June, 2008

Uncategorized

>UFCW Local 555 Community Rally

Jun 16, 2008

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UFCW Local 555 will be holding a community rally at The Dalles Fred Meyer on Tuesday, June 17, 2008. The Non-Food employees at The Dalles Fred Meyer have been seeking their first contract since November 2007, when they overwhelmingly voted to be represented by UFCW Local 555. UFCW Local 555 represents about 20,000 workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

As of today Fred Meyer has been unwilling to settle a fair contract for these employees. The company has failed to address the concerns of the employees and continues to not address issues such as; seniority and full-time employment, quality and affordable health care, and providing a pension plan that would ensure stable and safe money for retirement.

Because of the lack of respect Fred Meyer is showing to the Non-Food employees at the Dalles Fred Meyer, workers and community members will be getting together to bring attention to this issue. For more information on this event or to schedule an interview, please contact Ric Ball, Director of Collective Bargaining, UFCW Local 555.

2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama

>How Are You Working For Change?

Jun 12, 2008

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Registering voters. Volunteering at food banks. Phone banking for candidates. Organizing workers and improving working conditions. Raising money to fund research for important cures.

These are just a few of the things young workers are doing throughout the nation to make a differnce. With health care costs out of control, the economy a mess, rapidly rising gas prices, escalating college costs, the mortgage crisis, a broken immigration system…our nation needs all the help it can get.

This is a year for change if there ever was one. And hundreds of thousands of UFCW members will be working hard to send Barack Obama to the White House to make that change real.

But change doesn’t start with the President or the people in Washington, as Senator Obama points out in his speeches.

Change starts with us. We can make a difference. We can help UFCW members, workers, and fellow Americans around the nation in times of trouble. We can oppose greedy CEOs and corporations, and fight for better wages, affordable, quality health care for all, improved working conditions, and the dignity of a secure retirement.

We can speak together and become more powerful. We can stick together and make our voices heard–and we can shout out for a real shot at the American Dream for each and every person in this country.

We can all be leaders. Young workers can and will lead the way to the change we need today.

How are you working for change? Tell us what you’re doing to make this country a better place.

Immigration

>World Day Against Child Labour

Jun 12, 2008

>June 12th is World Day Against Child Labour. As hundreds of events take place around the globe, it is worth taking a moment to recognize that child labor is happening not only in countries far away, but right here in the U.S.

On May 12, 2008, an on-going investigation into child labor violations at the Agriprocessors processing plant in Postville, Iowa, was derailed by a conflicting raid conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Among those rounded up in the raid were numerous children, some as young as thirteen years old.

Mark Lauritsen, International Vice President of the UFCW, says Agriprocessors has gotten away with the labor violations for too long. He states: “There is not one other meatpacker operator in this country that has the same sustained long record of law violations as Agriprocessors, not one. They’re acting like a renegade in an already tough industry. It’s not good for the industry, it’s not good for the workers who work in it.”

Despite evidence of the use of child labor, Agriprocessors has yet to be held legally accountable for its actions.

While children across the country caught the bus for school and headed off for classes, the children at Agriprocessors went off to work in one of the most dangerous industries in the country.

Child labor anywhere is a disaster, but the discovery of child labor in an American packing plant is an outrage. To ignore the violations that happened there would not only be neglectful of our laws, but a disgrace to our core American values and what we stand for as a country.

The UFCW has never tolerated the use of child labor and never will. Together, we must expose the misdeeds of companies driven by corporate greed and help build stronger workplaces where respect for workers, and those children who will be the next generation of workers, is top priority. Learn More here.