UFCW's Kathy Haywood Recognized by Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for Her Efforts

UFCW congratulates Kathy Haywood on her recent recognition from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for her years of fund-raising efforts.

Kathy first become involved with the Society in 1988, through her work with UFCW Local Unions, District Councils and Region Offices. She was introduced to the Light the Night Walks in the year 2000 and nominated to be team captain for the UFCW Team. That first year, the UFCW team consisted of five people who raised $1,510. Kathy helped to more than double the participants and team total the second year, and in 2010 – the tenth year UFCW participated in the walk, the team reached their goal of $20,000.

UFCW applauds Kathy’s hard work and dedication to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Kochapolooza: Walker Admits He Lied

UFCW members in Madison, WI with Scott Walker puppet.

With real issues - a jobs crisis and budget crisis - facing Americans, what have Republicans been doing? Today they staged a hearing with Governor Scott Walker and other anti-worker activists that was bought and paid for by the Koch brothers. More than half of the Republican House Oversight Committee members, including Chairman Issa, are recipients of Koch money, and the so-called expert witnesses? Three of the four have also received money from the Koch brothers. (Walker’s DC visit coincides with a damning new report that details how he and David Prosser “quietly worked to allow Koch’s many Georgia Pacific paper plants to pollute thousands of pounds of phosphorus in Wisconsin’s water.”)

However, Governor Scott Walker's misdeeds have been so profound that the Wisconsin Republican was STILL embarrassed at this not-so-impartial hearing. Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Gerry Connolly questioned Walker thoroughly, and finally got him to admit what the non-partisan PolitiFact had already examined and judged completely false – that he never campaigned on stripping collective bargaining rights. Walker and national Republicans have used that as a key talking point, but today Walker made explicit that he lied to voters by claiming he had signaled his agenda during the election.Walker also admitted that key provisions of his so-called Budget Repair Bill had nothing to do with repairing the budget. 

But despite the Democrats' vigilance and Walker's admissions, Rep. Issa's “Kochapolooza” hearing wasn't about budgets, jobs, or corporate responsibility - that's for sure. It was about muzzling nurses, teachers, firefighters, and other public workers - the people who keep this country running - so that the Koch brothers and other CEOs and greedy Wall Street types can line their already overstuffed pockets with even more money. All this while many ordinary Americans are just barely getting by.


These Republican politicians should be focusing on creating jobs. That's what will get America moving again. That's what will fix our budget crises.  But instead, Rep. Issa is using this hearing as nothing but an excuse to sell the cruel and misguided Ryan Budget plan - the plan that would balance our budget on the backs of the poor and middle class, senior citizens, students, and working families - while cutting taxes even more for the wealthiest Americans and for Big Business.

House Republicans need to get serious and work with the American people, not against us. But in light of this hearing and the recent threats to shut down the government, does it really seem likely that House Republicans will be abandoning their ideological crusades and political crusades to focus on job creation anytime soon? America's working families shouldn't hold their breath.

Activists Remember MLK in California By Standing with Organizing Workers at Fresh & Easy

Across the country, union activists, UFCW members and supporters commemorated the 43rd anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King by rallying, praying and marching for workers’ rights. Across California, communities showed their solidarity by taking direct action in support of workers organizing at the Fresh & Easy chain of grocery stores.

Supporters gather at the Spring Valley Fresh & Easy in San Diego to show their support for organizing Fresh & Easy workers.

In events held at 25 locations across the state, union members, community leaders and activists stood together and told the British conglomerate Tesco that Dr. King died fighting for workers’ rights and to honor his memory they should allow their workers the freedom to organize.

“We stood together for a voice on the job, and Fresh & Easy said ‘No’,” said Carlos Juarez, an employee at the Fresh & Easy in Glassell Park, “and judges and the National Labor Relations Board have found that Fresh & Easy broke federal law in two states by illegally surveilling, threatening and interrogating workers like me who want to form a union.”

A young activist displays a sense of history as he stands in support of organizing Fresh & Easy workers in West Covina.

Local community leaders made it clear to Fresh & Easy that this behavior is unacceptable.

"Fresh & Easy management must remember that their size and financial power mean very little in the scheme of things," said Rabbi Jonathan Klein. "In our state, in our country, in our community, we respect the God-given right of workers to organize, and we stand with Fresh & Easy workers who want a real voice on the job."

Rev. King’s legacy loomed large over all the gatherings. Connie Leyva, President of the California Labor Federation attended the action in West Covina to lend her support.

Fresh & Easy worker Lisa Austin speaks about here experience organizing at Fresh & Easy at the event at the West Covina Fresh & Easy store while Connie Leyva, President of the California Labor Federation, looks on.

“When Dr. King passed away, he was standing up for striking workers in Memphis,” said Leyva. “We honor his memory today by standing with organizing workers at Fresh & Easy and saying our communities support and honor the right to organize.”

