Workers at Bob's Discount Furniture stores in the northeast continue to organize

Employees at Bob’s Discount Furniture continue to organize and win. The workers’ latest victory came on October 17 in Manchester, N.H. A majority of the 26 employees
there voted UFCW “Yes” and joined 64 of their Bob’s coworkers from Stamford, Orange, and Manchester,Conn. who joined UFCW Local 919 earlier this year.

Elections at Bob’s stores in Glendale, Freeport, and Farmingdale, N.Y, will be held on November 14 and 21, and dates should be announced soon for stores in Nanuet,
N.Y and North Plainfield, N.J.

Bob’s Discount Furniture was formerly a privately held company, but is now controlled by the London-based private equity firm Apax Partners.

House Republicans Do it Again: Another Bill to Erode Workers' Rights

Guest post by UFCW Assistant Director of Communications, Politics and Advocacy, Tim Schlittner:

There they go again. A day after Congress’ approval rating hit an all-time low of 9 percent, House Republicans on the Education and the Workforce Committee passed yet another piece of legislation designed to erode workers’ fundamental right to organize.

It’s the latest attack on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—the independent panel charged with overseeing unfair labor practices and union elections. Make no mistake—efforts to undermine and gut the NLRB is more than just the same old Republican attack on government. As the New York Times pointed out in an October 13 editorial, it has the danger of “unraveling workers’ rights that have been part of the fabric of our social contract since the Great Depression.”

This particular bill would make it harder for workers to form a union by mandating minimum delays before NLRB elections. This means more time for employers to coerce, harass, intimidate, and in some cases fire their employees. It also means more time for employers to file frivolous lawsuits intended to deny unionization through delay. House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA) dubbed it the “Election Prevention Act.”

Congress should be focusing on creating jobs and growing the economy, not creating hardship for workers and growing the profits of big business.

House Republicans should heed the call of the Occupy Wall Street protesters and spend their time and energy on job creation, not union bashing. Maybe then they can get their approval rating back into double digits.
 

Workers at Carroll, Iowa, Packing Plant Vote to Join UFCW Local 440

More than 125 workers at the Farmland Food meatpacking plant in Carroll, Iowa, voted yesterday for a voice on the job with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 440. Yesterday's vote adds the Farmland workers in Carroll to the Farmland Denison workers already represented by UFCW Local 440.

"Im proud that my coworkers stood together to get a long-awaited voice on the job here in Carroll," said Gary Schaefer, a mechanic in the plant. "We won our union voice by using worksite solidarity among workers from all parts of the world. Our cross-cultural unity was key to bringing everyone together."

Saul Trevino, a receiving dock employee, said, "Together, we talked to each other about organizing and how together wed be able to advocate for better working conditions for everyone in the plant. Im glad were now UFCW Local 440 just like the Farmland workers in Denison."

 UFCW Local 440 represents 1200 workers in western Iowa in the meatpacking and food processing industry.

JBS workers in Michigan win a voice on the job with UFCW

On October 19, an overwhelming majority of workers at the JBS slaughterhouse and production facility in Plainwell, Mich., voted to join UFCW Local 951. Workers said they wanted a union voice on the job in order to address unjust terminations, unsafe working conditions, and an unfair compensation system where new employees were earning more than workers with more than 15 years of service to the company.

“This win feels great,” said Troy Schlotterback, a JBS employee and a part of the organizing committee. “I come from a union family and I have worked in a union plant in the past. I have seen, first hand, what a union can do for the middle class.”

 “I am surprised and happy by the win,” said Li Lin Thang, who has worked for JBS for three years. The bad working conditions and discrimination will finally be gone, I feel free now.”

JBS is the world's largest processor of fresh beef and pork, with more than US$30 billion in annual sales as of 2010. JBS acquired this Packerland plant in 2008. During the workers’ campaign, JBS allowed a free and fair process for workers to decide whether they wanted union representation. The campaign was similar to previous JBS campaigns in Hyrum, Utah and Souderton, Penn.

