July 28, 2011

H&M Workers at Six New York Stores Say Union Yes with UFCW

QUEENS, NY – Two hundred forty New York City-area H&M workers at six stores have formed a new union at their workplace with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 888. These workers join more than 1,200 other New York H&M workers that stood together and formed a union as part of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Council of the UFCW.

“I love my job and I’ve worked there a long time,” said Natasha King, a four-year Sales Associate at the H&M in Staten Island, New York, “but there was room for change.”

H&M recognized the workers’ choice for a real voice on the job after an overwhelming majority of workers at the stores signed cards to show their desire for UFCW representation.

“This shows, once again, that when the process is fair and free that retail workers want to and will choose to form a union,” said Tom Plumb, Director of the Retail Stores Division of the UFCW International Union. “Together, retail workers across the country are making retail jobs into good long-term retail careers in union stores like H&M.”

“Retail workers, especially part-time workers like me, need a union for fair treatment, fair pay, affordable health care and equality in the workplace,” said King. “We’ll stand together and protect each other as a team, as a union.”

The six newly unionized stores are located in Queens, Brooklyn, West Nyack, White Plains, Yonkers and Staten Island, New York. They join the union for retail workers, the UFCW, and are part of a group of workers at major retailers across the country including Macy’s, Syms, RiteAid and more. The UFCW is working across America to build a movement of retail workers that raises standards and ensures that America’s fastest-growing profession is also the source of millions of good jobs.