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News and Updates
Packing and Processing
November 10, 2009
Smithfield, UFCW come together over food donation
October 20, 2009
UFCW Statement on OSHA Rulemaking on Combustile Dust
Rulemaking Important First Step in Explosion Prevention
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), a union representing more than 1.3 million workers across North America, applauds the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) issuance of an Advance Notice of Public Rulemaking for combustible dust hazards in the workplace.
“This notice is an important first step on the way to a permanent rule to ensure the safety of millions of American workers,” said Jackie Nowell, Director of the UFCW’s Occupational Safety and Health Office. “More than 900 workers have been killed or injured since 1980 because of combustible dust accidents. These are avoidable tragedies that must be stopped.”
The UFCW also urges OSHA to work quickly to issue a tough rule that will protect workers.
“We can’t wait any longer,” said Nowell, “the time for a tough, comprehensive rule on combustible dust is now. We hope that employers, unions, and OSHA can work together to make this badly needed protection a reality.”
On February 19, 2008, immediately following the Imperial Sugar explosion in Port Wentworth, Ga. that killed 14 workers, the UFCW and International Brotherhood of Teamsters petitioned the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to immediately issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for combustible dust in general industry noting that “workers who are employed in facilities where uncontrolled combustible dust emissions are present face ‘grave danger’ of experiencing fatalities or serious injuries as a result of dust explosions and resultant fires.”
This Advance Notice is the first step toward rulemaking since that time.
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The UFCW represents 1.3 million workers in North America, with nearly 1 million working in grocery stores and 250,000 working in the meatpacking and other food processing industries.
September 8, 2009
Picnic a tribute to hard workers
Austin News
By Jim Troyer
It was a typical union picnic in the park with sack races, an egg toss and a pinata. There were hamburgers and tacos for lunch.
The first United Food and Commercial Workers Labor Day picnic since the Hormel Foods Corp. strike of 1985-86 included a sign outside Veterans Pavilion at Community Bandshell Park signaling a change from picnics past: “Fiesta de Dia del Trabajo, Local 9,” it read — “Labor Day Picnic.”
“Our purpose today is to celebrate labor and to remember some of those people who gave their lives so that people could work an eight-hour day,” said Richard Morgan, president of Local 9.
The UFCW has 2,800 members in Austin, representing Hormel, Quality Pork Processors, Minnesota Freezer Warehouse, Accentra Credit Union, International Paper, some of Austin Utilities and some of the Mower County Courthouse.
“They are hard-working folks,” Morgan said, surveying the crowd. “They deserve a chance to kick back and enjoy life.”
It appeared that people were doing just that, enjoying Monday’s perfect weather and the spread catered by Hy-Vee.
Working conditions
Chris Heyer, who works in the ham-boning section at Hormel, and Dan Barnes, a quality grader at QPP, agreed that the people at work are just as comfortable with each other as they are at the picnic.
“It really does work well there,” said Barnes, “though the language barrier can be a problem.” But both companies encourage employees to attend free English as a Second Language classes. “And just a few phrases in English can help them to get by,” Barnes said.
Dianne Yauger and her son, Brandon Weis, a Hormel worker, stood watching the games in the park.
“It’s a good turnout,” she said of the event. “It’s wonderful that they did this.”
Morgan said the union family has reason to get along. “Over the last four years, we have seen the best contracts we’ve had in the past 20 years, wages, benefits — the overall package.”
“QPP has seen its best contract since they started business.”
The Local 9 president attributed that to “hard work and people standing together.”
Learning more
Inside the pavilion, volunteers offered participants information about the 2010 census, which encourages everyone, citizens and non-citizens, to be counted. The Rev. Dave DeFor, of the Austin Church of Christ, noted that Austin has an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 Hispanics who need to be counted. The data directly affect how more than $400 billion per year in federal and state funding is allocated to communities for such things as neighborhood improvements, public health, education and transportation.
DeFor was at the event to promote the World War II Honors Flight Program, which flies veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit the World War II Memorial. He said that another trip is set for Oct. 10 and three more are scheduled for next year, which will complete the roster of WWII vets in Mower County.
“I was excited that the union jumped into this,” he said.
Local 9 has sponsored a veteran and is providing other support for the program.
September 8, 2009
AmeriCold Workers Win Solid Wage and Benefit Increases in First Union Contract
(CRETE, Neb.) – Workers at the Americold plant in Crete, Nebraska, obtained their first-ever union contract. This five-year contract negotiated by union members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 271 provides solid wage and benefit increases.
