UFCW Stewards

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UFCW Stewards

Global Companies, Global Campaigns, Global Unions

Jun 11, 2010

 

We work in a global industry, and UFCW stewards are part of a global federation of workers. In a time when Swift and Pilgrim’s Pride are both owned by JBS, a Brazilian company, when Plumrose is owned by the European company Danish Crown, and when Kraft Foods is acquiring the Britain-based Cadbury, stewards all over the world face the same issues and the same corporations as UFCW stewards here at home.
As more and more companies become multinationals, it is more important than ever that UFCW stewards interact with other stewards from around the world. When stewards connect across the globe to exchange strategies for keeping their coworkers safe and making sure working and living standards rise equitably across borders, the payoff is huge.
That’s why at a recent meeting in Omaha, the UFCW welcomed stewards and labor leaders who represent workers at JBS facilities in Brazil and Australia. JBS-affiliated stewards from several different UFCW locals had the opportunity to meet with these international representatives and share strategies for tackling challenges in the workplace and dealing with management on a variety of issues.
In the course of the meeting, one thing became clear: keeping lines of communications open among stewards across the world is crucial. If we keep in touch with our brothers and sisters in Australia, in England, in Brazil, as issues arise, we can get ahead of them and make sure things run smoothly in the workplace.
To that end, UFCW locals have also taken the lead in fostering international solidarity. UFCW locals from the United States have visited Brazil, to see how JBS plants there operate. Another important conversation started three years ago when Local 1776 was negotiating its contract with the Italian specialty meats company Citterio USA, in Freeland, PA. With assistance from the UFCW International, the Local turned to its brothers and sisters at Citterio’s plants in Italy for additional information about the companyand its practices overseas. In November 2009, a delegation of Italian union leaders and Italian Citterio plant stewards came to the United States to continue the conversation.
“Meeting with the Italian stewards from Citterio was great for us because we realized we are all dealing with the same company and facing the same issues. It was really helpful to have a chance to get together and discuss our experiences. I feel like now I understand the company I work for a lot better. I hope we can keep this connection going,” said Mike Palmer, a Citterio steward for Local 1776.
The visitors attended a 1776 Executive Board meeting, toured the Cargill case ready meat plant in Hazleton (the union also represents Cargill workers in Italy), visited the innovative Brown’s ShopRite at 52nd and Jefferson Sts. in Philadelphia, walked through a Walmart, and, most importantly, spent many hours meeting with 1776 Citterio Stewards to share experiences and best practices.
The UFCW also works with UNI Global Union and the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations to strategize around the issues food and commercial workers face every day, in every country around the world.

UFCW Stewards

OSHA 300 Logs: An Important Tool To Improve Safety and Ensure Accountability

Apr 08, 2010

 

Safety is one of the most important issues at any plant. Preventing injuries at the workplace is about identifying hazards and getting them fixed, and stewards play a particularly important role in making sure this happens.
Many workers are already familiar with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a division within the U.S. Department of Labor that sets and enforces safety standards in the workplace.
These standards are the law and employers are required to comply with them. Among these requirements is the OSHA Form 300. Most employers with 10 or more full-time employees are required to file this form, which is a yearly log of work-related injuries.
Miguel Luna, a steward from UFCW Local 2, works in a plant in Guymon, Okla. He has been an active member of his plant’s safety committee for more than four years.
“I joined the safety committee to help to keep my coworkers safe. Together with other members, we have helped to improve safety at the plant. The OSHA 300 logs are fundamental for our mission. They help a lot,” Luna said.
OSHA mandates that employers record all new cases of work-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses if they involve death, time away from work, restricted work, transfer from another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional.
“An OSHA 300 log is where companies record the injuries that occur at the workplace,” said Luna. “By law, they have to report all the injuries to OSHA.”
The OSHA law gives workers and their unions the right to have access to injury logs.

