is a future in which
Teamsters Local 174 will be
an active participant.”
Teamsters Local 174 repre-
sents approximately 7,200
workers in the Seattle area.