UFCW Will Match Your Gift if You Donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Today!

Members of the UFCW International Light the Night Team.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the UFCW's designated major charity organization. And UFCW members, staff, and supporters have worked tirelessly to raise awareness, volunteering time and money to help those fighting blood cancers.

Donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) and UFCW will double the value of your gift now until December 31st!

Kathy Haywood, a staff member at UFCW International, has been spearheading the Light the Night® walk since 2000. The Light the Night® Walk is a two to three mile walk every fall across the US, in which teams of co-workers, friends, associates, and family members carry illuminated balloons in support of those touched by blood cancers and to help LLS find a cure for them.

Kathy says, "The UFCW Team is proud to be a part of this important cause because we are helping to save lives. I am passionate for this cause because my uncle lost his battle with leukemia, and I have many loved ones and friends who have lost their lives to cancer. I am a six-year breast cancer survivor and I feel blessed that I work for an organization that affords me the opportunity to help those suffering from cancer."

Kristin Fleshman is a fellow UFCW team member and UFCW Intl employee. "I do the Light the Night Walk each year," she says, "because it is so uplifting. To see the illuminated balloons in the night is just beautiful, and brings warmth to you no matter how cold it is. Since I’ve become a mother, I try each year to bring at least one of my kids so I can teach them what it means to be giving and to share such a wonderful experience. I think every one of us has known somebody who has died from cancer, is currently fighting cancer, or has beaten cancer. I hope with every dollar raised, we come that much closer to finding a cure. Until we do, I will continue to walk.”

Click here to donate to the LLS today and double your gift's value!

If you're inspired by the actions of those like Kathy and Kristin, please donate today! The UFCW will match $1 million in donations made by December 31st to LLS. Anything you give today will be worth twice as much during this matching challenge. But the challenge ends on December 31st so don’t miss the chance to fund more life-saving research.

Thank you for all you do. And the very best to you and your family, this holiday season.

Sincerely,

The UFCW

Children and Adults with Blood Cancers Need Your Help! Donate Today and UFCW Will Match Your Gift!

Groups like the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) have long counted on UFCW members, staff, and supporters for their tireless work in helping to fight cancer, raise awareness and assist families who are going through cancer treatment with a loved one.

UFCW Local 27 Assistant Organizing Director Brian Nesbit has a very personal connection to this cause. As he says, “My wife and I have friends whose son was diagnosed with (ALL) Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was two years old. While he was going through treatment at John Hopkins in Baltimore, they met another couple going through the same process. Both boys just happened to be named Matthew! The two families became friends, and so did we. The best part of the story: the Matthews have since completed four years of treatment, are now in remission and doing well.”

To help children like the Matthews, donate now to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) and the UFCW will double the value of your gift now until December 31st!

And Brian asks that you please consider helping out The Matthews Foundation. “While the boys were going through treatment,” Brian explains, “their parents suffered financial hardship as one parent had to quit their job to be with their child. Our friends decided to create a foundation to help struggling families with day- to-day bills and expenses during their ordeal. In honor of the boys, the parents created The Matthews Foundation. My wife was asked to be the fundraising chair, and we’ve been hosting a fundraising event for TMF at our home ever since. Friends, family, neighbors--as well as Local 27--all pull together to help.”

Stories like Brian’s make every UFCW member proud. In honor of generous members like Brian, the UFCW will match $1 million in donations made by December 31st to LLS. You can double the value of your gift! Anything you give today will be worth twice as much during this matching challenge. But the challenge ends on December 31st so don’t miss the chance to fund more life-saving research.

Please donate to the LLS today and double your gift!

Thank you for all you do. And the very best to you and your family, this holiday season.

Sincerely,

The UFCW

Former A&P Workers, UFCW Members and Staff, Supporters and Shoppers, and Even Senator-elect Blumenthal Rally for Good Jobs at Big Y!

