It is a sign of retail’s unsettled state that the chief demand from striking Seattle-area Macy’s workers isn’t for more money but for less shoplifting.
While the dozens of Macy’s workers who began picketing early Black Friday at Westfield Southcenter in Tukwila and Alderwood mall in Lynnwood definitely want better wages in a new contract, their big ask is that Macy’s do more about the thieves who brazenly pilfer the stores and sometimes assault staff.
“It’s getting worse,” says Yasmina Grainat, 55, who was picketing at Alderwood with other members of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 3000, which represents around 400 workers at the state’s three unionized Macy’s stores: Alderwood, Southcenter and in Bellis Fair mall in Bellingham.
Grainat and others say Macy’s management does too little to deter the thieves or protect staff. Employees say they’re not allowed to interfere with thieves, or aid colleagues, but are told to report incidents to store security. But, “When I call security, no one picks up the phone,” says Grainat, who adds that the stress is too much at a job that pays a 23-year veteran just $20.73 an hour.
Employees’ frustration over shoplifting came to a head in May, when Macy’s purportedly suspended Alderwood employee Liisa Luick for three weeks without pay for calling the police over a suspected shoplifter in the parking lot, Luick and union officials say.
Luick, 56, says she called police only after store managers told her to contact mall security,...
KENNESAW, Ga. (InvestigateTV) - A Kennesaw homeowner discovered someone filed a fraudulent insurance claim for fire damage on her renovated home, sparking a months-long battle to clear her record a...