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News and Updates
Press Releases
October 22, 2012
Walmart and its Temp Agencies Violate Federal, Illinois Labor Law
Class action suit alleges Chicago-area temp workers weren’t paid minimum wage or provided with proper employment notices
CHICAGO—Walmart Stores Inc. and its staffing agencies broke federal minimum wage and overtime laws by requiring temporary workers to appear early for work, stay late to complete work, work through lunches and breaks and participate in trainings without compensation, a class action suit filed Monday alleges. The suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
Labor Ready and QPS, two of the staffing agencies Walmart uses in the Chicago area, failed to provide workers assigned to Walmart stores with information related to their employment, such as employment notices and proper wage payment notices as required by Illinois law.
Walmart itself failed to keep accurate records of workers’ time as required by federal and state law and has failed to provide workers with forms verifying hours worked. This made it impossible for workers to make claims that they were not paid by the temp agencies for all hours worked.
Walmart and its staffing agencies also failed to pay the plaintiffs and others in similar situations a minimum of four hours pay on days when they were contracted to work, but not utilized for a minimum of four hours, as required by Illinois law. This prevented the workers from seeking other work.
“I only get paid minimum wage and yet Labor Ready and Walmart still try to cheat me by not paying me for the time I actually work,” said Twanda Burk, the primary plaintiff on the lawsuit. “I’ve proven that I’m a good worker, and they just want to take advantage of that.”
The violations of state and federal law are alleged to have occurred in early 2009 and continuing up until the present time. In addition to seeking all unpaid wages for the workers, the suit calls for an injunction against Walmart and its temp agencies preventing them from future violations of state labor laws.
“There have been so many times I’ve been told to stay late after my shift to finish stocking the shelves, but I didn’t know they wouldn’t pay me for it,” said Anthony Wright, a temp worker at Labor Ready who has worked at a couple of the Walmart stores in the area since late last year.
Walmart contracts with staffing agencies for the services of hundreds of temporary laborers—many of whom earn minimum wage—in Chicago-area stores. The company has said it would hire 50,000 temporary workers to staff its stores for the upcoming holiday season.
“The practices that Walmart and its staffing agencies are engaging in are exactly why the Illinois legislature passed the Illinois Day and Temporary Services Act,” said Chris Williams, of Workers’ Law Office PC, the workers’ attorney. “Workers need critical information to make sure they don’t get cheated on their pay, as they did here. These workers are required to be paid for the time they’ve worked.”
Walmart got the green light to expand in Chicago when it committed to the Chicago city council to set starting wages at $8.75 per hour, however Walmart has failed to live up to its word to the people of Chicago.
Leone Jose Bicchieri, of the Chicago Workers’ Collaborative, who has been working to gain rights for agency temporary workers in Chicagoland for more than a decade, said, “Walmart has broken its promises in Chicago. It came into this city promising good, permanent jobs, but has reneged on this pledge. Instead of providing decent jobs with career potential and opportunities to access benefits, Walmart is outsourcing jobs to temp agencies that barely pay minimum wage with no benefits and who has broken multiple Illinois labor laws.”
Elce Redmond, the Executive Director of the South Austin Community Coalition, said, “By outsourcing these jobs, the company is taking advantage of Chicago residents in neighborhoods that had hoped Walmart would provide real employment opportunities, not the dead-end jobs that keep residents in a cycle of poverty.”
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Making Change at Walmart is a movement of community leaders, elected officials, civil rights and immigrant organizations, religious leaders, women’s organizations, Walmart associates, small business owners and members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union challenging Walmart to help rebuild the economy, starting with America’s families. (www.ChangeWalmart.org)
October 4, 2012
America’s Retail Union Stands with Striking Walmart Workers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — America’s retail union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), stands in strong solidarity with Walmart workers in Southern California who have gone on strike.
Thousands of Walmart associates across the country have joined together in OUR Walmart, a worker-led organization that stands up to make change in their company. For more than a year now, associates have been working together for a company that pays a living wage, provides affordable health care, is a contributing member of communities and treats their associates with respect. Instead of listening and working with OUR Walmart members, Walmart has retaliated against workers and tried to silence them.
On Thursday, October 4, these workers responded to Walmart’s refusal to treat its employees with fairness by going on strike at several Los Angeles-area stores. The strike is a protest of Walmart’s attempts to silence and retaliate against associates who speak out.
Today’s actions by Walmart associates are part of a growing movement of Walmart workers who are standing together and taking action. Workers at Walmart-controlled warehouse and distribution centers in California and Illinois struck their employers over the last two weeks to demand an end to retaliation for speaking out for real change at work.
