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News and Updates
February 27, 2014
Congressional Budget Office: 40 Hours Bill Could Cost 1 Million Workers Their Health Care
Check out this blog from the AFL-CIO which highlights a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report showing that H.R. 2575, the misleadingly named Save American Workers Act, could cost 1 million workers their employer provided health care.
February 26, 2014
UFCW President Hansen Statement on Arizona Discrimination Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), today released the following statement opposing Arizona Senate Bill 1062.
“I urge Governor Jan Brewer to veto SB 1062. It is nothing more than a hate bill passed under the guise of protecting religious freedom. The legislation was drafted so broadly as to allow discrimination against nearly any Arizonan on religious grounds. But make no mistake—its target is members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. At a time when LGBT equality is advancing on several fronts, the Arizona legislature is seeking to relegate some of its citizens to second-class status. This is both shameful and unconstitutional. There is significant and growing momentum for equality across America on everything from employment nondiscrimination to the freedom to marry. Those who want to stop this momentum and protect the status quo are desperately trying to fight back. That is what SB 1062 and similar efforts are all about. At the UFCW, we have always been on the side of equality, both in our contracts and the law. We stand with business, labor, Republicans, and Democrats in calling for SB 1062 to be vetoed.”
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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.
February 26, 2014
UFCW President Hansen Statement on Arizona Discrimination Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), today released the following statement opposing Arizona Senate Bill 1062.
“I urge Governor Jan Brewer to veto SB 1062. It is nothing more than a hate bill passed under the guise of protecting religious freedom. The legislation was drafted so broadly as to allow discrimination against nearly any Arizonan on religious grounds. But make no mistake—its target is members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. At a time when LGBT equality is advancing on several fronts, the Arizona legislature is seeking to relegate some of its citizens to second-class status. This is both shameful and unconstitutional. There is significant and growing momentum for equality across America on everything from employment nondiscrimination to the freedom to marry. Those who want to stop this momentum and protect the status quo are desperately trying to fight back. That is what SB 1062 and similar efforts are all about. At the UFCW, we have always been on the side of equality, both in our contracts and the law. We stand with business, labor, Republicans, and Democrats in calling for SB 1062 to be vetoed.”
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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.
February 26, 2014
UFCW Members Lobby Legislators in Kentucky and Missouri
UFCW members in Kentucky and Missouri spent February 25th lobbying legislators inside their State Capitols. Both states are facing tough attacks from anti-worker forces.
In Kentucky, UFCW Locals 227 and 75 spent the day in Frankfort where they spoke with legislators about raising the state’s minimum wage and preventing Kentucky from becoming a right to work for less state.
In Missouri, UFCW Locals 655, 88, and 2 lobbied legislators in Jefferson City about expanding Medicaid and how harmful a right to work for less law would be to Missouri’s working families.
UFCW members who participated in lobbying felt like they were making a difference. “Lobby day is important because if we don’t come to Frankfort and tell our law makers exactly how we feel about certain subjects, they may never know,” said Amy Beasley from Local 227. “I think we did a great job, we were well prepared to talk about the issues. We all went into our meetings educated on right to work and the minimum wage bills that we need help from our legislators on. It seems like everybody had a good time and they feel encouraged about how the bills are going to proceed forward.”
UFCW member Jimmy Lappe from Local 655 was most pleased about the UFCW’s show of strength in the Capitol. “It’s incredibly important to come here and show legislators that workers support one another. We have to show legislators that we are a force who stands together and deserves to be heard. Right to work is a threat to all of us, not just a few of us.”
Members from both lobby days said they left knowing legislators better understood their concerns.
February 25, 2014
UFCW Local 555 Member Shares Her Story, Makes a Difference for Grocery Workers
Earlier this month, during UFCW Local 555’s Oregon Lobby Day, shop steward Sarah DeMerritt testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of legislation that would ease penalties for those who unknowingly or inadvertently sell alcohol to a minor for the first time.
It is an issue she knows all too well. In June of 2013, while working as a checker at Safeway in Lake Oswego, Oregon, she sold a six-pack of beer to someone she believed was of legal drinking age. But instead the customer was part of an Oregon Liquor Control Commission sting. A police officer interviewed and cited DeMerritt in her check stand as customers looked on.
“It was very humiliating,” she said. Despite having twelve and half years on the job and no previous offenses, DeMerritt was fired and charged with a Class A Misdemeanor. “Why would I risk my health benefits, my job, my seniority, my life?” she told the committee. “I thought the customer looked old enough to purchase alcohol and was a familiar neighbor that I had carded and sold to in the past.”
