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News and Updates
Issues
June 26, 2013
UFCW Statement on Defense of Marriage Act Decision
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), today released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
“Today the Supreme Court put DOMA in the trash bin of history with separate but equal and other discriminatory laws. The Defense of Marriage Act actually defended nothing at all. Instead it was a direct assault on married same-sex couples who were denied more than 1,100 federal benefits and protections by the government’s refusal to recognize their relationship. The UFCW strongly supports full equality for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. That means equal rights in employment, immigration, and yes—marriage. The momentum for marriage equality is growing every day. The Supreme Court today restored it in California, Minnesota recently became the 12th state to recognize same-sex unions, and more are on the way. It is not a matter of if but when all Americans will have the freedom to marry. The UFCW looks forward to that day.”
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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. 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.
June 25, 2013
Happy 75th to the Fair Labor Standards Act!
On June 25th, 1938, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This bill outlawed oppressive child labor, imposed a federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour, and guaranteed workers one and a half times their regular pay for hours worked over 40 in a week.
President Roosevelt called it, “the most far-reaching…far-sighted programs for the benefit of workers ever adopted.”
It was a monumental moment for workers’ rights. For the first time ever, American workers were guaranteed a level of security in the workplace.
The FLSA wasn’t adopted without its fair share of critics. In 1938 unemployment was at 19% and opponents felt that installing a minimum wage would make that number go up. They were wrong.
As the FLSA became law, wages and employment both increased.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to settle the debate about whether higher wages hurt employment –75 years later we’re still having it.
President Obama has proposed increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour. His reasoning, mentioned in this year’s State of the Union address, was simple: “In the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty.”
In March of this year, House Republicans unanimously voted down a bill that would have increased the minimum wage.
Speaker John Boehner summed up his party’s opposition to raising the minimum wage by saying “When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it.”
That logic is faulty and was proven wrong in 1938.
If the 75th anniversary of the FLSA makes us aware of anything, it’s that it’s time to renew its promise. The wage floor it established no longer provides a basic level of economic security.
A single parent working full-time at the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would earn $15,080 per year before taxes – putting them well below the poverty line.
If the minimum wage can only buy someone poverty than it’s too low.
Minimum wage workers deserve a raise. It’s time for Congress to give it to them.
June 25, 2013
UFCW Praises Introduction of Worker Anti-Retaliation Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The 1.3 million member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) today threw its support behind H.R. 2311—the Worker Anti-Retaliation Act—which would penalize large employers for illegally targeting workers for trying to improve their job conditions.
Earlier this month, Walmart workers went on strike nationwide and caravanned to the company’s shareholder meeting in Arkansas to call for an end to retaliation. In response, Walmart last week illegally fired nearly a dozen strikers and disciplined others without cause. This comes on the heels of a report released by American Rights at Work that details Walmart’s extensive and systematic efforts to silence associates who are speaking out for better jobs.
The Worker Anti-Retaliation Act—authored by Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL)—would expressly prohibit this type of retaliation against workers and give victims the right to back pay, damages, and other civil penalties.
“Walmart is reinventing labor retaliation in today’s economy, the latest chapter in the retail giant’s appalling record on workers’ rights,” UFCW International President Joe Hansen said. “Congressman Grayson’s bill would protect workers from targeting and send a message to all employers that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”
“This legislation provides necessary protections to low-wage workers, particularly those employed by Walmart, one of the nation’s largest retailers,” Grayson said. “My bill will protect workers from retaliation by their employers, and provide victims of retaliatory actions with legal relief. Employees of Walmart have little control over their working conditions. They are not unionized, and Walmart has used every trick in the book to prevent them from protesting dismal working conditions and unfair treatment. In fact, Walmart recently fired one of my constituents, who dared to speak out against Walmart’s employment practices. It’s time to put an end to Walmart’s abhorrent mistreatment of its employees—and let workers know that their rights to organize and protest will be protected.”