“The more than a million members of the UFCW across America know the need for real change at Walmart,” said Joe Hansen, International President of the UFCW. “We’re incredibly proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these courageous associates who are taking action to demand that Walmart workers can, and should, be able to speak out for real change without fear of retaliation.”
To join with UFCW members and supporters from across the country and stand up for the rights of Walmart workers, click here or sign the petition of support below.
“Making a change for the better at America’s largest retailer can improve America’s middle class, America’s economy and America’s most common job,” said Hansen. “These brave workers have lit a fire for justice at Walmart that will be hard to extinguish.”
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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.
October 2, 2012
Statement by UFCW International President Joseph Hansen in Support of President Obama’s Plans to Establish a Monument in Honor of Cesar Chavez
Washington, D.C. –The following is a statement issued by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Joseph Hansen:
The UFCW applauds President Obama’s plans to establish the California home and workplace of the late Cesar Chavez as a national monument. As the head of the United Farm Workers Union, Cesar Chavez was one of the greatest labor leaders in the United States who dedicated his life to fighting for predominantly Latino farmworkers, and his massive grape boycott in the 1960s will always be remembered as one of the most successful strikes in labor history. His life has served as an inspiration to generations of Latinos who have continued to fight for better opportunities and dignity and respect on the job, and it is fitting that this monument in being dedicated during the 50th anniversary of the United Farm Workers Union.
The UFCW represents workers from all parts of the world working side by side together in our nation’s meatpacking, food processing, and poultry plants, as well as supermarkets and retail stores, and many of our workers are immigrants. We are proud of the diversity of our 1.3 million members, and will continue to honor the legacy of Cesar Chavez as we fight for social justice in the workplace.
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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, immigration 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.
September 10, 2012
Tyson Workers Receive Long-Awaited Payment from Wage and Hour Lawsuit Settlement
$32 million Settlement Ends 12-year Legal Battle to Get Paid for Hours Worked
(Washington, D.C.) – After a 12 year legal struggle, more than 12,000 Tyson poultry workers in 41 plants in 12 states will receive their payments from the largest settlement against a major poultry company at $32 million. Thanks to the tenacity and dedication of thousands of workers from across the country and the support of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, workers involved in the suit will receive payments averaging $1,200 in lost wages.
The success of the Tyson’s settlement for poultry workers is just one in a series of actions where workers continue to fight and take a stand for workers’ rights in poultry and meatpacking plants around the country. Similar cases have been brought and resolved against Perdue and Pilgrim’s Pride plants as well. The UFCW continues to work to make sure that every meatpacking and poultry worker is paid honestly and fairly for the work they do. A suit that was filed in 1999 was the first action of its kind to force poultry companies to obey the nation’s basic wage and hour laws.
“This lawsuit and the new pay practices in the meatpacking and poultry industry are just one way union workers raise standards for every worker in their industry,” said Joe Hansen, UFCW International President. “While this settlement is long overdue, our efforts have ensured that thousands of workers have been paid correctly for years now.”
The affected Tyson poultry employees work at plants in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
These payments will inject much-needed money into America’s rural economy and reward a hard-working and dedicated group of poultry workers.
The lawsuit charged Tyson with violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and cheating their poultry plant employees out of wages by failing to pay workers for the time they spend putting on and taking off protective gear they wear to keep the food they process safe and for their own protection. The poultry company also violated the basic wage and hour laws by failing to provide workers with their required break time.
“Every American deserves to get paid for the work they do,” Hansen continued. “We’re changing the way meat and poultry industries do business by ensuring that workers are paid for all of their time on the job.”
Workers, the UFCW, and activists started to take collective action for workers’ rights to fair wages and treatment at the workplace in 1999. Between 1999 and 2001, they took their action on the road and spread the word of their mission through a bus tour and leafleting other Tyson workers. In that brief time, almost 4,000 workers signed up to join. The federal lawsuit developed following a U.S. Department of Labor survey that found over 60 percent of the nation’s poultry companies were in violation of basic wage and hour laws.
The collective case representing the workers from several plants from across the country went through several judges until a judge in November 2006 declared that the case under the different plants could not be presented as a singular case and dismissed it. The workers and their supporters continued their legal action despite the large setback and filed their cases on a plant-by-plant basis. More than 17,000 workers start signing up to join the suit under the new case conditions.
In September 2011, the workers sent a settlement agreement to the court, which the court later approved. After almost 12 years, workers receive notice in January 2012 that they will finally be receiving their settlement payments.
In order to qualify for the settlement, current workers must have signed up to be part of the lawsuit back in 2008 and former employees were required to send back the W-4 form included with the payment notice, so that tax withholdings could be properly calculated.
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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.