DeMerritt, who now works at Haggen, stressed that she takes her responsibility to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors very seriously and had passed all previous stings. Senate Bill 1546 would make penalties for first-time offenders more proportional.
Yesterday the Oregon House passed this legislation, joining the Senate in giving it overwhelming support. Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber said he will sign it into law.
“I do not want other employees to have this experience,” DeMerritt said. “I do not want them to have to fight so hard.” By having the courage to share her story, DeMerritt is helping make the system fairer for all grocery workers in Oregon.
February 19, 2014
UFCW President Hansen Statement on Gap’s Decision to Raise Wages
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Joe Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), today released the following in response to the Gap’s announcement that it would raise wages for its workers.
“Today’s announcement by the Gap that the retail chain is raising hourly wages for its 65,000 hourly retail workers serves as a challenge to Walmart. The Gap realizes that paying its hourly workers enough to support themselves is an investment in their business and in our economy.
“It is time for Walmart to stand up and lead by investing back into its 1.4 million U.S. workers with hourly pay increases. Academics at the University of California-Berkeley estimated that Walmart could well-afford a wage increase to at least $12.00 an hour for workers with minimal impact on consumer prices. DEMOS researchers outlined a clear plan for Walmart to cut back on its stock buy back program and raise wages in a way that benefits workers and shareholders alike.
“The time is now for Walmart to show leadership and responsibility to its workers and our communities-follow the Gap’s example and raise wages for every hourly Walmart worker.”
February 19, 2014
UFCW Local 555 Members Hold Oregon Lobby Day
Members of UFCW Local 555 spent February 12 at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem lobbying their legislators on issues important to working families. The legislative priorities discussed included paid sick leave, combatting wage theft, easing penalties for grocery clerks who unknowingly or inadvertently sell alcohol to a minor for the first time, and requiring disclosure of chemicals in children’s products.
UFCW members had a visible presence throughout the Capitol and found their lobbying experience extremely rewarding. “I am here today so that they can see me and I can speak from my heart about the issues instead of it being just a black and white piece of paper with a checkbox,” said Natalie Someda, who works at QFC in Portland. “Having the gold in the building today makes me feel proud that we are strong and that we are willing to work and sacrifice for union members and non-union workers.”
Ricardo Morales, a meat cutter at Safeway in The Dalles, agreed. “We’re all effected by the anti-worker laws that are trying to make it into Oregon. We won’t be bullied. We won’t go down without a fight.”
Several members talked about the impact lobbying can have. “If we have our representatives standing behind us, we will have a better life for us and our families,” said Barb Bilinowich, who works at Safeway in Springfield.
Heidi Stock, a pharmacy tech at Fred Meyer in Oak Grove, added, “Being here allows us to take things to the next level.”
The UFCW delegation was not lost on Senate President Peter Courtney. “The physical presence stands out and the gold really pops,” he observed. Members said they looked forward to an even bigger and better lobby day next year.
February 19, 2014
UFCW President Hansen Statement on Gap’s Decision to Raise Wages
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Joe Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), today released the following in response to the Gap’s announcement that it would raise wages for its workers.
“Today’s announcement by the Gap that the retail chain is raising hourly wages for its 65,000 hourly retail workers serves as a challenge to Walmart. The Gap realizes that paying its hourly workers enough to support themselves is an investment in their business and in our economy.
“It is time for Walmart to stand up and lead by investing back into its 1.4 million U.S. workers with hourly pay increases. Academics at the University of California-Berkeley estimated that Walmart could well-afford a wage increase to at least $12.00 an hour for workers with minimal impact on consumer prices. DEMOS researchers outlined a clear plan for Walmart to cut back on its stock buy back program and raise wages in a way that benefits workers and shareholders alike.
“The time is now for Walmart to show leadership and responsibility to its workers and our communities-follow the Gap’s example and raise wages for every hourly Walmart worker.”
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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries.
The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.
February 19, 2014
Robin Williams of the UFCW Is Elected to the National Board of the NAACP
Washington, D.C. – Robin Williams, the associate director of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union’s (UFCW) Civil Rights and Community Action Department, was elected to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) National Board of Directors on February 13. Williams is a lifelong community activist, organizer and civil rights veteran and has worked at the UFCW for 17 years.
“It’s an honor to be on the national board of our country’s oldest and largest civil rights organization,” said Williams. “The UFCW has been on the front lines of some of the most important civil rights and social justice battles of our time, including employment discrimination, immigration reform, income inequality, voting rights, the right of working families to fair pay, job safety, secure retirements and affordable health care, and holding Walmart—the world’s largest retailer—accountable for driving down the standard of living for millions of retail workers across the country. I look forward to working with the NAACP as we continue to fight for social and economic justice in the workplace and in our communities.”
