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Corporate Responsibility, Economic Justice, Retail, Retail Food, UFCW Industries, UFCW Values

Low Wage Workers Rising

Aug 30, 2013

Reposted from Making Change at Walmart

It’s been an exciting week and it’s not even Labor Day yet!

This week, low-wage workers of all varieties have gone out on strike to stand up for an American economy that works for working people.

Earlier this week, port truck workers went out on strike in Los Angeles. Today, fast food workers went on strike in more than 50 cities nationwide. And if Walmart doesn’t respond to workers calls by Labor Day, Walmart workers say we’ll see intensified actions nationwide on September 5th.

These dramatic actions come at a time when working people find themselves in a difficult situation. According to USA Today:

Jobs paying less than $14 an hour in fast food, retail, home health care and other fields made up one of every five jobs lost in the recession, but they account for three of every five new jobs in the recovery, according to NELP.

Many of them are held by adults, some of whom were laid off from much-better-paying positions during the recession. Eighty-eight percent of workers in jobs paying less than $10 an hour are older than 20, and a third are older than 40, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Or as President Clinton’s Secretary of Labor Robert Reich would put it, “The good news as Labor Day approaches: Jobs are returning. The bad news: Most of them pay lousy wages and provide low, if not nonexistent, benefits.”

While everyday Americans continue to struggle with an uneven recovery and more than 7% unemployment, many companies continue to post record profits. Again, according to Reich referencing a NELP report:

…most low-wage workers are employed by large corporations that have been enjoying healthy profits. Three-quarters of these employers (the 50 biggest employers of low-wage workers) are raking in higher revenues now than they did before the recession.

Despite the challenges of the current American economy, low wage workers have dug deep and found the courage to stand up. If you’ve like to stand with Walmart workers, please sign their petition here.

Corporate Responsibility, Economic Justice, Health Care, Retail, Retail Food, UFCW Industries, UFCW Values

Biggest Fast Food and Retail Worker Stike Yet Expected for Tomorrow Across America

Aug 28, 2013
image via Working Washington

image via Working Washington

Recently, fast food and retail workers alike have come together into tell their employers that they deserve respect on the job, and that they will no longer stand for wages that don’t allow them to make a living. Going on 1-day strikes in cities across the country, these workers have ignited conversation and action surrounding the issue of a living wage.

What began as a 200-person strike in NYC last November, this growing movement is set to gain even more momentum tomorrow, with low-wage worker strikes set to take place in 35 cities across the country–with thousands of workers expected to take part. Employees at establishments such as McDonald’s and Macy’s will make their voices heard by walking off the job, as they call for the right to unionize and raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. These strikes come as America gets ready to celebrate Labor Day–a time in which workers are meant to be honored and recognized, yet many who will participate in the strikes must work on this holiday.

For the workers, most of whom are grown adults, often with families to support, $7.25 doesn’t cut it.  It’s not enough to both feed their children and themselves, or to pay for both healthcare and rent at the same time. These low wages are especially unacceptable when the companies they work for rake in billions of dollars a year, and the CEO-to-employee pay ratios only increase each year, by gigantic amounts.

That’s why, experts say, this is just the beginning of the movement. Workers at Church’s Chicken, Victoria’s Secret, Dunkin Donuts–you name it–are taking action because they have the energy and passion to change a vicious fast food  and retail economy, that rewards the executives up top, but does little to reward those who make the companies successful.

Some of these strikes in recent months have led to wage increases in places like Chicago, and the strikes have caused stores in cities like Seattle to close down for the day due to lack of manpower. This is just an example of how workers can make or break the company’s success–they need to be compensated accordingly.

For more information, click here. Also, be sure to keep an eye on Twitter, Facebook, and even out in your community tomorrow to see all the action unfold!

Collective Bargaining, Corporate Responsibility, Economic Justice, Retail Food, Safeway, UFCW Industries, UFCW Values

UFCW Locals 21 and 367 Hold Informational Pickets to Advocate for Grocery Workers

Aug 28, 2013
Hundreds of grocery workers will hold informational pickets at 38 grocery stores across the Seattle region to fight for workers’ rights.

Hundreds of grocery workers will hold informational pickets at 38 grocery stores across the Seattle region to fight for workers’ rights.

Grocery workers from UFCW Locals 21, 367 and Teamsters Local 38 will be joined by co-workers, elected officials, and community supporters in informational pickets held across the Seattle region. Today, workers from Fred Meyer, Safeway, QFC, and Albertsons will hold actions at 38 different grocery locations to draw attention to their fight for fair treatment, fair pay, and fair benefits.

Grocery store workers have been in contract negotiations since March. Despite more than 12 bargaining sessions and a first round of informational pickets in July, the companies have continued to stick to proposals that would stop providing health care coverage of employees working less than 30 hours a week, deny workers paid sick days, and cut pay including for those who work on holidays. A potential strike vote is set for the end of September depending on the progress of negotiations.