 

Stewards, workers, and supervisors can use the OSHA 300 logs to help to improve safety in a food processing or meatpacking plant.
“At our plant, our safety committee meets once a month. We talk about how to improve safety at our plant,” said Luna. “The OSHA logs are very useful for those
of us on the committee, because we can see if we need to improve safety in one area or if we can do something different.”
Luna added that there have been several instances when the OSHA logs have helped the committee to improve safety at the plant.

 

“For example, if we see in the logs  that many injuries are occurring on the line due to an ergonomic issue, then we look into what is causing that issue, we investigate, and once we have reached a conclusion, we meet with the plant’s safety director,” he said.
Unfortunately, in some instances, workplace injuries are being under-counted. This year OSHA has enacted an enforcement program to review the logs and make certain that employers record all injuries.
Luna said that stewards play an important role in making sure employers keep the log current.
“As stewards, we have to review the logs to make sure injuries are being recorded in an accurate and proper way,” he said. “I recommend that stewards stay on top of things and check the logs on a regular basis.”
He said that if a steward suspects that an injury has been inaccurately reported in the OSHA logs, the best way to solve any discrepancy is to talk to the injured worker, get the facts, and talk to the plant’s safety manager or supervisors to try to clarify the issues.
For Luna, the most important thing to do if an injury occurs is to make sure that the affected worker fully recovers.
“Stewards should check back with the injured worker and follow up throughout his or her recovery. We have to support each other and that means making sure injured workers get the proper treatment,” he added.

UFCW Stewards

Unity Makes the Difference for Americold Workers

Dec 11, 2009

 

Once the election results were posted, Gene Muff was relieved and happy. He knew it was a time to celebrate, because change was coming to his plant.
Muff, a member of UFCW Local 271, works at an Americold Logistics plant in Crete, Nebraska. Last summer, workers at his plant voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first ever union contract, which provides them with solid wages and benefit increases.
Muff has been involved with the UFCW since the beginning of the organizing campaign.
“I told my coworkers we needed to join the union so we would get better treatment at the plant. That when we are united we are stronger, so that way they couldn’t bully us around anymore,” he said.
After workers voted in favor of having union representation, Muff joined the bargaining committee. With the help of the UFCW, workers at the plant fought to get the best possible contract.
“During our contract negotiations, safety was a big issue, hours were a big issue,” Muff said. “We had to bargain for better wages and benefits.”
Muff explained that negotiations were difficult since “the company was very hardheaded throughout the first year. Afterwards, the company realized we weren’t going to give up. Then, they got down to business.”
With unity, strength and fortitude, workers at Americold negotiated a good first contract.
“When we ratified the contract my coworkers were very happy,” said Muff.
“When they saw the final contract for the first time, they realized that the entire wait was worth it. It was worth standing together and standing up to the company, because we made our lives much better.”
Now workers at Americold are part of the more than 250,000 workers in the poultry and meatpacking industries nationwide who have a union contract with the UFCW.
“This contract gives us wages that protect full-time, family-supporting jobs in our community,” Muff said.
The new Americold contract includes:

  • Average wage increases of $1.44/hr for the first year and an additional 30 cents per hour for the next four years;
  •  A formal system to resolve workplace issues;
  • Time and a half pay for holiday work;
  • Night shift premium wages;
  • Affordable family health coverage;
  • Job advancement opportunities based on seniority; and,
  • Funeral leave and paid vacation benefits.

“We got lower costs for health care. We got guaranteed wage increases. Now we’re able to stand up as one, and have a strong voice when we need to talk to management,” he said.
Muff said they owe this contract to the support they received from all the UFCW members across the country.
“I believe everyone in our local and in the UFCW was behind me and my fellow workers the whole time,” he said. “When we stand together we can make a very big difference.”
He added that workers at Americold support workers at other plants who are at the bargaining table. He had some advice for them:
“I would like to tell other workers who are trying to get their first contract that they should stick with it. The more you stand together the stronger you are and the better it is going to be in the long run. Your company might try to pull all different kinds of tactics on you, to make you feel like you made a bad decision in joining the union, but it’s worth it, because it can only make your life better.”