Isha Matko might have the best smile in the grocery industry today. But don’t let her smile fool you, she’s one of the toughest Shop Stewards fighting for her coworkers and our union today. Isha’s warm personality has been serving the customers at Gristedes 562 in Manhattan for nearly 10 years; it even has customers stopping by the store just to chat with her. “My favorite thing about my job is meeting all types of people, I love it,” Isha explained, “I’ve met so many great people working here, some of our customers just stop by to say Hi to me and see how I’m doing, not even to shop!”
Isha’s powerful & caring personality makes her a natural leader, “I love being needed, when anyone needs somebody, I’m there, I’m the voice. I have no problem butting heads with managers. I tell my coworkers if there’s a disagreement with a manager, come get me and I’ll fight for you, and they know I will.”
She loves being a part of the union, this is her first union job and she says she’ll never go back, “I tell my coworkers, say you’re working at a non-union store, one morning your manager comes in and he/she had a bad night, and you say one wrong thing to him/her, and he/she fires you right there. Doesn’t matter if you’re working there for two, three or 15 years, you’re fired, end of story. If you had a union, this could never happen, that’s what the union is about, we have a strong voice, we are one, we have security, and who wants to live without security.”
Isha has been an exceptional Shop Steward for seven-years, she’s a health food nut, loves and is glad her husband Daniel Matko (Shop Steward from Gristedes 99) is in her union.