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News and Updates
Press Releases
June 18, 2009
STATEMENT FROM JOE HANSEN, UFCW INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT
WASHINGTON, DC – A horrific accident took the lives of three workers and injured 41 others in an explosion and roof collapse at the ConAgra Foods Inc. facility in Garner, North Carolina, on June 9, 2009. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 204 represents 900 workers in that facility.
The Chemical Safety Board is conducting an in-depth investigation into the fatal explosion. Their work will be instrumental in determining the cause of this tragic accident that took the lives of three workers and injured many more.
Over the next several months, investigators will sift through the evidence, consult with Board members, and review regulations and industry practices. The investigators will draw lessons learned from the accident and make recommendations for corrective action to make sure it can’t happen again.
Workers who survived the explosion have been active participants in the investigation, giving detailed interviews, telling their stories about what happened June 9, 2009.
The UFCW supports this important work and are proud partners in their ongoing work to prevent workplace accidents.
June 12, 2009
UFCW STATEMENT ON TRAGIC EVENT AT CONAGRA PLANT IN GARNER, NORTH CAROLINA
WASHINGTON, DC – A horrific accident took the lives of three workers and injured 41 others in an explosion and roof collapse at the ConAgra Foods Inc. facility in Garner, North Carolina, on June 9, 2009. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 204 represents 900 workers in that facility.
The UFCW is working closely with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency, and the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration (NC-OSHA), as they investigate the accident. The UFCW is providing full assistance to help shed a light on the unfortunate event. In addition, the UFCW has established a fund to assist the victims of the tragic event.
“”The Garner incident is a heartbreaking tragedy that reminds us that worker safety is of the utmost importance in the workplace,”” said Jackie Nowell, UFCW Director of Occupational Safety and Health. “”We are working with the regulatory agencies and the company to ensure that such catastrophes are prevented.””
The UFCW believes that ConAgra is stepping up to the plate by continuing to pay the employees their full salaries, indefinitely. Such measures will bring the much needed comfort to the workers while they try to rebuild their livelihoods.
May 12, 2009
Local 1529 Holds Community Forum Calling on Congress to Pass Employee Free Choice
UFCW Local 1529 members and community leaders met on May 7th in a community forum to discuss how the current economic crisis affects their livelihoods and offer Main Street solutions to hard working Americans. The town hall meeting in West Memphis, Arkansas, was part of a statewide and national mobilization of everyday working Americans who are coming together to bring about change in the workplace through passing the Employee Free Choice Act.
Speakers included Leo Chapman, former mayor of West Memphis and first
African American elected to that position, Irvin Calliste, International
Representative for the Steelworkers’ Union and President of the
Memphis AFL-CIO Labor Council, and Billy Myers, International
Representative for the United Food & Commercial Workers Union.
At the meeting, Chapman said workers would have more opportunities if it were easier to join a union. “”Look at the people where they’re behind, if
they were unionizing they would be in a better position than they are
today. We want to enjoy the same rights and privileges as anyone else.”
Calliste noted that unions are a core part of our country, saying, “Because of unions, this country thrived. It’s not a coincidence that when union membership declined, the middle class started declining with it. Unions are responsible for the great middle class in this country.”
Billy Myers urged UFCW and community members to mobilize for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would level the playing field so workers can have more opportunities to get ahead. “I tell the workers it’s illegal [the company anti-union campaigns]. They can’t fire you for union activities. But in the back of my mind, I know it happens. Right now there’s no level playing field, the company has all the power. We must change that.”
Passing Employee Free Choice is crucial to growing the middle class and building an economy that works for everyone. It will allow workers to have a voice at work and to bargain collectively for higher wages, benefits, and job security. The bill seeks to level the playing field between workers and their employers because it would give workers–not their employers–the power to choose to join a union either through majority sign-up or through an election.
May 8, 2009
UFCW Statement on DOL Budget
“”The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) applauds the budget proposed by President Barack Obama’s administration for the Department of Labor. This budget – with its focus on enforcement of labor laws, safer workplaces, and helping unemployed Americans – prioritizes the needs of working families across the country. Importantly, the Obama administration has charted a path away from destructive pro-big business policies of the Bush era and towards a future where the needs of working Americans come first.
With this budget, the Department of Labor has returned to its mission of protecting America’s workers rather than serving the needs of corporate lobbyists, and high-dollar donors.
This budget provides for hundreds of new investigators to ensure that Americans are paid for their hard work, increased Occupational Safety and Health Administration funding so that they come home safe every day, and new funding for programs that help the unemployed find new work. We at the UFCW know that this budget is an important step to jump start our economy, and make work pay for every American.”
