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News and Updates
Retail Food
May 7, 2007
Statement by Joseph T. Hansen, International President, United Food and Commercial Workers Union
Washington DC—Today’s launch of the Coalition to Advance Healthcare Reform (CAHR) marks the first serious entry of the business community as full participants into the national healthcare reform debate. The nearly 40 major companies currently signed onto CAHR bring a new and positive momentum to the growing mandate for political action on our national healthcare crisis.
A great many of the companies have union workforces, including Safeway, Kroger, Supervalu, Raleys, Heinz, General Mills, Clorox, Del Monte Foods and CVS among others, whose workers are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). These companies have long been committed to and engaged in the issue of providing good healthcare coverage to employees through the collective bargaining process.
Escalating costs, declining healthcare access for more and more Americans, as well as compromised quality, leave those at the bargaining table to deal with a national crisis that can only be solved with a national political solution.
Compounding the situation is the lack of fairness in our current healthcare system that allows irresponsible employers—like Wal Mart—to shift their healthcare costs onto taxpayers and responsible employers.
The UFCW has long been a supporter of universal, affordable and quality health care coverage for all Americans. And we believe that a broad-based effort of all Americans is fundamental to achieving that goal. Responsible members of the business community have a large role to play in this effort, and we applaud CAHR for bringing them into the national healthcare dialogue.
America’s workers need universal healthcare. CAHR principles represent an important contribution in the effort to adopt healthcare reform that is fair to everyone in our society, can control costs, and provide universal access to quality healthcare all Americans.
We look forward to working with CAHR, and will continue working with lawmakers, advocacy groups and other unions to solve our country’s health care crisis.
UFCW President Joe Hansen was the only labor representative on the 14 member Citizens’ Health Care Working Group mandated by Congress to make recommendations to the President and Congress for solving the healthcare crisis. The Working Group engaged nearly 40,000 Americans in an historic national dialogue over a nearly two- year period and submitted its recommendations last September. They can be accessed at: www.ufcw4healthcare.org
April 27, 2007
Townsends Workers Put Focus on Wage and Hour Irregularities
(Siler City, NC) — Townsends workers fighting for better conditions at the Siler City and Pittsboro, North Carolina, poultry plants have begun investigating widespread worker claims of underpayment for time worked and other violations of federal wage and hour laws. Townsends workers have been working to organize a union with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).
During the ongoing union organizing campaign, workers have regularly complained about Townsends changing clocks in the factory, forcing the workers to pay for necessary equipment, and not paying for worked time. Many workers believe Townsends does this because they don’t think the immigrant workforce will complain.
“The law is clear – employers like Townsends are required to pay workers for all the time they work. That includes the time it takes putting on and taking off required safety equipment. Townsends seems to believe workers at their plants in Siler City and Pittsboro should provide their labor as a gift to the company. They deserve to be paid for all of their work—including any unpaid work they’ve already performed—and it’s one of the reasons the workers are forming a union,” said Mark Lauritsen, UFCW International Vice President and Director of the union’s Food Processing, Packing and Manufacturing Division.
Pittsboro employee Samuel Tapia Alavarado said, “We work hard. We deserve to be paid and treated fairly at Townsends. They deduct work supplies from our checks. They do not even pay us for our prep time. It is time for Townsends to stop treating us like second class citizens. We are forming a union to improve conditions for all immigrants and all workers in the polleras.”
UFCW will be supporting the May 1 immigrant rights rally in Raleigh-Durham. Last year, workers and immigrants marched on behalf of comprehensive immigration reform. “Abuse of immigrant workers is a practice many employers use to lower working standards for all workers in numerous economic sectors, including the poultry sector,” said Lauritsen. “And it’s one of the prime reasons the UFCW supports comprehensive immigration reform.”
Townsends worker Paulo Faustino agrees: “The abuses to immigrant workers in the polleras must stop. With a union we will have the legal power to win improvements and changes. We deserve to be treated and paid fairly. We should not allow ourselves to be intimidated by what the company says. It is our right to take a stand to improve conditions for all immigrants and all workers in the polleras. That’s why we are forming a union with UFCW.”
“Workers at Townsends deserve the chance to have a voice on the job for improved safety, living wages and respect for all workers. The UFCW intends to make that happen,” continued Lauritsen.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) represent 1.3 million workers across North America. UFCW members work in poultry and meatpacking plants, food processing facilities, retail stores and supermarkets. The UFCW is about workers helping workers achieve better wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions. Despite the challenges of soaring health care premiums, costly prescription medications, retirement insecurity, and economic instability, the UFCW is a powerful voice for working men and women, leading efforts to protect and improve the livelihoods of all workers.
