Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - After nearly eight months at the bargaining table, the Lexington Co-op Workers United officially signed a union contract on Wednesday with their employers on Hertel Avenue.
"Our goal is to be the best grocery store in Buffalo. Our goal throughout negotiations was to leverage the power of collective bargaining to make our great co-op even better. We've had eight months of intense, sometimes difficult, negotiations. I'm proud to say that together we've agreed to a contract that will support our continued progress toward our goals," says Tim Bartlett, General Manager of the Lexington Co-op.
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"The contract is generous, while maintaining a balance between customers, farmers, and staff. The contract has many provisions that will make the co-op an even better place to work. Today, we stand together with Workers United representatives and celebrate the beginning what we expect will be an illustrious and successful partnership in the next chapter of the club's history."
The contract goes into effect today, Aug 9, and will be good for three years, through August of 2026.
"One of the most important things to workers is a living wage, being able to pay rent, buy groceries," says Maxwell Bollman, union organizer of Lexington Co-op United. "Currently, the estimated living wage in Buffalo is around $18 [an hour] and the new starting wage is $16.50 [an hour], which is well above what other places in the area offer and really close to that living wage. We're also we were able to achieve more consistent raises, more fair raises."
"It's amazing, the weight lifting off of, not just the bargaining committee team's shoulders, but everyone that works in the co-op's shoulders to see this gets done," adds Philip Kneitinger, a four-year employee at the Hertel store. "Since the contract was delivered for the ratification vote on Friday, it seems like everyone has more of a spring in their step. Everyone's been very excited to talk about the provisions in the contract. Everyone is just so elated to see that we've gotten to the finish line and stepping through the door into a new era for the co-op."
Workers United, the team that helped the co-op workers unionize, have also helped Starbuck workers unionize.