Workers at the West Michigan plant will join with 28,000 other JBS workers who already enjoy the benefits of UFCW union representation on the job.

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Endorses Obama 2012

The 1.3 million members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) are ready to fight for the future of our country and to stand with leaders who will stand up for working families. President Barack Obama is that leader.

I am proud to announce that the UFCW is endorsing President Obama’s reelection campaign because our members understand how much is at stake in this election. President Obama has stood up for the jobless, the uninsured, the middle class taxpayer, Medicare recipients, working women, and accountability from Wall Street. UFCW members are ready to mobilize for the president and to elect more leaders who will stand with him in Congress and statehouses across the country.

Cashiers and grocery workers are ready to stand up to elect leaders who will ensure good jobs stay in their communities and that their children can achieve their dream for a better life. Meatpackers and food processors are ready to stand up to elect leaders who will keep fighting to hold Wall Street gamblers accountable to the home owners and retirees who have invested in their future and deserve security and honesty from financial institutions.

Working families are struggling during this recession - a recession created by Bush-era tax breaks, lack of financial regulation and unnecessary military escalation. Turning our economy around is going to take a tremendous effort - an effort that must be led by a president who speaks for the 99 percent of Americans who clock into work every morning, instead of those who simply watch stock tickers all day.

UFCW members are energized because corporate-backed politicians at the federal and state level have launched an all-out assault on working people. President Obama is fighting back.

UFCW members have never stopped fighting back in statehouses and in their communities. They are ready to win the fight for the White House in 2012. The UFCW will be mobilizing, organizing and energizing our members, their friends and families to keep President Obama in the White House and to elect a Congress that works hard for hard working Americans. Ours is an enthusiastic choice to stand with President Obama as he fights against political opposition that seeks to enrich a select few at the expense of millions of regular Americans.

Growing Hispanic Population Brings Hard Work Ethic and Optimism to U.S.

HHM draws to a close, but Hispanic presence in the U.S. carries on. More than forty million men, women and children continue to work, study, and prosper. At UFCW we are proud of our Latino members and their contributions to our union and our industry. From the braceros program of the early 1900s to the harvest pickers and line workers of today, we say gracias and we continue to organize and help Latinos get on their way to reaching the American dream.

The union difference marks a substantial improvement in the lives for all workers. But when Latino workers join a union they see a wage increase of 17.1% ($2.60/hour), plus they are 26% more likely to have employer-paid health insurance and 27% more likely to have a pension. Their numbers are growing in our industry, in our ranks, and as part of our population, and we welcome their hard work and optimism.

As we explained at the beginning of this Hispanic Heritage month, the period that began on September 15 and ends this Saturday, October 15 encompasses the independence dates of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18. And October 12, celebrated as Día de la Raza in Latin America, marks the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Western Hemisphere.

Historically and officially these milestones are the reason we celebrate Hispanic Heritage month. But we are sure that Hispanic Heritage month celebrations to come will add more achievements and successes from this vibrant component of our American identity.

Tell Senators to Stop Dragging Their Feet on the Jobs Bill!

UFCW members are extremely disappointed at what's happening in the Senate right now. It looks as though the Democratic-led Senate is going to be unable to muster up the procedural votes to send President Obama’s job creation bill forward.  Both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate need to be reminded who they’re supposed to be representing. Instead of putting their country before politics, both the Democrat-led Senate and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives have chosen to drag their feet while more and more Americans are losing their jobs, their homes and their belief in the American dream. 

As the national unemployment rate remains at 9.1 percent and the gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow, it’s clear that we need to take bold steps to lift Americans out of poverty and rebuild the middle class. President Obama’s plan, which includes tax cuts to help America’s small businesses hire and grow, including a tax cut for companies that hire new workers; a national infrastructure bank to rebuild and modernize our roads and schools; and help for the long-term unemployed, is a good first step.;

We can’t stand on the sidelines and simply hope for the best. That is why we need to work together and pass the American Jobs Act. 

