UFCW locals that are interested are welcome to take part in the video trainings, which are easy to access and use.

Check out the different safety trainings being offered below–if you’re interested, let your local know and have them contact the UFCW Occupational Safety and Health Office (202-466-1546) for details about how to sign up!

Training Sessions

Lock-Out  – Minor Servicing Exception
Major repair jobs are often locked-out properly, but hurried  machine adjustments or frequent unjamming can be a source of confusion, injuries and disciplinary action. This training session follows a step-by-step process to help operators, set-up people, machine cleaners and maintenance workers determine if that ‘’quick, little adjustment’’ requires a full lock-out or not. This training can also be helpful for stewards who have to deal with disciplinary action over Lock Out.
This training is applicable to ALL workplaces. It is most useful for manufacturing, food processing, poultry and meat packing plants.

Ergonomic Risk Factors
How can we predict which jobs will injure workers and which jobs are safe? Participants in this training session will learn about some of the elements of jobs that cause ergonomic-related injuries. The training includes an opportunity to practice using a method that combines the effects of three of the most important ergonomic risk factors.  This method can be used to evaluate most production-type jobs.

Hex Chrome
Welders who work with stainless steel may be at risk for lung cancer. This training session reviews the hazards and OSHA requirements for plants where stainless steel welding is done.

Hazard Recognition
This series of workplace photographs helps union stewards, activists and safety reps develop an eye for finding workplace hazards. This training session switches the focus from blaming workers for safety hazards onto identifying unsafe working conditions as the true hazards.

Extreme Temperatures
Many UFCW members work in conditions of extreme heat or extreme cold. Participants in this training session will learn about the possible health effects of these conditions, how the conditions can be documented and what can be done to protect workers.

Risk Assessment
‘’Long lists don’t get done!’’ This training session is for any union activist, steward, or safety committee member who is struggling to know where to start on their long list of safety problems. Risk Assessment is a systematic and logical approach to analyzing safety issues to place those issues in order of priority.

Material Handling
Participants in this training session will explore the safety requirements for material handling equipment from pallet jacks to fork trucks.

Washington, DC

“The national settlement reached today between OSHA and Walmart resolves the highest penalties any individual Walmart store has ever faced as a result of health and safety violations – over $350,000. The problems detailed in the settlement are issues we have been raising for years, but it’s clear that the company has consistently failed to listen to our concerns, let alone address them.

“This is just the latest indication of Walmart’s malfeasance throughout the supply chain, and these serious problems represent a major danger to workers, the environment, and the company’s future. As workers we routinely face inadequate fire safety measures, including blocked fire exits, and do not receive proper training on how to safely handle hazardous chemicals. Poorly maintained equipment, including balers and compactors, represent another hazard, made worse because these machines often lack appropriate mechanisms to ensure worker safety.

“We like our jobs and want what’s best for the company. We hope that today’s settlement sends a message to Walmart that cutting corners on safety comes at great costs, not just to employees, but also to the company.  Moreover, Walmart needs to go beyond the settlement, start listening to its workers, and investigate its stores throughout the country to see if these violations are widespread and where they find violations, fix them. These issues are about the very basic right employees have to work in safe environments.”

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LEGAL DISCLAIMER: UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

STATEMENT FROM STACY MITCHELL ON OSHA SETTLEMENT WITH WALMART

In response to today’s settlement, Institute for Local Self Reliance senior researcher Stacy Mitchell issued the following statement:

“Walmart’s negligence in managing hazardous chemicals is yet another illustration of its disregard for the environment and the health of workers and communities. While Walmart publicizes its solar installations, behind the scenes, the company is continuing to cut corners and harm the environment throughout its operations and supply chain.”

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In stark contrast, more than 75 corporations from 15 countries, including the United States, have signed the binding Accord on Fire and Building Safety negotiated with Bangladeshi and international unions. The Accord has rules to make real improvements in the safety of garment workers.  Workers, unions and worker rights organizations negotiated this agreement with employers and integrated worker safety efforts by governments and the International Labor Organization (ILO).  The AFL-CIO and Change to Win,  along with global unions IndustriAll and UNI and numerous organizations representing Bangladeshi workers, also endorse it. The AFL-CIO and Change to Win reject the Walmart/GAP plan as a way to avoid accountability, limit costs and silence workers and their representatives.

Rather than sign the binding Accord, Walmart and Gap are pushing a weak and worthless plan that avoids enforceable commitments. The Bipartisan Policy Center, which has clear financial and political connections to Walmart, is releasing the document, which is the product of a closed process and has been signed only by the same corporations that produced it.

