During Economic Crisis, A Union Helps You Keep Your Job

The Washington Post reports that for the first time in the 25 years it's been measured, union membership has shown a statistically significant increase. They report that in 2008:

union members represented 12.4 percent of employed workers, up from 12.1 percent a year earlier, according to a report from Bureau of Labor Statistics issued this morning. Until last year, union membership had generally been in a slow and steady decline since the 1950s.

The Post reports several different possible causes—and here's a particularly revealing one:

"Part of what I think is happening is that the economy is shrinking but union jobs are not being shed because they have union contracts," said Jim Walker, an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics who worked on the new figures.

And doesn’t that say it all? In tough economic times, in times of job uncertainty—-if you have union, you have job protection.

There are lots of reasons that more and more workers are choosing to join unions, including good benefits, better wages, and a say in the workplace-—but I can't think of a better one during an economic crisis than job security.

Today in Labor History

During our historic moment, it's important to remember all the struggles of those who have come before us. This week in labor history:

• World famous labor organizer & songster Joe Hill is arrested in Salt Lake City, Utah (1915)
• Twenty rioting strikers were shot by factory guards at Roosevelt, N.J. (1915)
• 3,000 members of the Filipino Federation of Labor strike the plantations of Oahu, Hawaii. Their ranks swell to 8,300 as they were joined by members of the Japanese Federation of Labor (1920)
• Bruce Springsteen makes an unannounced appearance at a benefit for laid-off 3M workers, Asbury Park, NJ (1986)

Thanks to the DC Labor Council for providing the info: More info & ammo for unionists is available online from Union Communication Services and from the 2009 Slingshot Collective Organizer booklet.

Parade Marchers Display Diversity, Strength of America’s Workers

For Maria Somma, it was a dream come true. The native of Vietnam and naturalized citizen was one of the 265 union members who braved freezing temperatures today to join representatives from across the country and our armed forces to participate in the official inaugural parade for President Obama. The contingent of union members taking part in the parade included members from the AFL-CIO, Change to Win and the National Education Association.

With 15 union members riding a union-made float and 250 marchers alongside, the workers’ contingent was one of the largest groups in the parade. This is the first time in recent memory that workers have participated in the parade.

Somma, who lives in Pittsburgh and is a member of the United Steelworkers, rode the float representing the AFL-CIO constituency group Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA). She says labor’s participation shows the power of the American Dream for all people.

It’s very exciting to be welcoming a person of color into the White House and to be a part of history. Even if it was minus 20, I would be glad to be here. This is an incredible achievement for this country. For Barack Obama to come from his background and rise to the top is not the typical American story. His inauguration is part of the transition of this nation to fully embrace all its citizens.

Marching with a banner, “America’s Workers: United for Change,” participants also carried flags that represented the issues most important to working families: an “Economy That Works for All,” “Great Public Schools,” “Good Jobs Green Jobs” and “Health Care for All.” The overall theme of the labor float is “Honoring America’s Workers.”

- James Parks, AFL-CIO Now blog; click here for his complete report.

UFCW Members Nationwide Participate in MLK Day of Service

UFCW members nationwide are extending a helping hand today to friends, neighbors, and communities as they participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.





Just a few of the ways UFCW members are participating:

• Over 500 members of Locals 5, 400, 655, 888, and 1000 traveled to New Orleans to participate in a two day service project. Members cleaned and restored parks and repaired three homes.


• Local 1099 members participated in a Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast and commemorative march.


• Members in Region 1 attended a multicultural, interfaith prayer service and choir concert on behalf of Long Island's working poor


• Local 5 members and staff in California handed out gold UFCW bags along with Employee Free Choice & Wake-up Walmart materials to freedom train riders. The train travelled from the Diridon Station to San Francisco, CA train station, where riders marched from the train station to the San Francisco Civic Center and attended a program at the civic center on "A Service to Action."


• Local 770 members attended the MLK Breakfast, coordinated with the L.A. AFL, as well as the Kingdom Day parade. These events included immigrant rights, community and religious organizations.


• Region 1 members attended a "Celebration of the Man and the Holiday" sponsored by Coney Island C.L.E.A.R.

UFCW members across the country were greatful for the chance to join in the spirit of service embodied by the life and work of Dr. King, and echoed now by President-elect Barack Obama.

Hundreds Of Union Members To March In 56th Inaugural Parade

From Change To Win In Washington, DC:

January 20th is going to be an historic day!

Oh, you think, I knew that. That’s when we’re going to be swearing in our first-ever African-American President of the United States!

That’s true, but it’s not the only reason why Tuesday will be historic.

What else is happening? For the first time in living memory, members of America’s labor movement have been asked to march in the official Inaugural Parade, that’s what.

Representing America’s workers will be 265 union members from across Change to Win, the AFL-CIO, and the National Education Association (NEA), along with a 17-by-24 foot float built entirely by union workers and driven by a Teamster. The float will feature the “faces of labor” — a tribute every hard-working man and woman who gets up every day and goes to work. (In the photo above, you can see the faces as they wait to be mounted on the float.)

