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News and Updates
Industry News
November 24, 2009
Tyson and UFCW Mark Two Decades of Workplace Safety Progress
Dakota Dunes, S.D. – The nation’s leading meat processor and the country’s largest union representing meatpacking and food processing workers have just completed the 20th year of a workplace ergonomics program that is making meat processing jobs safer.
The ground-breaking program initiated by Tyson Fresh Meats, formerly known as IBP, and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, has involved workplace improvements that have helped reduce worker injuries and illnesses, such as strains and sprains.
Ergonomics, which is the science of designing the workplace to fit the worker, had not been extensively used in the meat industry until the company and union reached an agreement after an historic OSHA citation and settlement in late November 1988 followed up with the joint Tyson-UFCW program to develop a comprehensive ergonomics research program.
The program got underway in early 1989, with the company’s Dakota City, Nebraska, beef complex serving as the pilot plant, and production workers represented by UFCW Local 222, were actively involved. Due to the success of the pilot, the program was quickly expanded to all of the company’s beef and pork plants.
Some of the key elements of the program include ongoing ergonomics training for production workers; the involvement of hourly workers as ‘ergonomic monitors;’worksite analysis and the redesign of work stations and equipment; and a medical management program focused on early detection and treatment of workplace injuries and illnesses.
Tyson and UFCW leaders believe the program has made a difference. For example, the OSHA recordable injury and illness rate at the Dakota City plant is currently running 67 percent below the rate recorded in 1991. Meanwhile, the current rate of injuries and illnesses at Dakota City requiring the involvement of a physician is 73 percent below 1991 levels.
“Over the past 20 years, our company has devoted millions of dollars in ergonomically designed equipment and process improvements, as well as training, which we believe have helped prevent workplace injuries and illnesses,” said Jim Lochner, chief operating officer of Tyson Foods. “However, the real key to the success of this program has been the workers who serve as safety and ergonomics monitors. The input we’ve received from hourly production workers and the participation of our plant and corporate management teams, have been invaluable.”
“What this program shows is that when workers have input on working conditions, when they are part of the decision-making process, you come up with a better, safer environment—and that’s good for everybody,” said UFCW Food Processing, Packing and Manufacturing Division Director Mark Lauritsen. “It works because everyone is involved from Tyson management to UFCW leaders, ergo monitors and production workers.”
“The union and Tyson have worked together to make this ergonomics program what it is today (and) I think we’re way ahead of the industry with our program,” said Marvin Harrington, President of UFCW Local 222, which represents workers at the Dakota City plant. “We’re proud the program is part of our UFCW contract with Tyson. We train UFCW members on how to identify hazards and recommend fixes. Having both Tyson management and UFCW members engaged on detecting hazards makes for an efficient process.”
Tyson has been involved in numerous engineering projects designed to modify work stations and equipment in order to reduce physical stressors on the job. Examples include redesigned knife handles, height-adjustable work stations, use of lighter-weight saws/power tools, hydraulic/mechanical assists to lift or separate product, lower overhead chains and conveyors to eliminate reaching over shoulder height, product diverters on conveyor lines to bring product closer to workers, comfortable/level floor surfaces, improved illumination and job rotation. The company has also worked to reduce the vibration generated by certain tools and modified personal protective equipment to make it fit better and be more comfortable.
“We’ve implemented some major mechanical and process changes in our beef and pork plants over the years,” said Tom DeRoos, Corporate Ergonomics Program Manager for Tyson. “This includes equipment designed to replace some of what had previously been done manually by production workers. For example, many of our pork plants have automatic loin trimmers to remove fat from surface of the pork loins.”
Ergonomics were part of the design of Tyson’s new, multi-million dollar beef processing floor at Dakota City. The new addition, which became operational in early 2006, includes adjustable work stations as well as a production flow designed with worker safety and health in mind.
But not all of the ergonomic improvements have involved major changes. “Many of them have been what we call ‘quick fixes,’ which are projects that can be done in a matter of a few days,” said Dennis Golden, Training Manager/Ergonomics Liaison at Tyson’s Dakota City plant, who has been involved in the ergonomics program since its inception. “For example, since late 1988, we’ve implemented more than 3,600 quick fixes at our Dakota City plant, making minor adjustments such as moving a gear box or relocating a knife sanitizer to make the work station more comfortable for team members.”
“I’ve been involved with the ergo program from the start as a UFCW member serving on a monitoring committee and as a union representative,” said Carmen Hacht, Local 222 Recorder. “The key to making it work is monitors making the rounds, surveying workers, documenting the kinds of strain people are feeling, then following up and making sure that the fixes make a positive difference.”
Effective medical management is also essential to the ergonomics program. Its focus is early reporting and treatment of any workplace injuries or illnesses. “We require our team members to report all work-related injuries or illnesses, no matter how minor they believe them to be,” said DeRoos. “By immediately assessing and treating such injuries or illnesses, we’re often able to help reduce the severity and duration.”