“This contract gives us wages that protect full-time, families supporting jobs in our community,” said Gene Muff, an Americold worker and a member of UFCW Local 271. “When all workers in the heartland stand together for a voice on the job, we can raise everyone’s wages, benefits and working conditions.”
With this contract, 150 workers at Americold will join the more than 250,000 workers in the poultry and meatpacking industries nationwide who have a union contract with the UFCW.
The new Americold contract includes:
– Average wage increases of $1.44/hr for the first year and an additional 30 cents per hour for the next four years;
– A formal system to resolve workplace issues;
– Time and a half pay for holiday work;
– Night shift premium wages;
– Affordable family health coverage;
– Job advancement opportunities based on seniority;
– Funeral leave and paid vacation benefits.
The Americold contract is the latest of several major collective bargaining wins for UFCW packing and food processing members across the country.
For more information, contact Gonzalo Salvador at (202) 466-1591 or press@ufcw.org
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August 31, 2009
UFCW Join Mexican Consul General to Launch Celebration of “Labor Rights Week” as Labor Day 2009 Approaches
Local Unions Partner with Mexican Consulate in Thirteen Cities to Offer Innovative Worker Rights Programming
(Chicago, Ill.) – The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is proud to partner with the Embassy of Mexico, the U.S. Department of Labor and allied organizations to promote the first “Semana de Derechos Laborales”, or Labor Rights Week. UFCW International President Joe Hansen joined the Mexican Consul General of Chicago, Manuel Rodríguez Arriaga, to launch the national outreach and education program that is taking place in thirteen cities across the country.
As Labor Day 2009 approaches, Semana de Derechos Laborales, which continues through September 4, will focus on the inclusion of Mexican nationals in American workplaces and communities. Programming includes workshops and informational sessions on labor, immigration, and human rights.
“Our communities and neighborhoods are better, safer places to work and live when all workers know and exercise their rights,” said Hansen. “Semana de Derechos Laborales is a perfect way to empower Mexican national workers with information and promote full participation in the civic fabric of our nation. The UFCW has been a union of immigrants for more than 100 years and this weeks’ program helps ensure that a new generation of workers has the resources to have their voice heard on the job.”
Educating immigrant workforces about rights in the workplace helps raise the standard of treatment for all workers in industries where new immigrants often work, including meatpacking, food processing, and grocery.
“In the past few years, a growing number of immigrant workers were subject to abuse under a mantle of fear that was created by policy approaches which allowed unscrupulous employers to use immigration status to threaten deportation if workers reported discrimination, wage and hour or health and safety violations. We recognize the leadership of Secretary Solis in this issue and believe that joint efforts like the Labor Rights Week will strengthen our ability to protect the rights of our nationals abroad”, said Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan.
The UFCW is a proud partner in this week’s activities and has worked with local consulate offices to prepare activities uniquely suited to the communities in which they are offered. The program in Fresno, California, conducted by the local consulate and UFCW Local 5 will focus outreach to workers in the agricultural and dairy industries. UFCW Local 540 and local partners in Dallas, Texas, are taking questions about labor rights on a three-hour long news broadcast program on the local Univision network. The kick-off event in Chicago, Illinois will feature President Hansen and Consul General Rodríguez Arriaga, who will be joined by a number of community leaders.
More details about local events are available at www.ufcw.org
The UFCW has been a national leader in the fight to develop a fairer, more humane immigration system. President Hansen recently served as founding chairman of a national commission which studied federal raids on workplaces and made recommendations for comprehensive immigration reform.
Earlier this year, UFCW Canada and the Mexican state of Michoacán signed a landmark co-operation agreement to ensure that the human and labor rights of agricultural workers from Michoacán, Mexico are recognized and enforced while they work in Canadian fields and greenhouses.
With 1.3 million members, the UFCW is the nation’s largest private-sector union with members in the supermarket, meatpacking, food processing, and other industries.
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Programming open to the media will continue until September 4. Inquiries and interview requests should be directed to Jill Cashen, UFCW, 202-728-4797 or press@ufcw.org.
August 31, 2009
UFCW Joins Mexican Consul General to Launch Celebration of
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: AUGUST 31, 2009
Food and Commercial Workers Join Mexican Consul General to Launch Celebration of “Labor Rights Week” as Labor Day 2009 Approaches
Local Unions Partner with Mexican Consulate in Thirteen Cities to Offer
Innovative Worker Rights Programming
(Chicago, Ill.) – The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is proud to partner with the Embassy of Mexico, the U.S. Department of Labor and allied organizations to promote the first “Semana de Derechos Laborales”, or Labor Rights Week. UFCW International President Joe Hansen joined the Mexican Consul General of Chicago, Manuel Rodríguez Arriaga, to launch the national outreach and education program that is taking place in thirteen cities across the country.