After the rally and press conference, at which local state representatives, former A and P workers, community members, shoppers, and United Health Care Workers Local 1199 leaders and members, and UFCW Local 371 leaders and staff spoke or attended, Senator-elect Blumenthal arrived and gave the workers some very encouraging words as they leafletted customers.

Many customers were outraged at Big Y's treatment of the former A and P workers, and some even told Big Y staff at the event how they felt.



Most A and P employees were not hired back after their stores were bought by the Big Y chain and re-opened as Big Y stores—despite workers’ many years of experience, skill, and dedication to their jobs. Entire families who had worked at A and P for generations were not re-hired at Big Y, and now find themselves out of work at the worst time—during an economic downturn and over the holidays. Workers are wondering, Why, Big Y?



As Big Y opens six stores in Connecticut, these A and P workers, their customers and their supporters are asking Big Y to make a real commitment to our communities this holiday season. During tough economic times, the single most important thing that will help our communities prosper is jobs. Those at the rally asked Big Y to rehire the A&P workers that are now out of work, and to commit to providing good jobs in our communities—jobs with full-time hours if workers want them—jobs that pay a living wage and come with good benefits.

“Big Y should hire us back,” said former A and P worker Rich Johnson, who worked at A and P for 31 years. “A lot of our customers came in because of us. They’re friends, they’re family, and they come here for us. Why not keep us? It just makes good sense, for us, for our customers, and it seems like good business, too.”

Please Consider Giving to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society this Holiday Season

June Compton, UFCW member

The holiday season is a time to be thankful, and a time to be generous as well. UFCW members, staff, and supporters are a part of their communities—and have always been extremely generous in working hard not only on the job, but off the job to make our communities stronger, healthier, and happier.

Since 1983, the UFCW has designated The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) as the UFCW's major charity organization. And UFCW members have worked tirelessly, volunteering for and donating to this important cause.

Donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and the UFCW will double the value of your gift now until December 31st!

UFCW Local 175&633 member June Compton got involved with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through a payroll deduction campaign because, “being a shop steward, not only did I feel it was part of my responsibility, but also because I felt it could set a good example to other members who may have considered taking part but haven't done so yet.

“Fundraising for the LLS is a great way to meet new people, talk to your fellow members, and give back to those affected by these cancers in the hope that soon we will have a cure,” says Compton. “I would never hesitate to encourage other members to jump right in and get involved any way they can, whether you personally know someone affected or not. Not only are you giving money or raising money, you're also raising awareness about an issue that some people may know nothing about.”

If you’ve been thinking of giving to the LLS, now is the time! The UFCW will match up to $1 million in donations made by December 31st to LLS. You can double the value of your gift!

Your donation of $25 will be worth $50; your gift of $50 becomes $100. Anything you give today will be worth twice as much during this matching challenge. But the challenge ends on December 31st so don’t miss the chance to fund more life-saving research.

Click here to donate to the LLS today and double your gift’s value!

Thank you for all you do. And the very best to you and your family, this holiday season.

Sincerely,

The UFCW

A&P Workers Ask: Why, Big Y?

A&P workers and supporters--including Connecticut Attorney General and Senator-elect Blumenthal--will be rallying tomorrow in front of Big Y in West Hartford, Connecticut to ask Big Y to make a real commitment to their communities.

A&P workers lost their jobs when Big Y bought their stores--and wouldn't hire many of the former A&P employees to do their old jobs in their old stores! In addition, Big Y laid off many of its own workers as well, even when they were expanding.

Workers are wondering Why, Big Y? Are our communities best served by working families out of work this holiday season? Will Big Y do the right thing and make a real commitment to providing good jobs with real stability in our communities?

Sign the Petition: Join UFCW and Change.org and Help A&P Workers Keep their Jobs This Holiday Season

Mary Ellen Scott, former A&P worker, says
her customers are devastated that she won't
be around to do their floral arrangements.

