Longest Serving Employee in Macy's History Retires After 73 Years on the Job!

Can you imagine working in the days when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in the White House and the biggest movie at the box-office was The Wizard of Oz?

Rose Syracuse Photo credit: CRAIG WARGA/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 

Rose Syracuse, can do you one better, because she was actually living those moments.  The 92-year old has been working for a whopping 73 years at the Macy's Herald Square flagship store in New York City.  Rose, also a member of RWDSU Local 1-S, is now announcing her retirement.

Rose has been a member of Local 1-S for most of her life; in fact, there has never been a time when Local 1-S existed without her membership! Rose was there to witness the birth of the union at Macy's, and all of the changes that have impacted retail workers since.

Starting as a 17-year-old, Rose entered the Macy's workforce during a difficult economy, similar to today's, when America was still feeling the effects of the great depression, and embroiled in World War II.  During that time, Rose and her co-workers received a mere $14 per 48-hour work week.

However, after marching through the store, as well as down the streets through the bitter cold, Rose and the others were able to unionize, knowing it would bring about better conditions. They may not have known it at the time, but this victory was one that would benefit the Macy's workers that came after them for generations and generations.

Speaking with RWDSU, Rose pointed out that "the union fights for you.  They really help you. Otherwise how could you do it all by yourself? Nobody would listen to you." We couldn't agree more. Rose's statement reminds us that the point of a union has not changed from 73 years ago: when sticking together, we have a voice that will be listened to.

We'd like to thank Rose for all she has done- serving at Macy's, and of course laying the ground work for labor movements for years to come.  We hope she will now enjoy her well-deserved retirement!

What Will Mitt Romney do for...Young People?

With Millennials making up around 40% of the electorate, it is safe to say there is a lot riding on young people in this year's election. So what factors will they consider as they vote?

The Center for American Progress found that, of 21 core values and beliefs garnering majority support among these young Americans, only four of those values were classified as conservative. Forty four percent of young Americans self-identified as progressive or liberal, in contrast with the 28 percent identifying as conservative or libertarian.

That's no surprise to us, and it certainly dosn't bode well for Mitt Romney, who espouses an arch-conservative, antiquated set of ideals that would be detrimental to a majority of young Americans.

If elected President, Mitt Romney's policies would be harmful to young Americans.  Here are just a couple of reasons why:

• Young adults are now eligible to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans as they enter the workforce, until they turn 26, thanks to President Obama's Affordable Care Act. Since the health care law passed, 3.1 million young adults—traditionally the group least likely to be insured—gained insurance. Mitt Romney adamantly opposes the Affordable Care Act.
• Romney has said that he will not increase Pell Grant Awards or help pay off student loans. In fact, Romney's higher education plan could provide a basis for reducing or eliminating programs like Pell grants, income-driven repayment plans and loan forgiveness, and consumer-friendly regulations like the gainful employment rule. Absent a feasible plan to reduce the cost of college and lower skyrocketing tuition, this could be a financial disaster for thousands of college students and graduates.

America needs to pay close attention to the specific plans Romney has in mind for our country if he were to win the 2012 election. The facts show that President Obama's actions while in office, as well as his plans for the future, are what's best for young Americans, working families, and the middle class.

UFCW Local 876 Tackles Voter Registration!

UFCW Local 876 in Michigan has done an awesome job at making it really easy to register to vote in this November's election.

With its Voter Registration Toolkit, Local 876 has provided a resource for its stewards to help people register.  The toolkit allows stewards to provide their coworkers with the appropriate voter registration form to fill out, as well as pre-addressed and stamped envelopes to send the forms back in.

In the toolkit, Local 876 emphasizes why it is so important to help people register this year:

"Working people are facing cut after cut to their wages, health care benefits, retirement security and safety protections. To fight these cuts, we must unite with one strong voice on Election Day to elect candidates who will do what’s best for working families, not what’s best for billionaires.

With so much at stake in this year’s election, UFCW members must turn out at the polls in record numbers to shift the balance of power in the legislature to guarantee that working people will still have a fair shot at the American dream. 

To create a great turnout at the polls, it is critical to ensure that all eligible voters are registered to vote and that their voting rights are protected. As leaders in your workplace and in your community, stewards are asked to register six new voters."                

As the toolkit says, this November is such an important election for working people.  The only way to ensure what is best for middle class America, is to vote for a leader that will have working America's best interests at heart.  We hope the actions of Local 876 will inspire plenty of new voters to register and VOTE!