January 20 will be the start of a new era for American workers, so it’s fitting that hundreds of them will be marching alongside President-Elect Barack Obama to mark the occasion!

Scholarship Application Now Available!

Your union is about more than your paycheck and benefits. The UFCW is about workers coming together to build better lives for ourselves. It's about creating opportunity.

That's why each year the UFCW awards several scholarships of up to $8,000 each to UFCW members or their unmarried dependents.

The scholarship application will be available January 15 - March 15, 2009

Click here for more details and to apply!

A Secretary of Labor Who'll Work for Workers

Working people finally have a fighter in their corner, with Hilda Solis almost certain to be confirmed as the next Secretary of Labor. The California Congresswoman has been a loyal champion for working families, fighting for the rights, interest, and safety of all workers—both immigrant and native-born. Solis has, as Marie Cocco puts it, “a record of unstinting loyalty to those who work and want to work, and who wish to receive in exchange a decent wage and a measure of dignity.”

As the child of immigrants and the first to attend college in her family, she knows how important it is that everyone who works hard in America has the opportunity to achieve the American Dream. She understands that all workers make hard choices and tremendous sacrifices in order to support their families and build a better future, and that it’s the interests and lives of these working people that should be at the heart of any reform of our immigration laws.

That’s why we’re confident that Solis will continue to support meaningful immigration reform, and will oppose unproductive and devastating workplace raids like those the Bush administration used to camouflage the cracks in our broken immigration system. A Los Angeles Times Article pointed out:

Immigrant activists revitalized the American labor movement in the final decades
of the 20th century. Solis, 51, has strong ties to that movement.

Certainly, her record of work for UFCW members alone is proof positive that she doesn’t just talk the talk. She’s a veteran when it comes to walking the walk for workers. Solis applauded President Hansen and the UFCW for exposing the detrimental impacts of workplace immigration raids. Her own background as the daughter of a union shop steward from Mexico and an assembly line worker from Nicaragua has led her to speak out on the immigration issue and stand up for all working families, even against powerful interest groups and big business.

Congresswoman Solis has proven, time and time again, that she puts the interests of all working people, both immigrant and native-born first—and there is no doubt she will continue to do so as Secretary of Labor. As President-elect Obama said, “Under her leadership, I am confident that the Department of Labor will once again stand up for working families.”

We at the UFCW agree, and urge that she be confirmed to the position that she is so eminently qualified for. It’s about time we had a Secretary of Labor who works for all workers.

Price Rite Worker Speaks Out on the Need for Employee Free Choice

Today, a PriceRite worker involved in the UFCW’s PriceRite campaign spoke out about the need for Employee Free Choice at a press briefing held at the National Press Club. Representatives from the UFCW, as well as the nation’s top workers’ rights groups, labor experts, and progressive leaders laid out the case for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

“The company has made people afraid that they’ll lose their jobs when the union comes in,” said PriceRite worker Joe Sorrentino. He spoke about how the company has intimidated workers who support the union, by telling them that their store will close if they vote for a union, spying on them, sending out letters and even calling the police to arrest organizers who are legally handing out literature to the public.

Workers at PriceRite do not have a union, but many workers at another company owned/and or operated by the same parent company, Wakefern, are represented by the UFCW.

“We just want to the same fair chance to choose a union and have the same union benefits that workers at most ShopRite stores have,” said Sorrentino. “Instead, the company won’t even give us the chance to talk about the union. The Employee Free Choice Act would make it so the company couldn’t interfere with us or try to intimidate employees into voting against their own interests like they do now.”

Sorrentino emphasized the need for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. “To not pass Employee Free Choice,” he said, “would lead to another generation of low-paying jobs and uninsured Americans. The middle class would be a thing of the past.”

The event was organized by American Rights at Work, representing a broad coalition of labor and workers’ rights advocates, which also previewed new television ads as part of a nationwide ad campaign in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Outta the Way, Young Whippersnapper!

Young workers have a new challenge in the workplace: Old People.

Actually, it's more experienced workers.

As the recession deepens, unemployment among teenagers is as high as its been in over 60 years. Retirees, uable to live on thier savings along with college grads, many of whom can't find employment in their fields, have both started taking suplimental jobs in the service industry. Jobs that historically have been the starting point for younger workers. Economist Andrew Sum calls it the "Bump-down" effect.

An article on youth employment in the Las Vegas Sun paints a pretty grim picture:

Studies show minorities and teens from low-income families are disproportionately affected, and Sum predicts the trend, if allowed to continue, will create a new underclass of American youth.

Yikes. A generation of workers without jobs. What's needed to ensure that younger workers are getting the skills and experience needed for future work? What jobs are teens better suited for than college grads or retirees? Share your ideas here!

Watch any good TV lately?

Seen anything good on T.V. lately? No? Then you must not have been watching UFCW TV, a Voice and Vision for Working America.

Check it out and tell us what your favorite video is!

Have a video you want to share? If you've got a Facebook account, it's easy. You can upload your photos and videos to the UFCW Fan Page and share with members all over the world.