Tyson Fresh Meats currently operates eight beef plant and six pork plants in the United States. In addition to Dakota City, this includes beef plants in Amarillo, Texas; Denison, Iowa; Joslin, Illinois; Emporia, Kansas; Finney County, Kansas; Lexington, Nebraska; and Pasco, Washington. The company’s pork plants are in Logansport, Indiana; Louisa County, Iowa; Storm Lake, Iowa; Perry, Iowa; Waterloo, Iowa; and Madison, Nebraska. The UFCW represents workers at Tyson plants in Dakota City, Joslin, Perry, Logansport and Waterloo.
About Tyson Foods, Inc.
Tyson Foods, Inc., founded in 1935 with headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, is the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork, the second-largest food production company in the Fortune 500 and a member of the S&P 500. The company produces a wide variety of protein-based and prepared food products and is the recognized market leader in the retail and foodservice markets it serves. Tyson provides products and service to customers throughout the United States and more than 90 countries. The company has approximately 117,000 Team Members employed at more than 300 facilities and offices in the United States and around the world. Through its Core Values, Code of Conduct and Team Member Bill of Rights, Tyson strives to operate with integrity and trust and is committed to creating value for its shareholders, customers and Team Members. The company also strives to be faith-friendly, provide a safe work environment and serve as stewards of the animals, land and environment entrusted to it.
About the UFCW
The UFCW represents 1.3 million workers, 250,000 in the meatpacking and poultry industries, including 22,000 who work at Tyson plants. UFCW members also work in the health care, garment, chemical, distillery and retail industries. The UFCW and its predecessor unions have represented workers in the packing and processing industries for more than 100 years. Union contracts in the industry ensured equal pay for equal work for African Americans and women decades before equal pay became a larger societal goal. The UFCW has also been a leading national voice on workplace safety and health, helping spearhead protective federal legislation and OSHA regulations on waste containment, ergonomics, diacetyl, and combustible dust, among other initiatives.
November 10, 2009
Smithfield, UFCW come together over food donation
November 5, 2009
SENATE FREE RIDER PROVISION GIVES NATION
UFCW Releases Briefing Paper Detailing How Free Rider Provision Would Incentivize Irresponsible Walmart Employment Practices and Diminish Shared Responsibility for Health Care Reform
Washington, DC—The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) released a briefing paper, today, examining the impact of the Senate’s Free Rider provision on the nation’s largest private employer – retail giant Walmart. The provision would have the unintended consequences of:
- Providing little or no incentive for Walmart to provide better care to its workers;
- Continuing Walmart workers’ dependence on federal and state subsidies for Medicaid and Medicare, and encourage Walmart to have even more workers dependent on Medicaid and Medicare;
- Making few, if any, Walmart workers eligible for tax credits to purchase better insurance through the health insurance exchange;
- Forcing low-income Walmart workers into high-deductible company-provided insurance;
- Incentivizing the hiring of a largely part-time workforce, and encourage reducing workers’ hours as a way to reduce health care costs.
The Free Rider provision currently would require that, if an employer with more than 50 employees has employees who receive a subsidy (i.e., tax credit) for insurance through an exchange, the employer has to pay a penalty that is the lesser of: The average national tax credit for insurance through exchanges multiplied by the number of full-time employees receiving the tax credit; or $750 times the total number of full-time employees of the company.
But if an employer has only part-time employees receiving tax credits for insurance purchased through an exchange, the employer pays no penalty. Employers also pay no penalty for workers who are on Medicaid or Medicare. And if employers offer bare bones, but high deductible, high co-pay coverage with low premiums, workers would be forced to accept this coverage, purchase coverage through an exchange without receiving tax credits, or pay a penalty for being uninsured—with the employer facing no penalty under the current free rider provision.
Walmart’s employment practices, including limited hours and pay that force many onto public assistance, as well as its cafeteria of health care plans that range from unaffordable premiums to unaffordable deductibles and co-pays for low end premiums would virtually exempt its workers from receiving tax credits for purchasing coverage through an exchange, and, consequently, exempt the company from any free rider penalty.
“A Free Rider provision that would have zero impact on Walmart is a problem,” said UFCW Executive Vice President Pat O’Neill. “The company employs 1.4 million workers in our country, and nearly 700,000 of those employees already get their health care insurance from public assistance, in the emergency room, or a spouse who has a responsible employer. President Obama laid down the principle that health care is a shared responsibility. If the country’s largest employer has no responsibility under the Senate Free Rider provision, then other employers will follow the Walmart example.”
Go to www.wakeupwalmart.com for a complete copy of the UFCW Free Rider Briefing Paper.
November 3, 2009
Walmart to Finally Pay Some Workers
WASHINGTON, DC – Today Walmart announced it will pay $85 million dollars to hundreds of thousands of current and former Walmart workers for not compensating them for the work they performed. This lawsuit settlement is the latest in a string of multi-million dollar payouts by Walmart as it attempts to distance itself from a track record of poor employment practices and violations of workplace laws.
It shouldnt take the average worker years in court and expensive lawyers to get paid, said Pat ONeill, Executive Vice President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Walmart should be a good corporate citizen instead.