May 1, 2009
UFCW STATEMENT REGARDING DHS GUIDELINES ON WORKPLACE RAIDS
WASHINGTON – The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) today released the following statement in response to an announcement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that the agency would be making policy changes with regard to workplace immigration raids:
“This announcement marks an important shift in policy that will end the heavy handed, headline-grabbing tactics that were the hallmark of the Bush administration.
“It is clear that the Bush administration used workplace raids as an attempt to cover up its failure to address the broader challenge of addressing the root causes of our broken immigration system. The result was workplace raids that led to clear Constitutional violations, including the detention of U.S. citizens, as well as the devastation and destruction of innocent families and communities.
“The announcement today is an important step in the right direction. It creates a system that will punish bad employers. It will help ensure that businesses that try to game the system, exploit vulnerable workers or attempt to drive down wages and working conditions are held accountable.
“But, as President Obama has said, we cannot address immigration reform in a piecemeal fashion, we must do it comprehensively. Enforcement is only one part of this issue.
“Change to Win and the AFL-CIO recently unveiled an immigration framework that will address all of the interconnecting parts of this complicated issue. We look forward to working closely with Congress and the Obama administration to pass an immigration system that works for America’s workers, and that upholds the values of our nation.
“We are a nation that respects hard work, family and the pursuit of the American Dream. Our immigration system must hold true to these principles.”
April 30, 2009
WALMART WORKERS HOLD HISTORIC NATIONAL ORGANIZING MEETING
Washington, DC – Walmart workers from across the nation are converging today on Capitol Hill for a National Organizing Meeting to brief Senators about wages, benefits and the Employee Free Choice Act. Nearly 100 Walmart workers from 17 states are participating in the event. As part of their campaign for a union voice on the job, they will urge lawmakers to level the playing field for working people by supporting the Employee Free Choice Act.
“I made the trip into Washington DC to stand with my fellow Walmart workers and to urge my Senators to pass the Employee Free Choice Act,” said Dominique Sloan a Dallas, Texas, Walmart worker. “We need change in this country. All you have to do is look at how all the money goes to CEOs. But when it comes to workers, it’s always the same, no health care or health care that’s too expensive and low wages. We need to change that.”
The National Organizing Committee is made up of Walmart workers from Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Despite Walmart’s well-documented history of anti-working family activities, workers say they are excited by the election of Barack Obama, excited that the President says it’s not too much to ask Walmart to pay decent wages and provide good health care, and excited that the Employee Free Choice Act can help bring the change that helps workers and makes Walmart live up to its responsibilities.
“I have three boys, and I had to get Florida Kids Care to cover their medical,” says Cheryl Guzman, a Walmart worker from Miami. “It’s either you eat, or you have medical coverage, that’s not right. That’s why I’m part of Walmart Workers for Change.”
Ten workers recently shared their stories in a new video, released earlier this week. Workers from the National Organizing Committee will be available to the press today after a Capitol Hill briefing at 10 a.m., in 328 Russell Senate Office Building.
Walmart Workers for Change is a new campaign made up of thousands of Walmart workers joining together to form a union and negotiate better benefits, higher wages, and more opportunity for a better future. The campaign is a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). The UFCW represents 1.3 million workers nationwide, with nearly one million working in the supermarket industry. Many of UFCW members also work at national retail stores such as Bloomingdales, Macys, H&M, Modell’s Sporting Goods, Saks Fifth Avenue, RiteAid, CVS, and Syms.
April 28, 2009
Food and Commercial Workers Applaud Decision to Hold Bruno
April 23, 2009
THOUSANDS OF WALMART WORKERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY UNITE TO CALL FOR A VOICE IN THE WORKPLACE
Washington, DC – Walmart Workers for Change, a new campaign of thousands of Walmart’s 1.3 million associates across the country who are standing up and demanding a voice in the workplace, today released a new video that highlights the sorts of anti-worker tactics they are facing from the world’s largest retailer.
“The associates are afraid,” said Cynthia Murray, a Walmart associate in Laurel, Maryland. “They’re intimidated, and they are afraid. My family and other families have paid the price for freedom. And when you tell me I can’t talk about a union, you’re taking my freedom from me.”
Workers in more than 100 stores in 15 states across the country have joined together and signed union representation cards, citing a lack of respect from the company, as well as poverty-level wages and sub-par benefits as reasons they need a union voice on the job.