Grayson’s constituent, Vanessa Ferriera, worked at Walmart for 8 years, until she was fired in May. Ferriera was frustrated with the inability of Walmart to provide the wages and benefits she needed to support her family. So she stood up and spoke out about her concerns. She started meeting with her fellow associates—as part of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)— to assist in the effort to get Walmart to publicly commit to improving labor standards. Rather than responding to the valid concerns of Ferriera and others, Walmart management began targeting her for speaking out. She was unfairly disciplined for minor errors and interrogated by management whenever she participated in concerted activities with other associates. Walmart claims to have fired Ferriera for taking “extended breaks” but never provided any documentation or evidence of its claim.
Ferriera’s story is the tip of the iceberg. All across the country, unscrupulous employers are actively squashing and suppressing workers who are collectively seeking improvements in their workplaces. These aggressive and unlawful efforts must be stopped and the Worker Anti-Retaliation Act would put in place the safeguards to do so.
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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.
June 20, 2013
UFCW Members Blitz Capitol Hill During National Lobby Day
On June 18th and 19th over 150 UFCW members and staff came to Washington D.C. to talk face to face with their Members of Congress about the important issues facing working men and women.
Lourdes Castellano, a member of Local 1776 who works at Cargill in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, was proud to add her voice to the debate on immigration reform.
“I’ve worked at Cargill for 11 years and I would say 95% of my coworkers are Latino. We all want comprehensive immigration reform so that we can feel like we have a welcoming home. It’s especially difficult to see coworkers with family members who are separated because not all of them are able to come to America. We want a fair path to citizenship so that families can be reunified.”
With the Senate currently debating S. 744, a comprehensive immigration reform bill, Local 5 member Lachele Thomas, who works at Safeway in Salinas, California, found the very real prospect of helping to pass this landmark legislation exciting.
“This is historical. It’s almost overwhelming. I’ll be so proud if I can look back and know that we helped pass immigration reform.”
It was also an excellent time to talk with Members of Congress about properly shaping bills that have already been passed. With the Affordable Care Act (ACA) slated to take full effect in 2014, Local 1262 member Delores Jackson, a Shop Rite employee in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, was happy to be sharing her concerns about fairly implementing the law.
“I’m very excited to be here. I want them to hear my point of view. I’ve been with the union for years. We fought hard for our current benefits and we deserve to keep them. I’m hoping I can convince some of these politicians to help us with this ACA problem. I want to keep my good health care. I don’t want it to change. I can’t afford to pay more for less health care coverage – that’s just not right. Usually politicians just talk to us – it’s time we came up here and talked with them. They need to hear our voice. They need to know how it is for us.”
One of the big takeaways, especially for members who had never lobbied before, was how effective their participation can be. For Humberto Munoz, a member of Local 5 who works at Safeway in Salinas, California, the experience was rewarding.
“I met my Congressman – visiting him in his office was a great experience. I realized being here that they do listen and that talking with them really can make a difference.”
With members and staff from California, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Arizona, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Virginia, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Tennessee, Nevada, Florida, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Maryland showing up, it truly was a national lobby day.
If anyone reading this is thinking about getting more involved politically – stop thinking about it and start doing it. Shante Vinalon, a Local 1996 member who works at Kroger in Decatur, Georgia, was happy she did.
“I’ve worked at Kroger for 8 years. This is my first time lobbying in DC. Meeting and sitting down with Representatives one on one is empowering. I get an understanding of where they’re coming from and they get an understanding of where we’re coming from. I’m able to see who is for us and who is against us. I like it. It’s a great experience. Everyone should do it. I plan on encouraging all my friends back home to do it.”
UFCW’s National Lobby Day proved to everyone that politicians are a lot more approachable than they sometimes seem. If we want our concerns to be heard, we have to be willing to speak up.
June 19, 2013
New Report on Political Contributions Underscores Walmart’s Sharp Turn to the Right
A new report issued Tuesday shows that Walmart and the Walton family that founded and controls the company have dramatically increased their political contributions over the last decade and that the vast majority of those contributions have gone to Republicans and right-wing causes, including anti-gay, anti-environment and pro-gun politicians and causes. The report asserts that Walmart, the world’s largest private employer, and the Walton family have spent over $17 million in federal elections and millions more on state and local initiatives. Since the 2000 election cycle, more than $11.6 million—69% of Walmart and the Waltons’ contributions—has gone to Republican candidates and committees. At the same time, 83% of the Waltons’ contributions, including their contributions to Super PACs, went to Republicans.