Just in time for the holidays, Change.org has generously joined in the effort to save the jobs of laid off Big Y and A&P workers, and to hold Big Y accountable for the kind of jobs they create in our communities. As Taylor Leake of Change.org writes:

The United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents 54,000 A&P workers across the country, has launched a campaign asking Big Y some tough questions about what they are doing, starting with the simplest: Why Big Y? The campaign is asking supporters to go on to Big Y's Facebook and Twitter accounts and ask them questions directly. Questions like: Why did Big Y refuse to hire back most A&P workers when it re-opened old A & P stores under the Big Y banner? and Why won't Big Y listen to loyal A & P shoppers — who’ve asked repeatedly for Big Y to re-hire the A&P workers who customers have come to regard as family?

It is always disheartening to see a company act like this, but it is even more upsetting because of the economic shape we're in, not to mention the jobs crisis. If you don't want to see Big Y dismiss these employees for no good reason, log on to their Facebook and Twitter pages (make sure you use the #whybigy hash tag on Twitter) and ask them why they're doing it. You can also sign this petition which will send Big Y an email, asking them these tough questions and telling them they should respect their workers.

Please join Change.org members and workers around the country in signing the petition and asking the question: Why, Big Y?

Tell Congress to Extend Unemployment Benefits NOW!

UFCW Applauds California OSHA as it Implements First State Standard Protecting Workers from Popcorn Lung

Today Cal/OSHA implemented a new standard to protect employees who work with diacetyl, a chemical commonly used in food flavorings. Cal/OSHA, a division of the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), is the first and only state-OSHA plan to have such a standard. The new standard requires employers covered by the standard to create a regulated area for each process using diacetyl, unless the process is enclosed.

This action follows the UFCW, Western States Council and the California Labor Federation's petition to the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to immediately issue an Emergency Temporary Standard for diacetyl, a deadly chemical used in flavorings. This occurred after The UFCW Internationl and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters petitioned the Department of Labor (DOL) for an Emergency Temporary Standard for diacetyl under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Diacetyl is a hazardous chemical that has been connected to a potentially fatal lung disease that has been experienced by food industry workers across the nation. There have been dozens of cases of what has become known as "popcorn workers lung," or bronchiolitis obliterans-a severe, disabling, and often-fatal lung disease experienced by factory workers who produce or handle diacetyl. Several food industry employees in California have developed devastating lung problems after being exposed to diacetyl in the workplace. There are currently no OSHA standards requiring exposures to diacetyl and flavorings be controlled.

According to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, there are 16 - 20 plants producing flavorings in the state of California. And thousands of food processing workers are involved in the production of popcorn, pastries, frozen foods, candies and even dog food that use these chemicals.The UFCW represents workers in many of these food processing plants.

Local 23 Member Found Not Guilty, Free Speech Rights Vindicated

Deb, with supporters at a rally for her.

Debbie Wieloch, a Local 23 member who has been a Giant Eagle employee for 36 years, was cleared of all charges last week.

Wieloch was arrested in September for talking to her coworkers while they were on break at the Waterfront Giant Eagle, about trying to bring workers from the non-union stores owned by Giant Eagle into UFCW, so they could enjoy the same opportunities and benefits as their union brothers and sisters. The manager called the police on her and had her arrested for trespassing

and put in jail.

"I feel vindicated," Debbie Wieloch said after being cleared of all charges Tuesday:

It tells me Giant Eagle knew they were wrong and did that to silence me, and they had no right to do that.

District Judge Thomas Torkowsky found Wieloch not guilty at her preliminary hearing on last week. Before the hearing started, Wieloch said:

I do believe that I have the right to discuss union matters with union employees on my own time, as long as I am not pulling them off of their job. I was very careful not to do that. Everyone I spoke to was on a break or lunch...I have a right to discuss our contract. I'm very knowledgeable about it. I helped write it. So I have every right to go to the stores and talk to people about it, and Giant Eagle walked all over my rights.

Wieloch reached out to her fellow workers in the Waterfront store's cafe area -- a public area -- and not in the store aisles.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23 filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board after the incident at the Waterfront Giant Eagle.