The Accord departs from the broken system of voluntary corporate responsibility in supply chains that has so often failed to protect workers. It makes a clear commitment to worker safety and rights, and to transparency. It expresses values that most countries uphold.

The Accord has been endorsed by the United Nations, the ILO, the government of Bangladesh, both the parliament and commission of the European Union, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Members and leaders in both houses of the U.S. Congress have also endorsed the Accord.

In the last eight years, more than 1,800 Bangladeshi garment workers have been killed in preventable factory fires and building collapses while producing mostly for European and U.S. markets.  This tragic loss of life requires more than a wink and a nod from two of the richest corporations in the world. It means taking responsibility for the safety of workers by entering into a legitimate, binding process that will save lives.  Seventy-five brands have taken that important step.  It is time for Walmart and GAP to join them, rather than trying to undermine those efforts and maintain a system that has a long and bloody record of failure.

Statement online here: http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/Joint-Statement-by-Richard-L.-Trumka-AFL-CIO-and-Joe-Hansen-ChangetoWin-on-the-Walmart-and-GAP-Bangladesh-Safety-Alliance-Weak-and-Worthless

For the latest udates, follow @AFLCIO and @RichardTrumka on Twitter.

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Unique Thrift store workers in New York City voted to join the RWDSU for better wages and working conditions.

This week, workers at Unique Thrift in the Bronx, New York, voted to join the RWDSU/UFCW. All 64 workers at the Bronx store will be part of the bargaining unit. The workers who sort through the donated goods and staff the Unique Thrift stores in the Bronx, and other parts of New York and New Jersey are speaking out about their working conditions. Workers are paid low wages, receive no paid sick days or vacations, are verbally abused by managers and are often hurt on the job.

“As a single mom living in New York City, it is extremely difficult to survive off $7.50 an hour,” said Joanna Carrillo, Unique Thrift employee. “I was proud to vote yes to join the RWDSU because we deserve respect, better wages, and basic benefits such as health care and paid time off.”

Unique Thrift is a for profit thrift store which contracts with the Lupus Foundation. The company solicits donations in the name of the Lupus Foundation, sells the clothes for profit and sends the charity a comparatively small contribution.

Members of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) could not agree more. Today, these brave men and women are taking a stand at Walmart’s annual shareholders’ meeting to protest the company’s practice of retaliating against workers who speak out for positive change in the workplace. Citing Walmart’s $16 billion in profits every year, OUR Walmart members are calling on the company to publicly commit to raising wages and increasing access to full-time hours so that no worker at Walmart makes less than $25,000 per year.

Walmart can and should lead the way in making sure that retail jobs are good jobs—the kind that come with good benefits and wages for all workers. If Walmart would listen to—and respect—its workers, it could not only reverse the downward trends that have plagued the company, it could also help to rebuild our country’s economy and strengthen America’s middle class.

For more information about OUR Walmart, visit http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/.

Initial reports say that the fire appeared to have started from an explosion caused by leaking ammonia, a chemical kept pressurized as part of the cooling system in meat processing plants. Ammonia is a dangerous chemical that is found in almost every poultry plant and proper safety precautions are imperative. Despite plant managers knowing how dangerous ammonia can be – there was still a leak that lead to disastrous results.

Many think that what happened in China is a problem that stems from poor worker safety laws in the Chinese system. Unfortunately, what happened in China is not a Chinese problem – it is a problem across the entire poultry industry. Violations of laws and safety regulations in poultry plants happen everywhere, including right here in the U.S.

In 1991, 25 workers were killed in a chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. When a fire broke out at the plant, workers were trapped inside because seven of the building’s nine exit doors were locked or blocked. Even though locking and blocking exits are violations of safety laws and regulations, those violations were never reported. The plant had never been inspected by safety officials in the 11 years it had been open. Because safety standards were ignored, the fire turned into the worst industrial accident in state history.

The poultry industry’s history is marked by tragic plant accidents like the ones in China and North Carolina for a number of reasons. In the poultry industry, low safety standards and dangerous worksites are the norm. In an industry that is often based on aging infrastructure, dangerous chemical problems, and the under reporting of safety violations and accidents all contribute to perilous worksites and environments for workers.

Poultry workers with a union on the job are empowered to report these kinds of violations to avoid serious accidents or injuries. That’s why it’s so important for workers to have a union voice. UFCW routinely trains poultry and meatpacking workers on how to spot these and other health and safety violations in their plants. Union members work together to address health and safety hazards to keep workers safe.