The report, “An Analysis of Walmart and Walton Family Political Spending, 2000-2012,” comes after Walmart’s recent hiring of Dan Bartlett, a Bush Administration official known for his work in creating the “weapons of mass destruction” narrative, to replace Leslie Dach as Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs. Dach worked in the Clinton Administration.
“This new report highlights the degree to which Walmart and the Walton family use their considerable wealth to distort the political process,” said William Fletcher, a member of OUR Walmart and an Associate at the Walmart store in Duarte, California. “The Waltons are the richest family in the world. Instead of putting their money into fair wages for us Walmart workers, they instead pour millions into a right-wing agenda that has nothing to do with business and everything to do with their radical ideology.”
The report further underscores Walmart and the Waltons’ turn to the right and shows that political contributions doesn’t simply stop at supporting Republicans; in 2008, Jim Walton gave $75,000 to the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee, which at the time was supporting a ballot measure to prevent gay families from adopting. Meanwhile, 94% of the Walton family’s contributions to candidates from 2000 to 2012 went to those who were opposed to or silent on the issue of marriage equality.
Aside from their record of supporting anti-LGBT candidates, the Waltons and Walmart disproportionately contribute to candidates with low scores on civil rights, women’s issues, immigration, and those who oppose raising the minimum wage. The Waltons also support NRA-backed candidates; 76% of all their donations from 2000-2012 have gone to candidates or politicians with an A+ or an A from the NRA.
The Walton family, collectively worth $115 billion, has more wealth than the bottom 42% of Americans combined. At the same time, despite more than $16 billion in annual profits and executives making 1,000 times more than the average Walmart employee, a new report released by the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce found that the costs to taxpayers at just one Walmart store as a result of Walmart’s inadequate wages and benefits is about $1 million.
Tuesday’s report was issued by Making Change at Walmart, a growing coalition challenging Walmart to help rebuild our economy and strengthen working families, and comes as a growing number of associates and supporters nationwide are calling for the company to end retaliation against employees and for the company to publicly commit to providing full-time work with a minimum salary of $25,000 a year so workers don’t have to rely on tax-payer funded programs to support their families.
June 12, 2013
UFCW Local 400 Safeway Members Welcome SNAP Challenge Participants
This week, 26 Members of Congress committed to live off of a food stamp budget in order to bring awareness to House Republican cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Already, the SNAP program denies eligibility to 50 million “food insecure households”. But now, proposed changes to the Farm Bill would strip access to the program from an additional 2 million families.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and the other Member of Congress participating in the SNAP challenge are addressing this alarming issue by attempting to live off of less than $4.50 a day.
Today the challenge participants stopped at a Washington D.C. Safeway, where Local 400 members work, to buy a week’s worth of groceries for about $30. In order to keep to the strict budget of the food stamp program, staples like milk and butter were out of the question. Representative Lee described the difficulty of the trip in a blog post:
“What I’m thinking about most during this trip is that I’m shopping only for myself. When I was a young, single mother, I was on public assistance. It was a bridge over troubled water, and without it, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I spent hours debating what to buy and what to skip, all the while keeping my sons in my mind.”
The proposed changes to the Farm Bill will send many single parents who are in this position, into a state of utter uncertainty about how to provide food for their families. A large portion of those affected by the cuts will be under the age of 18.
This is not the first time officials have tried the SNAP challenge, however. Newark Mayor Cory Booker did so earlier this year, and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton found that adhering to the food stamp budget left him feeling tired, and eventually “unable to focus”. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) admitted that if this was how he had to live, he would likely be a more unpleasant person, due to his state of hunger. He also lost six pounds in just four days.
The conservatives who claim food stamp programs create dependency on government don’t know what its like to go hungry. Some may joke about those who must rely on government programs, but the reality is that many hard-working people cannot make ends meet without them.
UFCW Local 400 President Mark Federici made a statement following the group’s visit to Safeway this week, commending the challenge participants:
“Year in and year out, the SNAP/Food Stamp program proves itself an unqualified success in reducing hunger, alleviating poverty and stimulating the economy. That’s why we are deeply dismayed that the Senate version of the Farm Bill re-authorization cuts SNAP benefits for approximately 500,000 households, and outraged that the House version of the legislation would completely eliminate benefits for two million low-income families. This would be bad enough under any circumstances, but it’s even worse coming at a time when far too many Americans are unemployed and our economic recovery is still shaky.