Activists distributed more than 15,000 stickers and flyers across California and spoke to thousands of community members and shoppers.

You can learn more about workers organizing at Fresh & Easy by visiting www.FixFreshandEasy.com or joining them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FixFreshandEasy.

Video: Pittsburgh workers present a united front on April 4

UFCW Local 23 members joined together yesterday with their working brothers and sisters from all across Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania to send a message: we stand as a united front against attacks on working Americans. Take a look at the video:

UFCW Local 227 President Gary Best: Safety conditions need to be part of collective bargaining

Yesterday, the Courier-Journal, based in Louisville, KY, published a letter on worker safety and collective bargaining by UFCW Local 227 President Gary Best. The letter reflects on the importance of being able to bargain collectively not just over wages and benefits but also over safety and working conditions and is particularly timely in light of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (who died defending collective bargaining), and the recent wave of attacks nationwide on worker rights and the middle class. It also speaks to recent safety scares at a JBS meatpacking plant and at Graphite Industries, both in the Louisville area:

"Politicians in Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio and other states are ignoring the importance of non-economic items negotiated by workers, such as workplace conditions and safety. Last week, accidents at Graphite Industries and JBS shocked our community into the realization that members of our family, friends and neighbors may not return home from work on any given day."

Take a minute to read the full letter here.

International worker solidarity gives new meaning to "We Are One" this April 4

Today and all week, at over 1,000 events across America, working families are standing as one to revive Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream for our country and stand up for the middle class. But as American workers come together in the face of unprecedented attacks on our rights, we must also recognize and support workers around the world who are also struggling for their rights and freedoms.

Babul Akhter, worker rights activist at Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, joins DC's We Are One rally

Today, UFCW had the privilege of hearing from three workers representing different parts of Walmart’s supply chain. The workers (Cynthia Murray – current employee in a Laurel, MD, Walmart store; Robert Hines – former employee in Chicago-area warehouse that supplies Walmart stores; and Aleya Akter – Bangladeshi garment factory worker who sews clothes sold in U.S. Walmart stores) are preparing for their last stop on the Walmart Worker Truth Tour. Their shared experiences show just how interconnected workers across insutries, states, and oceans truly are in today's globalized world.

Accompanying Aleya as she shares her story with U.S. workers and consumers are Bangladeshi worker rights advocates Kalpona Akter and Babul Akhter, who have inspiring stories of their own. Kalpona and Babul are respected labor rights leaders from the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) who, in August, were seized in a witch hunt against worker rights advocates and imprisoned on unfounded criminal charges filed by the Nassa Group, a major supplier Walmart. These peaceful labor leaders were targeted as “terrorists” and unjustly jailed and beaten for inciting worker unrest.

Even as they face potential life sentences, or even death, Kalpona and Babul took time out today to stand in solidarity with U.S. workers as we stand in defense of our rights, and of the dream Dr. King was fighting for the day he died. Just hours before the last event in the Walmart Worker Truth Tour, they joined the We Are One rally in Washington, D.C., lending international support and solidarity to workers across the U.S. who are bravely fighting for their rights.

DC working families rally against the Koch brothers and their anti-worker agenda on April 4

Today in Washington, DC, hundreds of workers and allies came together for a rally outside Koch industries. Workers stood together in opposition to the Koch brothers' harmful anti-worker agenda. UFCW was proud to be there with our brothers and sisters as part of a nationwide day of solidarity.

UFCW President Joe Hansen joins the DC We Are One march and rally

 
Take a look at photos from the Washington, DC rally here, then visit UFCWaction.org to learn more about what you can do to join UFCW and the entire labor movement in fighting back against attacks on workers across the country. Now more than ever, it is clear: We Are One.

Today, We Stand with Wisconsin. We Stand with Workers Nationwide. We Stand Together as One.

What’s happening in Wisconsin – the way workers have come together to fight back against Governor Walker’s unprecedented assault on working families – has been an inspiration for union members and allies nationwide, as we face anti-worker attacks in our own states. When we stand together, we can beat back assaults on workers and the middle class.

That’s why on April 4th, the UFCW will join the entire labor movement and our allies in standing up for workers’ rights. April 4th is the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s death, and we will stand for the same human rights and dignity for workers that Dr. King was fighting for in Memphis 43 years ago when he led the sanitation workers’ strike.

UFCW members will be participating in a range of actions, from rallying, to wearing stickers that say “Sticking together for Working Families,” to posting on Facebook. We will be featuring their actions and many other union members and supporters on our websites throughout the day – and here in Washington, we will be marching on the Koch Brothers’ headquarters and wearing red to show support for our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin. For more information on April 4th and what you can do, please click here.

I don’t know about you, but today I am proud to be an American. I am proud to be part of a movement to fight to save our middle class—and the American Dream. I am proud of union members and other workers and supporters with the strength and willingness to get involved at this crucial moment in history, and I believe that we can win the fight for working families everywhere.