April 16, 2007
SUPERMARKET WORKERS NATIONWIDE CALL FOR GOOD JOBS AND AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON, DC — Grocery workers are standing up to protect good jobs with affordable health care in communities across the country. Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union in eight markets are holding store events today and sending a unified message to supermarket giants.
Supermarkets chains nationwide, like Supervalu, are refusing to agree to provide the affordable health care and living wages their employees deserve. Communities may end up paying the price, with taxpayers shouldering the burden of government paid health care.
Workers are taking action and reaching out to customers at Supervalu-owned stores in Southern California, Oregon, Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Workers at Kroger stores in Toledo and Houston are bargaining with the company now and holding press events in solidarity with the national action.
UFCW members at Supervalu-owned stores – Albertsons, Jewel, Cub Foods, and Acme stores, are concerned about Supervalu’s bargaining agenda with workers in other markets.
“It’s really important that everybody throughout the country has decent contracts, with benefits and wages that allow them to support their families,” says Eileen Fonseca, a Supervalu-owned Acme worker and a member of UFCW Local 1776 in Philadelphia.
Albertsons (Supervalu) workers in Southern California were locked out by the company in a bitter five-month-long strike/lockout in 2003 and 2004. Now, Albertsons (Supervalu) employees there have already voted to authorize a strike due to the company’s irresponsible position at the bargaining table. The current contract expired last month.
“”I want to provide a good life for my family, and I work hard for my employer. Now that the employers are making such huge profits, I think they need to show grocery workers and our families the respect we deserve,” said Sharlette Villacorta, UFCW Local 770 member who works at Albertsons, in Los Angeles, Calif.
With more than 400,000 grocery workers at the bargaining table this year, UFCW members have launched Grocery Workers United – www.groceryworkersunited.com – as a clearinghouse for unity actions.
“We all do the same jobs, and we all work hard,” said Mike Newman, a Kroger worker from Toledo and member of UFCW Local 911. “We just want to be able to pay our bills, and I think the community understands that. They know what you need to make a living wage here.”
The actions today are all part of a growing national unity bargaining movement among UFCW members working in the grocery industry.
This year, 400,000 UFCW members working the grocery industry will be negotiating contracts with their employers, seeking to improve jobs for all grocery workers. The UFCW represents 1.3 million workers, with nearly one million in the grocery industry.
April 5, 2007
TALKS BREAK OFF BETWEEN GROCERY WORKERS AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SUPERMARKETS
Washington DC—The announcement of a mutual aid pact among Southern California Grocers—Albertsons (Supervalu), Ralphs (Kroger) and Vons (Safeway)—hastily ended contract talks between the supermarket chains and their employees represented by seven United Food and Commercial Workers Local Unions (UFCW).
“The supermarkets are up to their old tricks,” said UFCW International Vice President and Region 8 Director Shaun Barclay. “This pact fits the same pattern of their actions three years ago when they forced UFCW members and their families into the streets and disrupted shoppers for nearly five months in a grab to end meaningful health care coverage for employees.”
Talks with national supermarket chains had been ongoing in Southern California for nearly three months.
In the meantime, Stater Bros. and Gelson’s—two smaller Southern California regional chains—and the UFCW reached model agreements, providing wage increases, the end to second-class status for new workers and a return to providing affordable, quality health coverage for all employees.
Supervalu, Kroger, and Safeway all enjoy annual sales that are 10 to 20 times bigger than Stater Bros. and Gelson’s. The smaller chains don’t have the economies of scale in their warehousing and distribution networks, nor do they have the clout with major manufacturers and vendors that the national chains command. And they face the same non-union competition in the Southern California market that is overwhelmingly unionized.
“Given that the big grocers say they want to ‘serve the interests of our employees, customers, and companies,’ it’s a no-brainer for these national companies to reach a settlement along the lines of the Stater Bros. and Gelson’s agreements,” said Barclay. “They’re making record profits and hold dominant positions in markets across the country where they operate.”
“But,” he continued, “forming this pact speaks louder than words. It certainly appears that the big grocers have no interest in recognizing UFCW members for their partnership in the impressive success of their companies. It seems they have no interest in the effects their position will have on employees, families, shoppers and communities.”
Approximately 400,000 UFCW members are negotiating contracts with retail food operators in 2007. Most work for Kroger, Safeway or Supervalu. Talks have begun in the Puget Sound area, Eugene, Oregon, Houston, and Toledo, Ohio.
“”UFCW members across the country are tuned in to what’s happening in Southern California. They know everyone, including their customers, has a stake in what happens in these negotiations out here,”” said Barclay.