“The SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge is a critical way for elected officials and other leaders to experience first-hand how hard it is to feed a family on a SNAP budget, and to understand why benefits should be increased, rather than cut. We applaud all the members of Congress who are joining the challenge this week, and we are especially proud that they chose to purchase their groceries at a union shop. They understand that shopping union gets you the most value for your grocery dollar and the best customer service in the industry.
“Local 400 is privileged to join with these members of Congress in educating the public about the persistence of hunger in America and urging lawmakers to restore full funding to the SNAP/Food Stamp program in the Farm Bill.
“We also remind policy makers that the best way to reduce SNAP expenditures is to shop union, and to restore to workers their right to choose collective bargaining. The rise of low-wage employers like Walmart is a big reason why the SNAP program has grown in recent years, because the workers earn so little, they need Food Stamps to feed their families. By contrast, the more workers with union contracts, the fewer workers will need SNAP or any other type of federal assistance. That’s a win-win solution for everybody, because it lowers poverty, eases hunger, bolsters the economy, and improves government balance sheets.”
June 12, 2013
New York City Thrift Store Workers Vote to Join RWDSU/UFCW
Unique Thrift store workers in New York City voted to join the RWDSU for better wages and working conditions.
This week, workers at Unique Thrift in the Bronx, New York, voted to join the RWDSU/UFCW. All 64 workers at the Bronx store will be part of the bargaining unit. The workers who sort through the donated goods and staff the Unique Thrift stores in the Bronx, and other parts of New York and New Jersey are speaking out about their working conditions. Workers are paid low wages, receive no paid sick days or vacations, are verbally abused by managers and are often hurt on the job.
“As a single mom living in New York City, it is extremely difficult to survive off $7.50 an hour,” said Joanna Carrillo, Unique Thrift employee. “I was proud to vote yes to join the RWDSU because we deserve respect, better wages, and basic benefits such as health care and paid time off.”
Unique Thrift is a for profit thrift store which contracts with the Lupus Foundation. The company solicits donations in the name of the Lupus Foundation, sells the clothes for profit and sends the charity a comparatively small contribution.
June 5, 2013
Huffington Post: Poultry Worker Study Finds Alarming Rate Of Carpal Tunnel As USDA Considers Line Speedup
WASHINGTON — A recent government study of workers at a poultry plant in South Carolina determined that four out of 10 showed signs of the painful hand-and-arm condition known as carpal tunnel syndrome, a finding that raises fresh concerns about a federal proposal that would allow plants to speed up their slaughtering lines.
Poultry processing work is full of repetitive motion, and numerous reports have documented the job’s health and safety hazards over the years. The recent study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) examined just one plant, but workplace health experts say it offers one of the most granular looks at how the job takes a toll on line workers — and how faster line speeds, currently being considered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, could possibly make things worse.
“This gives you a snapshot of what goes on in one plant,” said Celeste Monforton, a public health expert at George Washington University. “It’s done and it shows damning results. … I don’t know how USDA will dismiss what’s in this.”
NIOSH experts visited the plant twice last year, examining workers who eviscerate, debone and cut chickens to prepare them for sale, according to the report. They interviewed the workers about hand and arm pain and performed nerve conduction tests on them. Forty-two percent had indications of carpal tunnel, and a majority of workers reported “multiple musculoskeletal symptoms,” most commonly hand and wrist pain.
Read the report below.
Out of 318 participants at the plant, 213 “reported pain, burning, numbness or tingling in their hands or wrists in the past 12 months.” Furthermore, two-thirds of those 213 workers reported “awakening from sleep because of these symptoms.”
Despite those findings, public health and labor advocates say these workers may soon see their workloads increase.
Last year, the USDA put forth a proposal to overhaul the poultry inspection process. The change would pull many government inspectors off the slaughtering line where they visually inspect birds, moving resources instead toward the detection of bacteria and other invisible dangers. The rule change would thereby allow poultry plants to speed up their slaughtering lines, delivering savings to poultry companies.
