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Collective Bargaining, Economic Justice, Health Care, Kroger, Retail Food, UFCW Industries, UFCW Values

UFCW Local 455 Kroger Members Ratify New Three-Year Contract

May 16, 2013

Last week, UFCW Local 455 Kroger clerks and meat cutters ratified a new three-year contract that improves healthcare benefits, increases wages, and preserves pensions. The new contract covers more than 13,000 Kroger clerk and meat workers, including part-time workers, in the Houston area.

Kroger workers from UFCW Local 455 attend a meeting regarding their new contract that raises wages, improves benefits, and preserves pensions.

Kroger workers from UFCW Local 455 attend a meeting regarding their new contract that raises wages, improves benefits, and
preserves pensions.

“The wage improvements are great,” said Kroger associate Lenda Cadoree. “These hard working members truly deserve it and the other wage increases assure the company will be able to hire and retain quality employees in the future. All the employees I have discussed our new contract with have been extremely pleased with what we have accomplished together in our union.”

The contract sets a high bar for negotiations in the grocery industry and will help pave the way for other workers who are members of UFCW Locals 540, 1000, 1996, and 2008.

Collective Bargaining, Economic Justice, Retail Food, UFCW Industries, UFCW Values

UFCW Local 1776 ShopRite Workers Ratify New Contracts

May 01, 2013

UFCW Local 1776 members who work in 16 Greater Philadelphia area ShopRite supermarkets have ratified new two-year labor contracts. The agreements provide for wage increases and maintain healthcare, other benefits, and pensions.

The contracts cover 2,300 ShopRite workers. Members have worked for nearly a year under an extension of their previous contract that expired last May.

ShopRite workers from UFCW Local 1776 ratified new contracts that include wage increases and maintain benefits.

ShopRite workers from UFCW Local 1776
ratified new contracts that include wage
increases and maintain benefits.

The new agreements run for two years through May of 2014, dating back to the expired agreements.  They include letters stating the intent of the union and the owners to begin talks on the next set of contracts later this year, so as to avoid contract extensions when the new agreements expire in 2014.

ShopRite is owned and operated by the Brown, Collins, R&R McMenamin, Colligas, Ammons and Zallie families in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania suburbs.

Congratulations to all the 1776 members who stood together and bargained for their rights!

Corporate Responsibility, Food Safety, Packing and Processing, Retail Food, Social Justice, UFCW Stewards, Workplace Safety & Health

Remembering Those Who Have Fallen

Apr 25, 2013

This Sunday, April 28th is Worker Memorial Day, in which we take time to remember and honor those who have lost their lives on the job.  With the tragedies of the past two weeks fresh on our minds, this year’s Worker Memorial Day is particularly somber and offers us a chance to rededicate ourselves to the fight for safer workplaces.

Last week, in West, Texas, a fertilizer plant exploded, killing at least 15 workers and emergency responders.  The amount of deadly chemicals stored at the plant was thousands of times beyond the mandated limit, and inspections of the factory had not been performed in several years.

This week, news of a collapsed garment factory in Bangladesh that has killed at least 300 workers saddened us all.  Reports that cracks in the building’s foundation found yesterday were ignored and that management still forced employees to come to work are alarming.  This incident comes only months after more than 100 workers perished at another Bangladesh garment factory, when a fire broke out and locked doors (done by management) trapped workers inside.

Workers at a Nicaraguan Walmart supplier were recently physically attacked by a paid mob when they protested about being fired for trying to organize for a voice on the job.

It’s time that companies stopped putting workers’ lives at risk in order to make a profit.  The working people who make corporations successful deserve basic human rights, and deserve safe working environments.

Take a moment to remember the victims of workplace fatalities, and help us continue to fight for worker safety. If you have a story of a friend or loved one lost or injured on the job that you would like to share, please send us a message on our Facebook page.

2013 Worker Memorial Day Break Room Flyers

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