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News and Updates
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December 11, 2014
Union Membership Boosts Life Satisfaction
Patrick Flavin from Baylor University and Gregory Shufeldt from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock released a study on “Labor Union Membership and Life Satisfaction” that suggests that organized labor in the United States can have a significant impact on peoples’ quality of life. Using data from the World Values Survey, they uncovered evidence that union members are more satisfied with their lives than non-union workers. They also found that union membership boosts life satisfaction across demographic groups regardless if someone is rich or poor, male or female, young or old, or has a high or low level of education. The study revealed that labor unions can contribute to citizens’ quality of life through a variety of ways.
The first way explains how having a direct “voice” in their workplace helps members be more satisfied with the work experience. A majority of Americans spend most of their time in the work place. By having a say and some control at work helps union members have a more agreeable and positive experience at the place where they spend a majority of their waking hours.
Second, labor union members are generally more likely to feel secure in their job as compared with non-union workers because one goal of organized labor is to ensure job security for its members. Union protection from unemployment can help to guard against feelings of stress and anxiety that can come with losing a job or the fear of potentially losing a job.
Third, labor unions provide multiple opportunities for greater human interaction that in turn can lessen feelings of loneliness and social isolation. By their very definition, unions are a collection of individuals who join together to pursue common goals. In doing so, bonds of trust are formed among members that can extend even beyond the workplace. Integration into formal and informal professional and social support networks can help reduce job stress and promote solidarity among members.
With these points, the researchers argue there are strong reasons to expect that union membership will boost levels of well-being regardless of personal demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Regardless of their specific occupation, it is expected that union members will experience greater job satisfaction, have greater job security, have more social connections, and more opportunities for meaningful participation both at work and in politics when compared with those who are not part of a union.
December 9, 2014
UFCW President Hansen Letter Supporting Pension Reform
Click here to read UFCW International President Joe Hansen’s letter to Congressional leadership supporting pension reform.
December 8, 2014
Follow WIN Labor Report for the Latest Union News
A new app is available to download Workers Independent News (WIN) Labor Report. WIN is a podcast series that is focused on the issues and concerns of working people. As a news service, WIN is devoted to bringing the voices of workers, their families, communities and organizations to the widest public possible, using all means of electronic media. WIN has been in production since 2002 and has expanded from being a 3-minute headline broadcast to becoming a multimedia news service heard by more than 1 million listeners each day. Visit the website for more information and to download the app.
December 4, 2014
This Holiday Season, Take Advantage of Union Plus Discounts!
Adapted post from the AFL-CIO
It’s easy to get into the better-to-give-than-receive generous holiday shopping spirit. But it doesn’t hurt to save a few bucks, too, and Union Plus can help you stretch your holiday budget with money-saving discounts and special deals exclusively for union families.
There are Union Plus discounts on laptops, wireless phones, union-made clothing, movies, car rentals and a lot more, including treats and toys for your favorite four-legged family member. But please, no reindeer antlers, let your fur kids have a little bit of dignity.
You can even let your fellow union members know about these great discounts for working people by sending them a free holiday e-card.
Click here to see all the gift possibilities from Union Plus.
November 20, 2014
UFCW President Hansen Statement in Response to President Obama’s Executive Action on Immigration
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 President Obama’s plan to take executive action on immigration.
“Today the President announced he will take belated but necessary action to provide relief to immigrant workers, families, and communities. Make no mistake—this is not a substitute for comprehensive immigration reform. But it will prevent the deportation of many immigrants who would have qualified for citizenship under the Senate bill that passed over 500 days ago.
“For nearly a year and a half, the House Republican leadership has refused to take action to fix our broken immigration system. The President has both a legal right and moral responsibility to step in.
“At the UFCW, this has been our fight for decades. Our members and their families have persevered through raids and deportations. UFCW members have mobilized to defeat racist ballot initiatives and our union has assisted workers with the legalization process while negotiating contracts that protect our members where the law fails to. All along, those in UFCW gold have lobbied for comprehensive immigration reform at protests, marches, rallies, town halls, and just yesterday, in front of the White House.
“We will continue to call on Congress to send legislation to the President’s desk. But with no bill to sign, President Obama is rightly using his pen to provide relief to those who are trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. Executive action is not all we need or deserve. But it is a step in the right direction and for that we are thankful.”
