Food Safety

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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

Worker Memorial Day Flyerworkermemorialdia    workermemorialday2  workermemorialdia2  workermemorialday3  workermemorialdia3

Food Safety, Packing and Processing, UFCW Industries, Workplace Safety & Health

Urge the USDA to Pull Its Reckless Poultry Rule

Apr 11, 2012

You may have heard that the USDA has proposed a rule that will waive current line speed limits in poultry plants and permit processing to increase from 75-91 birds per minute to 175 birds per minute. No study has been conducted to determine the impact that increasing the speed of the line will have on worker safety.

USDA did not contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the agency responsible for protecting the health and safety of American workers, before publishing this proposed rule. This sets an alarming precedent for all agencies that may want to use administrative rulemaking to change policies that could weaken health and safety protections for workers. This lack of transparency or collaboration with the agency responsible for workplace safety could put workers in danger. And as we know, when worker safety is at risk in food processing facilities, the safety of our food supply can also be jeopardized.

Please join the UFCW in urging the USDA to pull this rule in its entirety until adequate safety studies are conducted and OSHA uses this information to create standards to protect workers. Click here to send a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging him to pull the poultry rule today.

Barack Obama, Food Safety, Legislation, Politics, Press Releases, UFCW Values

Food & Commercial Workers Denounce Slashing of Federal Food Safety Budget

Jun 17, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC—The following is a statement from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union:

“Yesterday, Republicans in the House of Representatives slashed millions of dollars from the budget of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food safety programs. This bill, which not one Democrat voted for, put’s the safety of American families and food supply at risk by slashing funding for food inspections and safety.

“Americans have faced a veritable deluge of food safety problems over the last decade in products as varied as peanuts, spinach and tomatoes. The Obama administration led the charge to ensure for adequate inspection and regulation to keep our dinner table safe, but House Republicans are undoing that hard work by gutting the funding for a safer food supply. Around 48,000,000 Americans get sick from their food every year, yet House Republicans don’t see food safety as an issue worth funding.

“We work across the food industry – in meat, poultry, food processing, canning and produce – but we’re especially concerned that the new bill may cause furloughs for meat and poultry inspectors. These inspectors play a vital role in the functioning of one of America’s largest export industries. Our workers in the processing and packing industries depend on their involvement to insure a safe product for their customers. Lax inspections could also have a negative effect on American food exports at a time when our economy is already struggling. We need to fully fund the food safety bill and ensure a food supply that Americans can count on for the future.”