Despite Walmart’s long and well-documented history of anti-worker activities, associates say they are emboldened by the election of Barack Obama and the introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act in Congress.
The campaign comes at a time when workers find their wages have stagnated, even as Walmart and the Walton family continue to make record profits. Walmart’s recently released 2009 10K shows the company made $13.4 billion in profits last year.
“Walmart’s slogan is ‘Save Money, Live Better,’” said Vikki Gill, a former Walmart manager in St. Louis, Missouri. “Walmart is saving money and living better at the associates’ expense.”
In the new video, which can be viewed at http://www.walmartworkersforchange.org/index.php/pages/articles/walmarts_war_on_workers, 10 workers from coast to coast detail the company’s response to their organizing efforts. Dominique Sloane and Mark Moore, of Dallas, Texas, were told that their store would be closed if workers voted to organize. In Miami, Florida, Cheryl Guzman was interrogated by a manager about who among her colleagues supported a union. Linda Haluska, of Glendale, Illinois, was called into four mandatory meetings in one week, where she and her colleagues were shown anti-union, anti-Employee Free Choice videos.
“Since we’ve started talking union, the company has been holding meetings, they’ve flown people in,” said Sloan. “They’ve even mentioned as far as with the union, there’s a possibility that stores may close.”
Walmart Workers for Change is a new campaign made up of thousands of Walmart workers joining together to form a union and negotiate better benefits, higher wages, and more opportunity for a better future.
The campaign is a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), America’s neighborhood union. The UFCW represents 1.3 million workers nationwide, with nearly one million working in the supermarket industry. Many of UFCW members also work at national retail stores such as Bloomingdales, Macys, H&M, Modell’s Sporting Goods, Saks Fifth Avenue, RiteAid, CVS, and Syms.
April 23, 2009
Anti-Worker Intimidation Campaign Thwarts Union Vote
(Wilson, N.C.)— Seeking dignity, respect, and a union voice on the job, and inspired by workers at Smithfield’s Tar Heel, N.C. plant, workers at Smithfield’s Wilson N.C. plant began a grassroots campaign for UFCW representation in January. On a daily basis, dozens of workers handbilled their co-workers, discussed issues in the break room and parking lot, and signed up the vast majority of employees who wanted union representation. Workers also earned the support of dozens of community and religious leaders, including the NC NAACP.
Although the vast majority of the 550 workers signed cards indicating they wanted to be represented by the UFCW, the company demanded workers hold an election. Before the election could be held, Smithfield reverted back to the anti-worker approach they had used for many years in Tar Heel—threatening, harassing and firing people to intimidate and divide Wilson workers to keep them from coming together for a voice on the job.
The company called the police to harass workers and union organizers who were legally handbilling on public property.
They told off-duty employees that they were not allowed to distribute handbills in the employee parking lot—even though workers do have this right.
They forced workers to attend meetings at work where supervisors spread misinformation about the union.
They fired at least two vocal union supporters during the drive.
Smithfield’s behavior underscores the need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act—legislation which would let workers choose how they join a union—through signing cards, or through an election. The legislation would hold employers accountable when they use dirty, illegal tactics to intimidate workers into voting no. If Employee Free Choice were law, Wilson workers could have chosen freely, without enduring a pressure campaign on the job every day.
April 23, 2009
CONTRACT AGREEMENT REACHED FOR EMPLOYERS AND UFCW LOCAL 1262
CLIFTON, NJ — The Negotiation Committees comprised of nearly 100 rank-and-file UFCW Local 1262 members voted to accept a tentative contract agreement with ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Foodtown and Pathmark. The membership will vote on the tentative agreement at meetings the week of April 27, 2009.
The contract covers nearly 30,000 Local 1262 members at ShopRite, Pathmark and Foodtown stores in New Jersey and the Western Hudson Valley Region of New York and Stop & Shop Supermarkets in New Jersey
According to UFCW Local 1262 President Harvey Whille, the Negotiation Committees accepted the tentative agreement because it did not change Health and Welfare benefits during the term of the new agreement, provides adequate funding to ensure that the Pension Fund continues to remain viable and provides a fair wage increase.
“We achieved everything we wanted going into these negotiations,” said Whille. “First we obtained the same contract for all of our members no matter where they work. Second, we maintained our level of benefits, which is a significant feat considering the fact that health care costs continue to increase annually and the state of the world’s investment markets.”
Local 1262 will hold four Special Union Meetings next week at which members will review the tentative agreement and then vote to accept or reject the contract.