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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, http://www.ufcw.org/, or join our online community at http://www.facebook.com/ufcwinternational and https://twitter.com/UFCW.
February 19, 2014
A Shining Light in the South: UFCW Organizer Rose Turner
In 1981, Rose Turner was a nursing home worker in the deep south. When workers decided to try and organize to join UFCW Local 1529 that year, Rose immediately got involved, hoping to change the working conditions: “At that time there was no family medical leave. Women–when they got pregnant, they went out and came back [after giving birth] and they didn’t have a job. You were penalized for getting pregnant, because you had no job. One woman even slipped in the kitchen a broke her knee, [and in order for her to not lose her job] her daughter had to come work while she was out.”
Rose also wanted to change the fact that the workers had no say on the job. “At that time, what they said was the gospel, and it didn’t make any difference what you had to say. They were always right. But the icing on the cake,” says Rose, is when the nursing home’s census went down, and “they called all the oldest workers in and said ‘You all’ve got to go’. Their seniority meant nothing. One woman had been there for over 25 years, but it was just who they liked [that mattered].”
But with the union, much turned for the better, and the workers were able to get a raise.
Knowing that the collective voice of the union would be stronger with more workers, Rose says she “got a group of ladies together and we would go to the other nursing homes and tell them what we needed to do to organize,” and for the next several years she worked towards organizing other neighboring nursing homes in her community and surrounding areas of Arkansas and Tennessee.
Over those couple of years, Rose’s hard work didn’t go unnoticed. She was soon contacted by the local and was offered a position as an organizer. Hesitant but wanting to try it out, Rose was scheduled to go on 90-day union leave in order to do so, which her nursing home contract allowed for. However, the day before she was to go on leave, her employer claimed that since she was one of the oldest workers at the nursing home, she couldn’t go on leave. Fed up with her employer’s games, Rose decided to go all-in to be an organizer and continue to help make a difference in other people’s lives. “After meeting with the reps at the union–I had heard about unions and seen different things–but just seeing the importance of it, and once I got started, I was sent down to Mississippi and saw people in an even worse condition then we had been at the nursing homes.”
Rose Turner of Local 1529
The horrible conditions in Mississippi that Rose refers to were that of catfish workers: “They weren’t allowed to go to the bathroom, except once a day. If they went and stayed over five minutes they were being written up. People were losing their thumbs and whole hands [on the lines]. And they didn’t know that the company would keep them on payroll for only a year and then let them go.”
Through her organizing efforts, Rose has worked for more than 18 years to change conditions such as the ones the catfish and nursing home employees experienced, to help give a voice to the workers.
Looking back, Rose says she feels good about “her nursing homes.” She continues to work on organizing campaigns for nursing homes and other industries in the south, and is currently in Tupelo, Mississippi to organize nursing home workers at Golden Living.
“In the south, the minimum wage ain’t nothin’ but 7.25, but none of my nursing homes make minimum wage–in fact, I’ve got some that make twice minimum wage, plus! I feel good about that.” Thanks to their UFCW contracts, the nursing home workers get raises every year. Rose also notes that “they know how much vacation there’s gonna be, and how much sick days they got (which they never had before). So I feel good because I want to know that I wasn’t the only one that progressed or did good because I was in the union–I want people that come behind me to enjoy the benefits, because if it wasn’t for the people before me, I would never have the chance or the opportunity to do what I do today. I wanna know that when I’m gone, people are enjoying the fruit of my labor. I want them to know that it’s not just about me, but everybody.”
Rose always comes back to those who came before her in the fight for civil and worker’s rights: “People paved the way, and we need to pave the way for others to come.” She also notes how intertwined the movements are, saying that “people realize that civil rights have a got a lot to do with workers rights–it’s just like faith and work–you can’t have one without the other, it just ain’t gonna work. You can have faith but without work behind it, it’s no good, and you can have work, but you’ve got to have faith”.
“I’ve been on the trail a long time,” says Rose, of her involvement in the union. Rose is eligible to retire, but she’s not quite ready yet: “When I retire I wanna know that I have done all that I can do. I’ve got a few other contracts and other things I want to [see through].”
Rose and the others who continue to fight for workers rights are a bright spot in the south, which has traditionally been hostile towards unions. Its thanks to workers and organizers like them that the worker movement is spreading–workers in Chatanooga, TN recently came close to organizing with UAW at the VW plant, and Moral Mondays have spread from Raleigh, NC to cities across the country to bring awareness to social justice issues. Its proof that when people stand together, change it inevitable.