Backers have pitched the proposal as a cost-saver for both government and industry. Critics, however, have called it a giveaway to the poultry business that could have unintended consequences.
Many occupational health experts have objected to the proposal, saying line speeds already move too fast for workers like those in the South Carolina plant that NIOSH visited. USDA officials have told stakeholders privately that the change wouldn’t impact line workers, drawing a distinction between the slaughtering process, where the speedup would occur, and the processing line, where most workers toil.
But critics like Tony Corbo, a lobbyist at the watchdog group Food & Water Watch, say that if chickens are being slaughtered at a faster rate, then it stands to reason they will be processed at a faster rate as well. Corbo told HuffPost he’s skeptical that poultry plants, well-known for their tight controls on labor costs, will be eager to add more workers to the lines to account for a slaughtering speedup. Many plant employees already work essentially shoulder-to-shoulder, he noted.
“If you’re speeding up the lines, guess what — it’s going to impact the speed at which those workers are chopping up the chickens,” Corbo said. “Unless they establish new lines in the factories, those workers are going to be working faster and faster.
“Remember Lucy in the candy factory?” he added.
Poultry line workers are among some of the most vulnerable laborers in the U.S. The polyglot workforces often include immigrants from Latin American and African countries, who generally work for low pay on demanding production schedules. Class-action lawsuits have become common in the industry, with workers claiming they’re shorted on their wages or required to work off the clock.
The NIOSH study was done at the request of the Agriculture Department, and the South Carolina plant was required to undergo the evaluation in order to secure a waiver under the current line-speed rules. A NIOSH spokeswoman said experts will evaluate the workers again after the speedup to determine what, if any, the health effects have been. Those results will be shared with the USDA as well.
An Agriculture Department spokeswoman said the agency “welcomes NIOSH’s work” and is reviewing the study’s findings.
“This data is preliminary,” she said in an email. “We look forward to the full results of NIOSH’s research and to working with them further on this issue.”
The agency wouldn’t be required to alter or scrap the speed-up proposal based on any health findings, and it isn’t clear what bearing NIOSH’s studies will have on the final rule. As Monforton and others noted, the White House and the USDA appear committed to moving forward with the rule.
The president’s most recent budget proposal assumes the rule will go into effect — an assumption that the left-leaning Center for Progressive Reform calls a “rebuke” to concerned parties.
“The President’s budget suggests that most of these concerns, raised by a broad coalition of the public interest community, have been ignored in a headlong rush to finalize a rule that officials believe will save a few million dollars,” the group wrote. “Yet, some hope remains that the rule is not written in stone.”
Read the NIOSH report here.
May 21, 2013
UFCW President Joe Hansen in The Hill: Treat nonprofit healthcare fairly
“If you already have health insurance through your job — and because many of you are members of unions, you do — nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change your coverage or your doctor. Let me repeat: Nothing in this plan will require you to change your coverage or your doctor.” Those were the words spoken by President Obama at the AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh on Sept. 15, 2009.
Since then, Congress has passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and it has been signed into law.
It has withstood a challenge before the Supreme Court. Regulations have been issued, exchanges created, and open enrollment is set to begin in a matter of months. Unfortunately, what also has become increasingly clear with each passing day is that the president’s statement to labor in 2009 is simply not true for millions of workers.
For decades, unions have negotiated high quality, affordable health insurance through nonprofit Taft-Hartley plans — one of the few reliable private providers for lower income individuals.
These plans are mutually agreed upon between union members and participating employers and provide insurance to millions of American workers.
In addition to being a long-standing and successful provider, these plans have been models of efficiency, achieving better cost savings than for-profit insurance carriers with medical loss ratios often exceeding 90 percent. That means 90 cents out of every dollar go to patient care.
Savings in healthcare can free up money for wages and pensions, and thus drive the economy forward for all of us.
But as currently interpreted, the ACA would block these plans from the law’s benefits (such as the subsidy for lower-income individuals and families) while subjecting them to the law’s penalties (like the $63 per insured person to subsidize Big Insurance). This creates unstoppable incentives for employers to reduce weekly hours for workers currently on our plans and push them onto the exchanges where many will pay higher costs for poorer insurance with a more limited network of providers. In other words, they will be forced to change their coverage and quite possibly their doctor. Others will be channeled into Medicaid, where taxpayers must pick up the tab.