August 31, 2012
STATEMENT BY THE UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION REGARDING SHOOTING AT A NEW JERSEY SUPERMARKET
Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement issued by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW):
“The UFCW is shocked and saddened at the news of a shooting at the Pathmark supermarket in Old Bridge, New Jersey, early this morning. The full details of this tragedy are still being investigated, and UFCW is working to assist our members, Pathmark, and local authorities in any way we can. While the investigation continues, UFCW will be offering professional counseling services to Old Bridge Pathmark workers. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and the workers who have been affected by this terrible tragedy. We will continue to monitor the situation and offer our support to our members, Pathmark, law enforcement, and the Old Bridge community.”
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. UFCW Local unions 464A and 1262 represent workers at the Old Bridge, N.J. Pathmark.
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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.
August 30, 2012
UFCW STATEMENT REGARDING THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION’S ANTI-WORKER PLATFORM
Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement issued by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union:
“The Republican Party’s anti-worker platform at their convention in Tampa, Fla., this week further highlights the GOP’s disconnect from the realities of everyday Americans. Instead of offering any serious solutions for creating jobs with benefits and wages that can support a family and addressing the growing gap between the rich and the poor, convention speakers like Chris Christie, Scott Walker and Nikki Haley have resorted to pitting workers against workers by lashing out at labor unions.
“America’s workers are the cornerstone of our country’s middle class, and making it easier for hard working men and women to stick together through a union would put more company profits in the hands of working people and strengthen America’s middle class. While Republican candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, claim to care about the middle class, they have challenged the very idea of the right of workers to stick together and bargain for basic rights—including fair pay, health care and retirement benefits.
“The best way for workers to have a say about their working conditions is by sticking together as a union, and the UFCW will continue to fight any action by Romney, Ryan and followers like Christie, Walker and Haley who favor the wealthy one percent over America’s workers and the poor.”
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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.
August 9, 2012
WALMART WORKERS PAINT GRAPHIC PICTURE OF WORKING CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT SUPPLY CHAIN
Workers Describe Jobs Rife with Retaliation, Hazards and Low Pay
LOS ANGELES – Workers representing four links in Walmart’s global supply chain – food production, processing, warehousing and retail – today filed a formal ethics complaint with Walmart’s corporate executives in Los Angeles. The complaint outlines systemic violations of Walmart’s own Statement of Ethics and Standards for Suppliers.
Standing in front of the proposed site of a Walmart store in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, workers and supporters described working conditions that include enslavement, injury, hazardous equipment, retaliatory firings and chemical exposure in the production, transport and sale of Walmart merchandise.
“This is a pattern. No matter the country, no matter the workplace, no matter the worker, we see that Walmart and its contractors’ deny responsibility, ignore serious problems and fire workers who stand up for change. This behavior should not be rewarded with more stores,” said Guadalupe Palma, a campaign director with Warehouse Workers United, an organization committed to improving warehousing jobs in the Inland Empire.
Warehouse workers who move Walmart goods in Southern California are part of an increasing number of workers stepping out of the shadows and calling attention to unsafe and illegal treatment of workers employed by Walmart and its contractors.
“So many of my coworkers are living in pain because of the pressure to work fast or lose our jobs,” said Limber Herrera, a warehouse worker in Riverside. “We often breathe a thick black dust that gives us nosebleeds and headaches. We want Walmart to take responsibility and fix these bad working conditions.”
Workers and supporters also presented copies of two petitions to Walmart that garnered a combined 250,000 signatures and cast light on conditions faced by seafood workers who work for Walmart suppliers. Ana Rosa Diaz, one of eight guestworkers who exposed forced labor at Walmart supplier C.J.’s Seafood in Louisiana last month, spoke at the event. Only after Diaz went on strike and 150,000 people pledged their support was Walmart forced to admit to labor violations and suspend its contract with the supplier.
“We know that hundreds of other guestworkers at other Walmart suppliers are facing abuse,” said Diaz, a member of the National Guestworker Alliance. “The U.S. Department of Labor has confirmed our claims of abuse at C.J.’s Seafood. Now it’s time for Walmart to sit down with us to agree to a solution to stop abuse across its supply chain.”
In Thailand, it was revealed in June that a major Walmart shrimp supplier was engaged in debt bondage. After workers struck, causing media and consumer scrutiny, the Walmart supplier, Patthana, pledged to end its practice of debt bondage. However, many workers in Walmart’s supply chain remain vulnerable to other abuses. At a Thai pineapple factory, Vita Foods, that also supplies Walmart there are reports of human trafficking similar to those at Patthana, including that children under the age of 15 have been bought and sold to work there.