Please take action now by emailing or calling your member of Congress and let them know that you will make any “no” vote on the American Jobs Act a political issue in 2012.  Click here to send an email, and call your senator RIGHT NOW to tell them to pass the American Jobs Act at (202) 224-3121.

UFCW STANDS WITH MEDICAL CANNABIS RETAIL WORKERS

Demands an End to U.S. Attorney’s Misguided Enforcement Action

(Washington, D.C.) – The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the nation’s largest retail worker organization, demands an immediate end to the U.S. Attorney’s misguided prosecution of operators of small dispensaries of legal medical cannabis in California.

In the past year, thousands of hardworking and taxpaying medical cannabis industry workers have joined together with the UFCW in various states in order to protect their jobs in this emerging industry. In today’s economy, hourly wage jobs like these that pay good wages with decent benefits are vital to keeping our economy afloat and families out of poverty.

At a time when the unemployment rate hovers around 9 percent, our economy requires bold action from our government to create good family-sustaining jobs. The steps taken by the four California U.S. attorneys to send letters Wednesday and Thursday notifying at least 16 medical dispensaries and their landlords that they are violating federal drug laws would do just the opposite.

“I have a good middle class American Job with good health benefits and a pension that I can look forward to,” said Larry Richards, a UFCW Local 5 member and a manager at the Blue Sky Dispensary in Oakland, California. “Because of our industry and our union I am able to be a productive breadwinner and, as a person living with HIV since 1983, I have fought and struggled not to be a drain on society. I want to work, I want to be productive but now, they want to take my job and put me back on the rolls of Social Security.”

UFCW proudly stands with our members in the Humboldt Growers Association, the Citizens for Safer Neighborhoods Committee of Colorado, the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, and our coalition partners in MendoGrown, the Patients Care Alliance, the National Cannabis Industry Association, and the Citizens Coalition for Patient Care.

Medical cannabis is a safe and effective treatment option for many serious medical conditions including cancer, and patients should not be forced to purchase their medicine from criminals, drug dealers, and thugs. If the federal government closes commercial dispensaries and collectives in California, patients will have no safe access to their medication. In addition, thousands of workers will be forced from their jobs in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

UFCW and our members are dedicated to a dignified, controlled, taxed, regulated, compliant, unionized medical cannabis industry. We stand in solidarity with the workers and patients of the unionized medical cannabis industry.

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United Food and Commercial Workers Union represents over 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada, and is one of the largest private sector unions in North America. UFCW members work in a wide range of industries, including retail food, food processing, agriculture, retail sales, health care, manufacturing, and medical cannabis.

Union Members Occupy Wall Street for Good Jobs

Yesterday, union members joined the ranks of those Occupying Wall Street in a stand against the insidious corporate greed that has infiltrated our democracy and eroded our jobs, our health care, our economy, and our way of life. 

Protesters gathered in Zuccotti Square and marched approximately one mile north to Foley Square where they joined with members from the RWDSU/UFCW and other labor unions. From Foley Square, the crowd marched side by side descending on Wall Street shouting “We are the 99%.”

Worker productivity has been rising over the past decade, but wages have remained stagnant while the cost of health care has sky-rocketed, leaving the average American struggling to make ends meet. Meanwhile, the gap between the richest 1% and the rest of us has gotten even wider as corporate fat cats pocket the profits that should be going to build good jobs. 

We’ve heard from the Occupy Wall Street folks that they are currently low on food. You can help out by ordering from local businesses or sending care packages. Please try to focus on vegan and vegetarian options with some meat options since we don’t want our vegetarian brothers and sisters to go hungry.

Send care packages and other supplies to this address:

118A Fulton st #205
New York, NY, 10038
Non perishable, no checks (money orders okay), any size package okay

Official Occupy Wall Street page: http://occupywallst.org/

Looking for events in your city? Check out MeetUp.com or find events on Facebook.

Live streaming of Occupy Wall Street: http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution