Polly’s Country Markets Union Workers in Jackson Ratify New Contract

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 951 voted this week to ratify a new two-year contract at Polly’s Country Markets, a family-owned local grocery store chain located in Jackson, MI, containing wage increases and improvements to paid time off.

“Family-owned grocery chains are rare and unique in this day and age,” John Cakmakci, UFCW 951 president, said.  “These Polly’s stores were unionized decades ago, and I’ve personally known members who have worked there for nearly 40 years.  We have a great group of members at Polly’s with people who really care about serving their community as store employees and as union members.”

UFCW 951 is the largest private sector union in the state, representing over 31,000 workers in a variety of industries, approximately 150 of which are Polly’s workers employed at four Jackson-area locations. The contract is effective October 12, 2025, and expires on November 13, 2027.

“We last ratified the Polly’s contract four years ago and a lot has changed with the economy since then,” said Cakmakci. “With this new contract, we wanted wages reflecting those changes and ultimately succeeded by putting more money into the pockets of Polly’s workers.”

John Jewell, a UFCW 951 member from Polly’s, said he enjoyed the contract bargaining experience and learned a lot from it.

“I have worked at Polly’s for 48 years,” said Jewell. “I noticed over the years there were employees on the bargaining committee that I never knew, or had only been there a few years, and you need someone with experience at Polly’s to bargain.  I like the raise we got.  In the last contract we got a dollar raise over four years.  This time I got $1.50 raise after one year.  This is a good contract!”

UFCW 951 is the largest private sector union in the state representing over 30,000 workers across Michigan in a variety of industries including grocery, retail, food processing, and the cannabis retail industry who are employed at a variety of companies including Meijer, Meijer Manufacturing, Kroger, JBS, JLL, Sunberry Beverages, Polly’s, Harding’s, Planned Parenthood of Michigan, and Zen Leaf. The UFCW International Union is the largest private sector union in the United States representing over 1.3 million UFCW members nationwide.

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