“Globalization for the working poor of the world means that American warehouse workers today have more in common with factory workers in Thailand’s shrimp and pineapple factories than with the one-percenters in their own country who profit from their labor. Hyper-exploitation is the global labor standard Walmart has chosen to pursue. This just means the fight for justice for Walmart’s workers is that much bigger. Thailand may seem far away to the Walton heirs, but we are going to bring the plight of Thai workers to the suburbs of Arkansas. You bring home the profits, you bring home the struggle too,” said Chancee Martorell, executive director of the Thai Community Development Center, representing the Thai workers.
Through the organization OUR Walmart, store associates are fighting for and winning changes at Walmart to help workers, who are struggling to support their families on low-wages, reductions in hours, unaffordable healthcare, unjust terminations and unsafe and discriminatory working conditions. In Riverside, after warehouse workers filed a comprehensive complaint with the state of California detailing broken equipment, limited access to water, extreme heat and other violations of state law, two warehouse workers were suspended indefinitely. Both Carlos Martinez and David Garcia won their return to work after filing charges with the state.
“We are standing up for ourselves and our co-workers to make real changes at Walmart and we will not be silenced,” said Greg Fletcher, a father of two sons and a member of OUR Walmart. “Even though Walmart is the biggest company in the country, the company is not above the law. When we stand together and hold Walmart accountable, we are winning protections for workers, our community and our economy.”
Fletcher is a six-year Walmart associate in Duarte, California.
Members of the Chinatown community joined the rally saying residents are not interested in the expansion of low wage jobs, retaliation, injury and dangerous working conditions and a destruction of the local community.
“We stand with the workers against retaliation, injury and dangerous working conditions. It is illegal, and it is immoral,” King Cheung, a member of the Chinatown Committee for Equitable Development. “For the world’s largest retailer, Walmart pays its workers substandard low wages. Chinatown deserves better than Walmart. Walmart is well known for bad treatment of its workers. It is also well known for harming small businesses and communities. That is why we do not want Walmart here in LA Chinatown.”
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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.
July 2, 2012
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION NAMES TWO UFCW OFFICIALS TO IMPORTANT TRADE ADVISORY COMMITTEES
WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk have named two key officials from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) to important trade advisory committees. Mark Lauritsen, International Vice President and Director of the Food Processing, Packing and Manufacturing Division, has been named to the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee (APAC). Arne Anderson, Director of the Strategic Resources Department, has been named to the USTR’s Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade (ATAC). Both committees will advise Vilsack and Kirk on negotiating objectives and bargaining positions for future trade agreements. “We understand the important role trade can play in supporting jobs in the agricultural and food industries,” said UFCW International President Joe Hansen. “Mark and Arne’s appointments will help ensure the voice and concerns of workers are represented during these important negotiations.” ###
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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 25, 2012
HANSEN STATEMENT ON SUPREME COURT RULING AGAINST ARIZONA IMMIGRATION LAW
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’s decision striking down most of Arizona’s immigration law.
“The Supreme Court has rightly struck down the majority of Arizona’s controversial immigration law. This decision is a repudiation of those advocating a patchwork of extreme state laws and reaffirms the federal government’s constitutional role in setting immigration policy. We are disappointed the law’s provision encouraging racial profiling survived and hope it will be overturned in the near future. It is time to move forward on this critical issue. President Obama started that process by issuing a common sense order to prevent the deportation of young immigrants who serve our nation. It is now time for Congress to get to work on comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for those who work hard and play by the rules. Only then can we truly fix our broken immigration system.”
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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 15, 2012
FOOD WORKERS UNION APPLAUDS OBAMA’S COMMITMENT TO YOUNG IMMIGRANTS
UFCW International President Joe Hansen urges Congress to act on this critical issue for working families
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – United Food and Commercial Workers Union International President (UFCW) Joseph T. Hansen released the following statement today in response to President Obama’s announcement of relief for undocumented youth:
“President Obama today made an important investment in the American dream for thousands of hard-working immigrant students and veterans by removing the threat of deportation and creating a clear path to full civic and economic participation for promising young people.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of high performing children of immigrants who were raised in the United States—including honor roll students, star athletes, and aspiring teachers, doctors, lawyers and U.S. soldiers—graduate from high school. Despite their academic achievements, they have been effectively barred from contributing fully to our communities. Today, thanks to President Obama’s bold leadership, the threat of deportation has been lifted for those aspiring American dreamers.
President Obama is embracing these promising students and soldiers who have demonstrated a commitment to hard work and a strong desire to be upstanding members of our society.
The UFCW, the voice for workers in the food and retail industries, is proud of the thousands of young immigrant activists who have organized into one strong, clear voice for fairness. They are weaving the unique fabric of American society – hard work, entrepreneurship, loyalty to country, ingenuity and invention. We are proud to stand with them, and with President Obama, as we work together to bring hope and a brighter future for every worker in our country.”
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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.