En español:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Hansen, el presidente internacional de la Unión Internacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de Alimentos y del Comercio (UFCW, por sus siglas en inglés), publicó hoy la siguiente declaración en respuesta al plan del presidente Obama de llevar a cabo una acción ejecutiva sobre la inmigración.
“El Presidente anunció hoy que tomará medidas algo tardías pero necesarias para prestar asistencia a trabajadores, familias y comunidades de inmigrantes. Que quede claro: esto no sustituye de ninguna manera la necesidad de una reforma migratoria integral, pero servirá para prevenir la deportación de muchos inmigrantes que hubieran reunido los requisitos necesarios para obtener la ciudadanía de acuerdo con el proyecto de ley del Senado que se aprobó hace más de 500 días.
Por casi un año y medio, los líderes de republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes se han negado a tomar medidas para arreglar nuestro sistema de inmigración roto. Es tanto el derecho legal como la responsabilidad moral del Presidente intervenir en este asunto.
En la UFCW, esta ha sido nuestra lucha por décadas. Nuestros miembros y sus familias han perseverado a pesar de las redadas y las deportaciones. Los miembros de la UFCW se han movilizado para combatir las iniciativas electorales racistas y nuestra unión ha asistido a los trabajadores con el proceso de legalización y con los contratos negociados que protegen a nuestros miembros en los casos en los que la ley no lo hace. Desde el principio, aquellos que participan en el programa Gold de la UFCW han cabildeado para lograr una reforma migratoria integral por medio de protestas, marchas, mitines, asambleas públicas y ayer específicamente, frente a la Casa Blanca.
Continuaremos exigiéndole al Congreso que envíe legislación al despacho del Presidente. Pero mientras no haya proyecto de ley para firmar, el presidente Obama ha decidido usar su bolígrafo, en pleno uso de sus derechos, para proporcionar asistencia a aquellos que intentan construir una vida mejor para sí mismos y para sus familias. Esta acción ejecutiva no es todo lo que necesitamos ni todo lo que merecemos. Pero sí es un paso en la dirección correcta y por eso estamos sumamente agradecidos”.
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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.
November 13, 2014
BREAKING: WALMART WORKERS HOLD SIT IN AT LOS ANGELES STORE
Workers in Southern California Begin First Sit-Down Strike in Company History to Protest Retaliation
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***Follow the conversation at #WalmartStrikers and watch live stream at Blackfridayprotests.org***
LOS ANGELES – OUR Walmart members, some of whom were part of the first Walmart strike in October 2012, have just sat down near registers and next to racks of a Walmart store in Crenshaw. The group of striking workers, from stores throughout California, has placed tape over their mouths signifying the company’s illegal efforts to silence workers who are calling for better jobs. Even as the mega-retailer brings in $16 billion in annual profits and Walmart’s owners build on their $150 billion in wealth, the majority of Walmart workers are paid less than $25,000 a year.
“Stand Up, Live Better! Sit Down, Live Better!” the group chanted before sitting down.
Workers are holding signs resembling those of the first retail sit-down strike at Woolworth in 1937, when retail workers at the then-largest retailer in the country called for the company to increase pay, provide a 40-hour work week and stop the retaliation against workers who spoke out.
“I’m sitting down on strike today to protest Walmart’s illegal fear tactics and to send a message to management and the Waltons that they can’t continue to silence us and dismiss the growing calls for $15 an hour and full-time work that workers are raising across the country,” said Kiana Howard, a mother and Walmart striker.
“Walmart and the Waltons are making billions of dollars from our work while paying most of us less than $25,000 a year,” Howard continued. “We know that Walmart and the Waltons can afford fair pay, and we know that we have the right to speak out about it without the company threatening the little that we do have.”
To date, workers at more than 2,100 Walmart stores nationwide have signed a petition calling on Walmart and the Waltons to publicly commit to paying $15 an hour and providing consistent, full-time hours. After taking the petition to members of the Walton family, supporters committed to returning to stores on Black Friday if jobs aren’t improved by then.
