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News and Updates
June 17, 2014
Local 400 Joins Effort in Maryland to Launch Education Campaign to Help Workers Stand Up for Legal Wages
Adapted from Local 400
Jacqueline Midence, a fast food industry worker, spoke out about her experience being in the industry for four years and still making minimum wage. Photo by Bill Burke.
After a decade of frozen salaries across the country, states are taking initiative, and pulling working families out of poverty by raising wages. However, the laws only benefit constituents when the community is part of putting them into practice and when the public is educated about their rights as workers regardless of immigration status. UFCW Local 400 and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) joined together Monday morning in Maryland with elected officials and community supporters at a local Safeway to kick off a week-long (June 16-20) education campaign aimed at bringing awareness to area employees on the new minimum wage laws, set to take effect Oct. 1, 2014.
“These new laws will provide a vital boost to hundreds of thousands of workers struggling with how to make ends meet,” said UFCW Local 400 President Mark Federici. “The Prince George’s and Montgomery county governments did their part to pass the laws, but it’s our job, starting today, to raise awareness to hold employers accountable and prevent wage theft in the future.”
November 2013, Prince George’s County was able to achieve a way overdue victory and set the tone, along with Montgomery County, for minimum wage increase statewide. The first increase to $8.40 per hour will be implemented by October 1, 2014 and steadily increase every year reaching $11.50 per hour by 2017. The implementation of the wage increases in these counties is higher than the state’s minimum wage, which is set to gradually increase to $10.10 by July 2018.
“Jobs should lift workers out of poverty, not trap them in poverty,” said Executive Director of LCLAA Hector E. Sanchez. “While we celebrate this important victory, we recognize that Latino workers suffer more minimum wage and overtime pay violations than any other ethnic group,” That is why we have joined this critical tour to ensure Latinos are not robbed of their hard earned wages. We want to make it clear to employees and employers that paying what the law requires is not negotiable.”
“I’ve worked my entire life, so I know how hard it is to try and make ends meet, especially off minimum wage,” said Jacqueline Midence (pictured), a four-year fast food industry worker. “When you’re supporting your family, every cent helps you survive.”
“The new law will help people like me live better, it will give us more hope for the future.”
June 11, 2014
Union Plus Offering Free Webinar for Union Families About Making College More Affordable
Eager to learn more about how to make college more affordable?
Union Plus is inviting union members and union leaders to register for a free, upcoming webinar covering how to make college more affordable.
During the webinar, they’ll be announcing some exciting new grants and a sweepstakes to help union members and participants in Union Plus programs get student loan debt relief.
Join them for the 1-hour FREE Union Plus webinar on June 17 to learn about special benefits for union families.
You’ll learn more about:
- Tips & strategies for making college more affordable
- College counseling discounts
- College test prep discounts
- Textbook discounts
- Free student loan counseling
- Union Plus Scholarship
- COMING in JUNE: $500 Student Debt Eraser
- COMING in JUNE: $20K Student Loan Giveaway
- Q&A session
- And more!
Sign up for free today for the Learn Your Way to Earning Your Way Webinar on:
- Tuesday, June 17, 2014
- 1:00 pm EST
Can’t attend the webinar live? Register to receive a free recording.
Keep an eye out for more information by checking out Union Plus on Twitter and Facebook.
June 10, 2014
Support the DeLauro Amendment to Stop Reckless USDA Poultry Rule
The USDA is set to publish a rule that would put workers in poultry plants at further risk of injury while slashing oversight and exposing consumers to harmful contaminants.
It is up to us to stop it.
The poultry industry wants to double the speed at which birds are processed, despite a recent study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health showing that 42 percent of workers have evidence of carpal tunnel syndrome at current line speeds. And it’s not just poultry workers who will be hurt by this industry-backed measure. Under the new rule, poultry companies will be largely responsible for their own inspections, a change food safety advocates say would unnecessarily endanger consumers.
We cannot let the USDA sacrifice the safety of workers and consumers for the sake of the poultry industry’s profits. That is why we support Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro’s amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill that would prevent funds being used for this purpose.
Working conditions in poultry plants are already dangerous, and speeding up lines without proper staffing levels would make matters worse.
Again, please urge your member of Congress to protect workers by supporting the DeLauro amendment.
June 6, 2014
Bhang Chocolate Workers Ratify First Contract
Agreement Sets New Standards, Raises Floor for Cannabis Industry Workers
Oakland,CA –Workers at Bhang Chocolate, a cannabis chocolate company in Oakland, Calif., voted overwhelmingly yesterday to ratify their first union contract, becoming members of the 33,000 member-strong United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5, which is based in San Jose, Calif.
“We’re working towards a better future and this new contract is just the beginning,” said Beny Valencio, a chocolatier who has worked at Bhang Chocolate for more than two years.
Among other significant gains and protections for workers in the cannabis industry, the newly ratified contract provides for wage increases, employer health care contributions, paid sick leave and vacation benefits.
UFCW Local 5 members work primarily in retail grocery and meat processing with growing numbers employed in department stores, retail drug stores, candy stores, jewelry stores, agriculture and food processing, wholesale meat, seafood processing, financial services, education and the cannabis industry among others.
“This union contract means everyone at Bhang Chocolate has a voice and everyone will be heard,” said Becky Strider who has worked as a packer at Bhang Chocolate for the past four years.
In the United States and Canada, UFCW is the union for workers in the cannabis and hemp industries. UFCW members in the cannabis industry work predominantly in dispensaries, coffee shops, bakeries, patient identification centers, hydroponics stores, and growing and training facilities.
Headquartered in Oakland, Calif., Bhang Chocolate, an award-winning cannabis chocolate company, is the premier medically infused chocolate company.
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UFCW Local 5 is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. Visit cannabisworkers.org or Facebook.com/CannabisWorkers to learn more about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights in the cannabis and hemp industries.
June 5, 2014
UFCW Local 555 Members Celebrate Adoption of Bill Protecting Grocery Workers
UFCW Local 555 Secretary Treasurer Jeff Anderson, member Sarah DeMerritt, and President Dan Clay pose with a signed copy of Senate Bill 1546.
The UFCW Local 555 union gained a victory last week when Oregon Governor signed Senate Bill 1546 into law. The bill contained a provision grocery workers of the Local 555 had advocated for, in which the penalty for the unintentional sale of alcohol to a minor was reduced. As a result of the bill, the penalty for such a first-time offense went down from a misdemeanor to a Class A Violation. The bill was put into effect immediately after it was signed, with overwhelming support from both the House and Senate. The details and text of the bill can be found here.
The local union was instrumental in getting the bill passed, as local member Sarah DeMerritt had testified in support of the bill before the Oregon Senate. Sarah’s testimony was striking: in June of 2013, DeMerritt was working as a Safeway checker when she sold a six-pack of beer to someone she believed was of legal drinking age but was actually part of an Oregon Liquor Control Commission sting. As 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 had passed all previous stings and stresses that she takes her responsibility to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors very seriously.
DeMerritt’s unfortunate experience served as the basis of her advocacy for the bill, which was the focus of the Local 555’s latest UFCW Lobby Day. The passage of the bill serves as proof of the success of coordinated political action by workers committed to making a change. If you or your local union want to attempt to effect change through organizing a Lobby Day, this guide will help you.