As Labor Day 2009 approaches, Semana de Derechos Laborales, which continues through September 4, will focus on the inclusion of Mexican nationals in American workplaces and communities. Programming includes workshops and informational sessions on labor, immigration, and human rights.
“Our communities and neighborhoods are better, safer places to work and live when all workers know and exercise their rights,” said Hansen. “Semana de Derechos Laborales is a perfect way to empower Mexican national workers with information and promote full participation in the civic fabric of our nation. The UFCW has been a union of immigrants for more than 100 years and this weeks’ program helps ensure that a new generation of workers has the resources to have their voice heard on the job.”
Educating immigrant workforces about rights in the workplace helps raise the standard of treatment for all workers in industries where new immigrants often work, including meatpacking, food processing, and grocery.
“In the past few years, a growing number of immigrant workers were subject to abuse under a mantle of fear that was created by policy approaches which allowed unscrupulous employers to use immigration status to threaten deportation if workers reported discrimination, wage and hour or health and safety violations. We recognize the leadership of Secretary Solis in this issue and believe that joint efforts like the Labor Rights Week will strengthen our ability to protect the rights of our nationals abroad”, said Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan.
The UFCW is a proud partner in this week’s activities and has worked with local consulate offices to prepare activities uniquely suited to the communities in which they are offered. The program in Fresno, California, conducted by the local consulate and UFCW Local 5 will focus outreach to workers in the agricultural and dairy industries. UFCW Local 540 and local partners in Dallas, Texas, are taking questions about labor rights on a three-hour long news broadcast program on the local Univision network. The kick-off event in Chicago, Illinois will feature President Hansen and Consul General Rodríguez Arriaga, who will be joined by a number of community leaders.
More details about local events are available at www.ufcw.org
The UFCW has been a national leader in the fight to develop a fairer, more humane immigration system. President Hansen recently served as founding chairman of a national commission which studied federal raids on workplaces and made recommendations for comprehensive immigration reform.
Earlier this year, UFCW Canada and the Mexican state of Michoacán signed a landmark co-operation agreement to ensure that the human and labor rights of agricultural workers from Michoacán, Mexico are recognized and enforced while they work in Canadian fields and greenhouses.
With 1.3 million members, the UFCW is the nation’s largest private-sector union with members in the supermarket, meatpacking, food processing, and other industries.
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Programming open to the media will continue until September 4. Inquiries and interview requests should be directed to Jill Cashen, UFCW, 202-728-4797 or press@ufcw.org.
August 28, 2009
Plumrose Settles Allegations of Labor Law Violations
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa–In the face of allegations that it had violated numerous federal laws, Plumrose USA has entered into a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Many workers at Plumrose, which processes deli meats and pork products at its facility in Council Bluffs, have been taking steps to form a union with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) for several years. Plumrose had been charged with giving workers the impression that they were under surveillance and that their immigration status would be reported to federal authorities, forbidding employees from discussing the union at work, and interrogating workers about union activities.
“This settlement just confirms what so many of us have known for a long time,” said Carlos Barraza, a ten-year Plumrose worker. “It’s long past time for change at Plumrose. The only way we’ll get a real voice on the job here is by exercising our rights and standing together.”
The settlement requires Plumrose to post a notice in its Council Bluffs facility informing employees that federal law protects their right to form a union for their “benefit and protection” and that it would be unlawful for Plumrose to interfere with the exercise of that right. The full text of the notice can be found at http://www.fairnessforfoodworkers.org/plumrose.pdf
“Plumrose is a textbook case on why workers need a free and fair process to form a union,”” said Mark Lauritsen, Director of the UFCW Manufacturing, Packing, and Food Processing Division. “Standing up for yourself and your coworkers shouldn’t carry the risk of the boss’s wrath or losing your job. The employees who are forced to work in such a hostile environment hope that this settlement represents a new attitude at Plumrose toward the free exercise of the right to form a union.”
More than 1.3 million food processing, grocery, and retail workers in the United States and Canada have joined together in the UFCW to protect their workplace rights and to improve working conditions.
