Pros
It is better than no job. If you are a tier A employee in the Tacoma District you have wonderful benefits and pay. Plenty of entry level positions. If you are willing to "play the game" there are great opportunities for career advancement. If you are military they have special programs to help you get management positions. Safeway is good about working with special needs people. Union Safety
Cons
Your to-do list, or expectations are 100 tasks long but the company only gives you time to complete about 80%. They openly acknowledge this system but still expect you to get everything done. Safeway constantly portrays the image of a "family company" but most people work such erratic hours, holidays and weekends and stores that it's very difficult to get time off when you would want to spend with your family. The only reason half the checkers get enough hours to support their family is because they offer to stay late or come in early or they are "on call". To be honest, I don't know if the issues we are currently facing here in the Tacoma District are an issue just here or across the company. But if you are a tier B employee you have to work around 4 or more years to get decent benefits and that's if you can get full time work. Many checkers have been working for the company for 25 plus years and can't get more than 25 hours a week. Every three years when a new contract comes up the company takes more and more away from the employees. We pay more for our benefits, haven't had a decent raise in 10 years only get paid holiday pay for certain holidays and right now they are open for Christmas and Thanksgiving also and are fighting to give us only a $1 an hour extra if we do work holidays. When I first started with the company ten years ago, we had BBQ's to celebrate milestones, gain sharing when your store performed well, safety prizes for maintaining a safe store, award ceremonies and $ prizes for outstanding customer service. There was a lot of pride inside the company. Currently this has COMPLETELY eroded away. The moral in the Tacoma District is very sad.