In addition, the ACA includes a fine for failing to cover full-time workers but includes no such penalty for part-timers (defined as working less than 30 hours a week). As a result, many employers are either reducing hours below 30 or discontinuing part-time health coverage altogether. This is a cut in pay and benefits workers simply cannot afford. For example, a worker making $10 an hour that has his or her schedule cut by six hours a week would lose $3,100 a year in income. With millions of workers impacted, this would have a devastating effect on our economy.
Beginning next year, states are required to have health insurance exchanges up and running to cover the growing uninsured population in this country.
The ACA offers a subsidy to lower-income individuals and families so they can afford to purchase this insurance. As many of our members fall into this category, we believe the subsidy can and should apply to nonprofit plans. All we want is equality — where our plans are treated the same as for-profit insurers.
The Obama administration has refused our request, citing legal hurdles. But since the treatment of Taft-Hartley plans is not fully described in the ACA, we believe the regulatory process is exactly the appropriate place to deem them qualified health plans eligible for subsidies. Any objective review of the evidence and reasonable definition of what our funds provide leads to this conclusion.
We’d be open to a legislative fix, but ultimately this is the administration’s responsibility. They are leading the regulatory process. It’s their signature law.
We don’t want a handout. Our members want to keep the healthcare they currently have. Let me repeat — our members want to keep the healthcare they currently have. We just want them to be treated fairly.
Hansen is the president of the 1.3 million member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and chairman of Change to Win.
May 13, 2013
Walmart Associates, Community Supporters Launch New Website www.ReallyWalmart.org
Washington, DC- Today, the Making Change at Walmart campaign and its coalition partners announced the launch of a new website www.ReallyWalmart.org. The website, which showcases a number of video interviews of Walmart employees, community activists, environmentalists and others sharing their experiences with and concerns about Walmart, comes on the heels of Walmart launching a new multimillion-dollar ad-campaign and website of the same name titled “The Real Walmart”.
“Usually I work 36 hours a week but they cut hours…sometimes I even get only 26 hours and I am supposed to be fulltime,” said Chicago native and OUR Walmart member Rose Campbell, who is featured on the site. “I’ve even had 19 hours. I’ve got bills and none of that changes…you have to make do.”
ReallyWalmart.org includes testimony from Walmart employees, community activist and even Actor/Activist Danny Glover. The site also includes footage from elected officials, including President Obama’s keynote address to the Unite Food and Commercial Workers Union in 2008. Also featured is exclusive footage from labor activist and former Bangladesh garment worker Kalpona Aktar.
“We might not have millions of dollars to pay for TV ads, but we have the stories to share that Walmart doesn’t want the public to hear,” said OUR Walmart member Charlene Fletcher. “The truth is that Walmart is a company that puts profits over people and employs tactics and strategies that keep employees like me in jobs that don’t let us provide for our families. Even while Walmart’s profits are going up, my coworkers and I have to rely on food stamps just to cover groceries.”
Citing nearly $16 billion in annual profits and a CEO earning 1000 times the average employee, Walmart employees and communities across the globe are calling for a change of course at the company. Making Change at Walmart is calling on the company to raise wages, an end to retaliation against employees who speak out as well as increased access to full time hours so that employees make a minimum of $25,000 per year.
Additionally, the group is also calling on Walmart sign a binding agreement on fire and building safety to help prevent tragedies like last month’s Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh which caused the death of more than 1,000 garment workers.
Over the course of the last year, Walmart has seen its reputation and business practices questioned amidst bribery allegations, tragedies in its supply chain and turmoil amongst its workforce including strikes launched last year for the first time in the company’s 51 year history. Since 2011 Walmart has seen a decline in its reputational index rating, while its competitors have seen an increase during the same period and support for changing course at Walmart has been growing. Last fall, more than 30,000 supporters joined striking workers on picket lines around Black Friday and since then a number of actions have taken place at Walmart stores across the country including last month when hundreds of OUR Walmart members and their supporters called on the company to correct scheduling problems within stores.
The new website highlights stories from various Walmart employees including those who have called on the company to change course and leadership. Additionally, it features stories of Walmart employees who receive public assistance and those work along the supply chain.
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UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.