Walmart has been involved in around 90 class action wage and hour lawsuits across the United States including cases where the payout including penalties could have totaled as much as $2 billion.
Walmarts workers arent asking for a bailout just to be paid for the work theyve done, said ONeill, and this case proves that Walmart cant even do that.
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.
October 16, 2009
FRED MEYER CALLS POLICE ON ITS OWN WORKERS
(HILLSBORO, OR) – Fred Meyer, one of the most profitable and popular grocery stores in Oregon, seems intent on damaging its relationship with the employees who make it so successful. According to charges filed by the workers’ union, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555, the company has interfered with workers while they have been seeking a fair contract at the bargaining table. And yesterday, the Hillsboro store manager at Fred Meyer created a scene when he called police to arrest three union representatives for talking with workers—a right guaranteed to workers under federal law.
One representative was leaving the store when he was arrested, and another, Local 555 President Dan Clay, was driving into the parking lot to find out what was going on when police arrested him.
Union workers at other stores were baffled to hear of the company’s behavior. “We meet with our reps in the store all the time,” said Anne Lilley, a Hillsboro Safeway worker and UFCW Local 555 member. “If we’re not busy, it’s easy to just step aside and take care of an issue quickly with our reps—it’s something that workers in grocery stores do every day, all across the country. I can’t believe that Fred Meyer management would raise a fuss about something so routine.”
Fred Meyer workers feel the company’s behavior has been undeserved and unacceptable. “I just don’t understand Fred Meyer’s actions right now,” said Fred Meyer employee and UFCW Local 555 member Charlotte Hardin. “I mean, we have a right to meet with our union at our workplace, and Fred Meyer knows that. Why this hostile attitude towards our union? It’s just plain disrespectful to Fred Meyer’s employees and customers.”
Hillsboro resident Linda Sears was shopping at Fred Meyer when the disruption occurred. She called the manager’s behavior “unprofessional and unnerving.”
“”Yelling at workers and their union reps,” added Fred Meyer employee and Local 555 member Karyl Feliciano, “and calling the police on our union? Why would Fred Meyer behave like that? That kind of behavior is totally disruptive to our customers, and to their shopping experience. It’s just bad for business.””
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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September 1, 2009
UFCW, Partners Announce New Agenda Challenging Walmart to Change Practices for the Sake of the American Economy
Washington, DC – UFCW International Vice President and Director Pat O’Neill today announced a new national comprehensive American values-driven agenda to hold Walmart accountable to its workers, our communities and the planet. He was joined by Nelson Lichtenstein, author of The Retail Revolution: How Walmart Created a Brave New World of Business, and Kim Bobo, Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice on a call to launch a broad coalition of labor, environmental and community groups who are calling on Walmart to join them in supporting the core American values of worker rights, quality jobs, equal opportunity, corporate responsibility and a healthy environment.
“Labor Day is an important time to reflect on the state of the American workplace and worker. As the world’s largest retailer, and America’s number one private employer, Walmart has the largest, most profound impact on jobs and on our economy,” O’Neill said. “Nobody wants an economy where workers earn wages that can’t support a family. Nobody wants an economy where people who go to work everyday and work hard have to turn to public assistance for basic needs.
“The Department of Labor last week released a report showing that the retail sector will see tremendous growth in the coming years, and it is up to all of us to determine what kinds of jobs those will be. We are trying to engage Walmart, not isolate it. With 1.4 million Americans working in its stores, Walmart bears a unique responsibility to its workers and our communities, and we’re asking them to embrace this challenge.”
On the conference call, O’Neill issued direct challenges to Walmart in five key areas: worker rights, quality jobs, equal opportunity, corporate responsibility and a healthy environment. He then laid out next steps for how the coalition, led by the UFCW, will hold Walmart accountable for those challenges, and to the ideals it puts forth in its advertising.
The full American Values Agenda for Change at Walmart can be viewed at http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/commonsense/.
Additionally, Lichtenstein asserted Walmart’s vast impact on the American economy.
“When a company gets to be as big as Wal-Mart and employs so many workers – more than any other private enterprise in the world – it is no longer a ‘private’ entity,” Lichtenstein said. “It sets the wage and benefit standard for every other mass retailer and influences the business practices of just about every firm in America’s huge service sector. So Wal-Mart is part of this country’s debate: on health care, wages, equal employment, and the role of trade unionism in our democracy.”
Coalition members include: AFL-CIO, Change to Win, Sierra Club, Campaign for America’s Future, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, National Consumers League, AFSCME, American Rights at Work, Communications Workers of America, Interfaith Worker Justice, LIUNA, National Labor Coordinating Committee, Service Employees International Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, United Auto Workers, United Farmer Workers and United Steel Workers.
As a part of the launch of this important new campaign, WakeUpWalmart.com will be releasing two new television advertisements called “Common Sense Economics Rules” calling on Walmart to offer quality, affordable health care coverage to all its employees. Both ads highlight Walmart’s failure to cover 700,000 of its employees, nearly half of its workforce. They end with the message “Walmart can afford to be a better employer; Now would be a good time to start.”
The ads can be viewed at: http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/video/commonsense/.
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.