January, 2013

Organizing, Press Releases, Retail, UFCW Industries, UFCW Values

CVS Caremark and United Food & Commercial Workers Union Announce Cooperation Agreement in 500 Stores

Jan 17, 2013

WOONSOCKET, RI and WASHINGTON, DC—CVS Caremark and the United Food & Commercial Workers today announced they have signed a cooperation agreement giving CVS/pharmacy employees at approximately 500 stores in the metropolitan Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego areas the opportunity to vote on whether or not they want to be represented by the union.

According to CVS Caremark and the UFCW, this cooperation agreement will help promote the success of the company and demonstrates the shared commitment of both parties to ensuring that employees have the right to choose whether to be represented by a union without pressure or undue influence.

“This agreement is fair and reasonable for our employees and the company,” said Larry J. Merlo, President and CEO of CVS Caremark. “It enables CVS Caremark to focus all of its energy and resources on our purpose of helping people on their path to better health.”

“We share a commitment to making retail jobs secure, allowing workers to pay their bills, raise a family and live a middle class life,” said Joe Hansen, International President of the UFCW.

The five-year agreement also establishes a quick and simple election process that allows workers to vote on whether or not to join the union.

There are more than 8,300 CVS/pharmacy employees who are currently UFCW members in 11 states and in the District of Columbia. In California, CVS recognized the workers’ union in 100 former Sav-On stores following the company’s acquisition of those stores in 2006.  Under this new cooperative agreement, both parties have agreed to extend the existing collective bargaining agreement for other California CVS/pharmacy employees to incoming union members for the next five years.

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About CVS Caremark

CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) is the largest pharmacy care provider in the United States with integrated offerings across the entire spectrum of pharmacy care. CVS Caremark is uniquely positioned to engage plan members in behaviors that improve their health and to lower overall health care costs for health plans, plan sponsors, and their members. CVS Caremark is a market leader in mail order pharmacy, retail pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, and retail clinics, and is a leading provider of Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans. As one of the country’s largest pharmacy benefits managers, the company provides access to a network of approximately 65,000 pharmacies, including more than 7,300 CVS/pharmacy® stores that provide unparalleled service and capabilities. CVS Caremark clinical offerings include its signature Pharmacy AdvisorTM program as well as innovative generic step therapy and genetic benefit management programs that promote more cost effective and healthier behaviors and improve health care outcomes. General information about CVS Caremark is available through the company’s website at http://info.cvscaremark.com

 About UFCW

The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing, and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for affordable health care, immigration reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the freedom to a voice on the job so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s efforts to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, go to www.ufcw.org and join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw

 

Retail, UFCW Industries, Uncategorized, Walmart

More Abuse of Workers by Walmart Supplier

Jan 15, 2013

More disappointing news of workers being cheated, mistreated, and abused by Walmart suppliers has surfaced, this time in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. There, workers from an undergarment factory that supplies to retailers such as H&M and Walmart have been keeping vigil outside their workplace, Kingsland Garment. Why? Because on Dec. 29th, without warning, managers shuttered up the factory and fled, knowing full well that they owe the workers hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages and benefits.

The garment workers wait, ready to confront any management that may return to gather equipment. They believe the motive for the abrupt move by the management is a plot to shed long-time employees, and then re-open, in order to avoid paying for the benefits of workers who have seniority.

Without their pay and without work, many of the workers cannot afford rent, and have been evicted.

This scheme is not new.  Many other suppliers for Walmart and other large retail chains employ these tactics to take advantage of temporary workers, and to make unionization and job benefits for workers virtually impossible.

To support the workers who have come together to demand what they are owed, Warehouse Workers United and other organizations are calling on Walmart to force the supplier to pay the workers their severance.  A corporation as powerful and wealthy as Walmart should not wait around for outside organizations to tell them to do what is right- they should simply do it.  How many more factory, garment, and warehouse workers will be mistreated before Walmart holds its suppliers accountable, or prevents such things from happening? Whether the offense is dangerous working conditions or unfair wages, Walmart needs to be more responsible and help create better jobs for the countless workers that help make Walmart the powerful business that it is.

Click here for more information, and watch the video of the Cambodian garment workers below:

 

Economic Justice, Walmart

Get Fired Up: Making Change at Walmart to Organize Volunteer Network

Jan 14, 2013

In response to the continued flood of support for the #WalmartStrikers, Making Change at Walmart (MCAW) is organizing a network of volunteers and empowering them to take strategic action to ensure workers at Walmart are not retaliated against for speaking out.  On January 17th, MCAW will hold its first webinar to engage volunteers.

This past Black Friday, Walmart workers took courageous action by going out on strike against the world’s largest private employer. As the story broke, we were inundated with messages of support from members and workers around the globe wanting to know how they could lend a hand.

Such coordinated national action by the workers at Walmart would not have been possible without months of organizing and talking to each other through the newly-formed Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). Now the next step will be for allies to organize together so they can execute focused anti-retaliation strategies to protect the movement’s worker-leaders and carry the momentum forward.

On January 17th, MCAW will hold its first meeting for volunteers. The webinar will start at 4:15pm EST and is open to anyone who would like to volunteer. You can sign up to attend the webinar here. If you are interested in learning more about the campaign and becoming a local volunteer, but cannot attend the webinar, fill out this form and we will contact you shortly.

UFCW members and community rose to the call for solidarity on Black Friday by holding nearly 1,200 actions nationwide and raising over $100,000 to support the strikers. It was a historic step forward and made many people, including journalists as well as many workers throughout the Walmart supply chain, question the myth that a company like Walmart was too big for ordinary people to impact.

As the movement continues to grow and work toward real change at Walmart in 2013, community volunteers will be essential to this fight.

Time to get fired up, folks.