July 15, 2009
JBS-Swift Workers in Utah Ratify First Union Contract
Hyrum, Utah – Workers at the JBS-Swift plant in Hyrum, Utah, last evening voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first-ever union contract. The more than 1,100 workers of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 711 at the JBS-Swift Beef Plant (known locally as the E.A. Miller Plant) will join the more than 10,000 JBS-Swift workers nationwide who belong to the UFCW.
The new three-year contract includes:
- regular wage increases, with many plant workers receiving a 4.6 percent or greater increase at ratification and a dollar an hour increase over the life of the contract;
- weekly hour guarantees that protect full-time, family supporting jobs in the community;
- affordable family health coverage, with no increase in medical premiums;
- job advancement opportunities;
- workers no longer have to pay out-of-pocket for their work equipment, tools and work clothes;
- a formal system to resolve workplace issues;
- improved vacation benefits;
- the creation of an educational trust fund, which can be used to promote a range of initiatives, including citizenship workshops;
- a Joint Worker-Management Safety Committee and improved safety training for workers;
- improved funeral pay.
“Now that we have a contract, we have a real voice,” said Robert Young, who has worked at the plant for two years and also serves as an ordained minister. “That means better benefits, active stewards, leadership in the plant and a better a way to deal with problems before they become big issues.”
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The UFCW represents 1.3 million workers, 250,000 in the meatpacking and poultry industries. UFCW members also work in the health care, garment, chemical, distillery and retail industries.
July 15, 2009
JBS-SWIFT WORKERS IN UTAH RATIFY FIRST UNION CONTRACT
Hyrum, Utah – Workers at the JBS-Swift plant in Hyrum, Utah, last evening voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first-ever union contract. The more than 1,100 workers of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 711 at the JBS-Swift Beef Plant (known locally as the E.A. Miller Plant) will join the more than 10,000 JBS-Swift workers nationwide who belong to the UFCW.
The new three-year contract includes:
- regular wage increases, with many plant workers receiving a 4.6 percent or greater increase at ratification and a dollar an hour increase over the life of the contract;
- weekly hour guarantees that protect full-time, family supporting jobs in the community;
- affordable family health coverage, with no increase in medical premiums;
- job advancement opportunities;
- workers no longer have to pay out-of-pocket for their work equipment, tools and work clothes;
- a formal system to resolve workplace issues;
- improved vacation benefits;
- the creation of an educational trust fund, which can be used to promote a range of initiatives, including citizenship workshops;
- a Joint Worker-Management Safety Committee and improved safety training for workers;
- improved funeral pay.
“Now that we have a contract, we have a real voice,” said Robert Young, who has worked at the plant for two years and also serves as an ordained minister. “That means better benefits, active stewards, leadership in the plant and a better a way to deal with problems before they become big issues.”
July 2, 2009
WORKERS AT WORLD’S LARGEST PORK PLANT RATIFY FIRST-EVER UNION CONTRACT
(TAR HEEL NC)—Five Thousand workers at the world’s largest pork processing plant have their first-ever union contract, after a majority of workers ratified the agreement over a two-day vote. Members of UFCW Local 1208 will join more than 10,000 other Smithfield workers, and more than 240,000 others who work in the meat packing and food processing industry who have a UFCW union contract.
The new contract includes:
* Wage increases of $1.50/hour over the next four years.
* Continued company-provided affordable family health care coverage.
* Improved paid sick leave and vacation benefits.
* Retirement security through protection of the existing pension plan.
* Continued joint worker/management safety committee, including company funded safety training for workers.
* Guaranteed weekly hours that protect full-time, family supporting jobs in the community
* A system to resolve workplace issues.
* Three working days of paid funeral leave following the death of immediate family members.
“This contract will completely transform our workplace,” said Orlando Williams. “This is the biggest four-year wage increase Smithfield workers have ever had and it will make a real difference for our families and in this community. We could never have gotten that increase without a chance to bargain with the company. We will finally have a sense of security on the job because through our union we can make sure we have a safe place to work, and that everyone’s treated fairly.”
UFCW members who work at Smithfield’s other locations all over the country were paying close attention to the negotiations in Tar Heel. “”I know the difference having a union contract makes, said Jim Olson, a steward at UFCW Local 304A and a 35 year veteran of Smithfield’s John Morrell Plant in Sioux Falls, SD. “”The more meatpacking workers who join our union, the more power we have to raise wages and benefits—in our own local unions, and for everybody who works in this industry. That’s what being in the UFCW is all about.”
This is the first contract covering the hourly production and maintenance workers at the Tar Heel facility and will take effect July 1, 2009.