March 12, 2007
STOP & SHOP WORKERS STAND STRONG TO SECURE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL
NEW ENGLAND—Yesterday, Stop & Shop workers represented by five United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local Unions achieved a solid victory when they ratified a three-year contract agreement securing affordable, quality health care with access for all Stop & Shop workers.
With the support of community members and other employees of Dutch-owned Stop & Shop parent company Ahold, workers held firm in their resolve to improve health care accessibility, quality, and cost for part-timers as well as full-timers. They achieved their aims, with a contract that cuts new hires’ waiting period for health care in half and requires no monthly contribution towards health care from part-timers, who make up 80 percent of the Stop & Shop workforce in New England. Full-timers will make a modest, affordable monthly contribution towards health care premiums. Workers were also able to secure good wage increases and retirement security for all Stop & Shop employees.
Coordinated action with supporters and customers was key to the workers’ success. Community members and grocery workers sent emails of support, called store managers and Stop & Shop CEO Jose Alvarez, wrote letters to the editors of local newspapers, and signed petitions promising not to shop at Stop & Shop if workers were forced to strike.
UFCW members working for Ahold companies in other areas on the East Coast posted flyers in their stores, held rallies and leafleted customers. Presidents of UFCW Local Unions representing Ahold workers attended a bargaining session with Stop & Shop to show solidarity with New England workers.
The coordinated effort in New England is part of a nationwide bargaining unity program among UFCW grocery workers. Over 400,000 UFCW grocery workers across the country and in Canada are negotiating new contracts throughout 2007. By supporting each other regionally and nationally, as well as engaging customers and community members in their struggle, grocery workers can improve grocery industry jobs for themselves and their communities.
February 28, 2007
STATEMENT BY UFCW INTERNATIONAL UNION PRESIDENT JOE HANSEN ON A&P
Washington — The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) represents 54,000 A&P employees nationwide and nearly 29,000 Pathmark workers.
UFCW-represented employees at both companies have helped these two vital regional chains maintain strong market share, serve customers and communities.
The UFCW will continue to represent our members at both companies and enforce all union contract provisions while any possible transactions take place.
Should Pathmark decide to sell the company to A&P, the UFCW anticipates that all contracts would remain in effect.
January 8, 2007
Statement from the UFCW on the settlement of Albertsons Off-the-Clock Class Action Lawsuit
After nearly a decade of litigation, an agreement-in-principle has been entered into for concluding the Albertsons’ off-the-clock case and distributing $53.3 among UFCW members and other workers and former workers who brought a class-action off-the- clock suit against the company. The court has given preliminary approval to the settlement and a hearing will be held on March 22, 2007, to determine the court’s final approval. Claimants will be receiving notice, within the next several weeks, of the court’s preliminary approval and the amount they would receive under the settlement upon the court’s final approval. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union had been assisting workers throughout the eleven-year process and is pleased that an agreement-in-principle has been reached.
After settling the case six years ago, litigation over the claims process has delayed justice for the thousands of workers affected by Albertsons’ practices.
The giant retail food grocer was purchased in 2006 by the Minnesota-based SuperValu chain. The new owners deserve credit for bringing this long chapter to a close and moving the process forward so that the workers’ case could be resolved.
If given final approval by the court:
· Albertsons would pay $53.3 million to be apportioned among the claimants, with individual payouts being based on information submitted in individual claims, the clarity of that information, and the timeliness of its submission;
· Payouts could occur as early as spring 2007.
The class counsels’ website, www.albsuits.com, of the law firm of Webster, Mrak & Blumberg, will be updated shortly to include a copy of the notice, and class counsel will then be available to answer any questions of claimants about the proposed resolution and individual claims. Class counsel can be contacted by claimants toll-free at 1-888-222-5729 or by email at wmb@wmblaw.net.
The UFCW represents 1.3 million members with one million working in the supermarket industry.
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December 27, 2006
NATIONAL GROCERY WORKER MOVEMENT UNITES WORKERS AND STRENGTHENS BARGAINING POWE
(Washington, DC)— For the second month in a row, grocery workers across America are coming together in an unprecedented show of strength and solidarity. With nearly half a million United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) grocery workers’ contracts up for negotiation over the next 18 months, grocery workers nationwide are supporting each other through in-store actions and other support-building activities. Workers also have a website, www.groceryworkersunited.org, which offers downloads of flyers, videos, photos and news about the grocery industry.