“Walmart is a giant engine creating vast wealth for one family and heartbreaking poverty for many working families, just like Woolworth’s in the 1937, when 100 young women in Detroit sat down and occupied a Woolworth’s store, and won wage increases and many other demands,” said Dana Frank, an expert on the U.S. labor movement, professor of history at University of California, Santa Cruz and the author of Women Strikers Occupy Chain Store, Win Big: The 1937 Woolworth’s Sit-Down. “The strike was enormously popular, because it struck a chord in the public: Woolworth’s, like Walmart, was paying its workers poverty wages, but raking in spectacular profits that the public knew about. In Crenshaw today, as brave Walmart workers sit down to protest the company’s threats against employees who speak out for better jobs, it’s time for Walmart to finally heed the growing movement calling on it to improve jobs and respect working people.”
“We cannot continue to allow our country’s largest private employer to pay workers so little that they can’t put food on the table for their families and then punish those who speak up about it. Walmart’s actions are immoral, illegal and they are destroying the American values that we all hold dear,” said Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
The sit-down strike comes on the heels of a New York Times story on how persistent understaffing at Walmart stores is contributing to wasted food, un-stocked shelves and lower sales. For the past three years, workers have been raising concerns about understaffing and theimpact on the company’s wellbeing with managers, shareholders and executives. Investors and analysts are also reacting today to the company’s third-quarter financial reports, which indicate that persistent staffing problems are keeping the company from improving customer traffic and growing the business.
Hundreds of community supporters plan to join striking workers later this evening at 5 p.m. outside the Walmart store located at 8500 Washington Blvd in Pico Rivera, where the first protests against Walmart’s illegal retaliation were held in 2012.
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LEGAL DISCLAIMER: 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.
October 7, 2014
Congratulations to the 2014 UFCW International Scholarship Winners
Every year the UFCW International offers scholarships to union members or their immediate family who want to further their education and demonstrate a commitment to their communities and to UFCW values. Below are this year’s winners. Congratulations to each of these hard-working individuals. We know that they will go far in their education and continue to be valuable members of their community!
October 7, 2014
UFCW Members in California Win Important Legislative Victories
UFCW members across California, assisted by the Western States Council, won important victories during this year’s state legislative session.
Last month, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation guaranteeing workers up to three paid sick days a year. The new law includes part-time and temporary workers, making it one of the strongest in the nation.
Last week, Brown signed legislation banning single use plastic bags, the first law of its kind to be enacted.
Finally, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed a law requiring California to publish a list of employers that are relying on taxpayers to subsidize their low wages. This is an important step in shining a light on corporations that force workers onto public assistance.
All in all, it was fruitful and productive session for UFCW members in California who look forward to building on that momentum in 2015.
October 7, 2014
Member Spotlight: Towanda Carter
Towanda Carter was recently recognized by UFCW Region 1 for her outstanding service as a union member and for helping her fellow workers, both at her own workplace and elsewhere.
After noticing unfair treatment of workers at her job working at Catholic Charities Brooklyn & Queens Inc. in 2005, Towanda and her coworkers filed to unionize with the UFCW Local 888. Her strong morale and sense of member engagement among her colleagues helped them win their first union contract in 2006.
Towanda says that working in a metroarea at a non-profit revealed to her how people are often mistreated at work, especially when they are vulnerable. Although she works for a charitable faith-based organization, management had a very anti-union stance. The Workers were under-paid, demoralized and lacking adequate company health care–leaving many to seek charity care. Many could not provide for their families without assistance from social welfare programs. That’s why Towanda was so adamant about spreading the word about the benefits of being a union member.
Years later, Towanda is a Chief Shop Steward, representing her fellow union members on both the Bargaining and Labor Management Committees. She has also expanded her efforts to help working people throughout her community, not just her own workplace.
As a Medical Coordinator serving the less fortunate for twenty years, Towanda has been a voice of justice for her fellow union members since the beginning. She has seen her coworkers through countless grievances and group grievances, and mediations and arbitrations–all as part of their ongoing struggle to keep their employer accountable to the collective bargaining agreement they all worked so hard for.
Towanda says she was surprised to learn she had been picked to be recognized for a member award, but honored as well. Her advice for other members trying to ensure that workers have respect on the job and at the bargaining table? “Be proactive. Be active!”
Union members and activists like Towanda make our union strong. Standing together, we can all make a difference.
September 30, 2014
2014 Voter Information Hub
The general election is less than two months away, and the stakes for UFCW members and working families couldn’t be higher. UFCW’s new voter information hub allows members to register to vote and make a pledge that they will go the polls on Election Day. The site also provides important election information for all 50 states. Find it at ufcwaction.org/vote.