This is the first time that grocery workers have been united on such a scale. Their movement is growing fast, gaining momentum and generating buzz, as grocery workers nationwide gear up for bargaining in 2007. As Javier Perez of UFCW Local 870, in Oakland, Calif., said, “National bargaining re-enforces the whole concept of what a union means. It means we all band together and struggle for what we think is right.”
Last month, supermarket workers represented by the UFCW launched the national store-to-store movement of grocery workers. Workers wore 850,000 stickers in stores over five days in November, to demonstrate unity and solidarity with other UFCW supermarket employees across the country.
Now community members are voicing their support for grocery workers’ goals: career jobs with affordable health care, and wages that pay the bills. UFCW members across the country have asked customers and the community to stand by them as upcoming contracts are negotiated. And workers have been overwhelmed by the positive response.
As Supa Tong of UFCW Local 400 in Bethesda, Md., noted, “Our customers are very supportive of the stickers. I think that they’ll support us, because we are also members of their community. If we have better wages and health care, it’s good for everyone.”
To celebrate solidarity between grocery workers and the community, UFCW members will wear a special sticker in their stores on December 27-31. The sticker reads, “Grocery workers and community members for good jobs and affordable health care.”
“Everybody needs health care,” said Richard Waits, of Local 44 in Mt. Vernon, Wash. “Our customers support us because they are facing the same issues—paying for health care, supporting their families. Customers have told me that they’re glad we’re fighting for those things, because it helps the whole community.”
November 22, 2006
COAST-TO-COAST GROCERY WORKERS STICK TOGETHER FOR CAREER JOBS WITH HEALTH CARE
(Washington, DC)—Across the country, grocery workers want career jobs with affordable health care and are standing together to achieve their goal. Supermarket workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) have launched a national store-to-store movement of workers supporting each other through in-store actions, a website and other support-building activities.
UFCW members at supermarkets across the country will wear stickers to work on November 21-26th, to demonstrate unity in showing their appreciation for the loyalty of the customers and communities that they serve.
The stickers are part of a larger, nationwide effort to bargain for better jobs for grocery workers. Nearly half a million UFCW grocery workers’ contracts are up for negotiation over the next 18 months, including 70,000 UFCW members in Southern California and in stores across the country and in Canada. The website, www.groceryworkersunited.com offers workers and supporters downloads of store flyers, videos, photos and news from bargaining tables across the country.
Last month, grocery workers all along the West Coast wore stickers expressing their need for affordable, quality health care. Now, in-store action is spreading across the entire nation as grocery workers wear this month’s sticker, which reads: “Serving Customers, Serving the Community.”
“The customers have been very supportive of the stickers,” adds UFCW Local 21 member and Safeway employee Vee Maksirisombat of Seattle, Washington. “It lets them know that we support our communities.”
“We’re all working for the same things: better benefits, better wages and job security. If we all work together, with the support of the community, to fight for the things we need, we’ll be stronger when we bargain,” said Leroy Gardner, UFCW Local 400 member and an employee at Giant Foods in Bethesda, Maryland.
November 13, 2006
Statement by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Joe Hansen on Royal Ahold Intention to Sel
(Washington DC) — The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) represents approximately 84,000 Ahold workers nationwide, employed under numerous company banners including Tops, Giant, and Stop & Shop.
The sale of its New York and Pennsylvania Tops stores will affect nearly 11,000 UFCW members.
The UFCW will continue to aggressively represent our members and enforce all union contract provisions while the company seeks a buyer for its Tops stores. We will actively engage with and impress on all potential buyers the necessity that UFCW members working at Tops stores maintain their union voice and good union wages and benefits.
UFCW members working at Ahold supermarket chains are some of the best and most productive workers in the industry, making Ahold’s U.S. operations, especially Giant and Stop & Shop, the crown jewels of the company.
Supermarkets operate to serve customers and serve communities. Grocery jobs with good wages, affordable health benefits and job security – like those that come with a union contract – are good for the local communities and economies in which they operate.
If Ahold attempts to sell its Top stores without regard for what becomes of the workers and the community post-sale, the company risks tarnishing its reputation at every banner operating in the U.S.
The UFCW is ready and eager to work with any potential buyer, one that knows and understands the dynamics of the supermarket industry.
We will not sit idly by and watch what happens and hope for the best – we will actively support the best situated and most enlightened bidders to actively engage in the bidding process for the betterment of the company, its future shareholders/owners, and for the more than 84,000 Ahold employees represented by the UFCW.
The UFCW intends to protect all Tops’ employees and the community members that make up Tops’ customer base by ensuring that their interests are well served.
UFCW local unions with members working under Ahold banners up and down the East Coast are united to take action in solidarity to support UFCW members employed by Tops.