Poultry companies need to be held accountable for the conditions in their plants. What happened to poultry workers in China can happen in any poultry plant. Because of the poultry industry’s low safety standards, all poultry workers from the U.S. and across the globe are at risk. Safety standards in the poultry industry must change in order to avoid more deaths and headlines like the most recent ones from China.

While the EPA’s action is a step in the right direction, the comments pointed out that the settlement agreement failed to include the people who are closest to the problem – the workers who operate and maintain the refrigeration systems.

UFCW members work in almost 900 different facilities across the country that use anhydrous ammonia for refrigeration. Although these refrigeration systems are covered by very strict environmental and safety standards, many of them fail to comply with these standards. The UFCW Occupational Safety & Health Office has an educational program available for any interested Locals to help determine if plants are in compliance and to help develop an action plan to protect members.

The UFCW Occupational Safety and Health Office will continue to fight for workers and their representatives to be included in the process of improving and evaluating Tyson’s ammonia safety program.

Survivors of the Tazreen factory fire pointing out clothing at Walmart made by workers in Bangladesh

Many people would be surprised to know that garment making is quite possibly the most dangerous job “outside of war zones,” as Washington Post writer Harold Meyerson puts it in a recent article about the dangerous cycle that is the garment industry.

The death toll from last month’s building collapse in Rana Plaza, a garment factory in Bangladesh, has climbed to over 1100. Bangladesh comes second only to China in clothing and garment exports. The scale of this tragedy is immense, and heartbreaking, but it is by no means an isolated incident, or even the most recent event to have claimed the lives of workers in Bangladesh for that matter. Since the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory, which was structurally unsound, a fire that broke out in another facility last week, claiming eight lives. Another fire at Bangladesh’s Tazreen factory killed over 100 workers in late 2012. In most cases, workers cannot escape the fires due to a lack of fire doors and stairways, which are supposed to be in place.

Now, the major retailers that are supplied by Bangladesh garment factories are being forced to face the facts and take responsibility. Some companies have admitted to inadequate safety inspections, where inspectors made sure there were on-site fire extinguishers and things of that nature, but failed to ensure “the structural soundness” of the buildings.

Thanks to pressure by unions and activists around the world, a number of these mega-retailers have agreed to adhere to a plan to finally make working conditions for workers in garment factories safer. As per the plan, these companies have agreed to pay for renovations of these factories as well as “independent inspections” that will ensure the new safety measures are maintained.

Although H&M, the  biggest buyer in Bangladesh, as well as companies like British-owned Primark have agreed to the plan, only one American company has done so. PVH, which is the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and Izod, have taken this step towards responsible business, major American companies like Gap and Walmart have so far refused, and don’t show any signs of doing the right thing.

Why can’t the Walton family, with their $116 billion fortune, commit to these measures when others have readily done so? The value of human life is greater than cheap clothing, but that doesn’t seem to be the way these companies see it.

Meyerson notes that it is not Bangladesh that is the problem- the industry has faced many hurdles surrounding safety since its existence. But incidents like the triangle shirt-waist factory fire have taught us how to change for the better. But instead of taking these lessons about worker safety and using them to do good, companies like Walmart have taken the problem “to a new level.”  Meyerson continues:

“By depressing wages at its retail outlets and at every point along its supply chain, [Walmart] has helped create an underpaid buying public compelled to shop for discount clothing. Everyday low wages create a demand for everyday low prices — a downward spiral that hits bottom in the deathtraps of Bangladesh.”

This trend in the retail industry affects all Americans, but it hits very close to home for many UFCW members. In a statement issued about the pact to improve workplace safety in Bangladesh, UFCW President Joe Hansen stated:

“Thousands of UFCW members work in the retail industry, including at H&M, and the UFCW will continue to honor the workers who died or were injured in Bangladesh by supporting workers here and abroad who are struggling to protect their basic rights, and by calling on other retailers that have a strong presence in Bangladesh—such as Walmart—to do the right thing and sign this agreement.”

It’s time for these retailers to take action.

Washington, DC-

“Usually I work 36 hours a week but they cut hours…sometimes I even get only 26 hours and I am supposed to be fulltime,” said Chicago native and OUR Walmart member Rose Campbell, who is featured on the site.  “I’ve even had 19 hours.  I’ve got bills and none of that changes…you have to make do.”

ReallyWalmart.org includes testimony from Walmart employees, community activist and even Actor/Activist Danny Glover.  The site also includes footage from elected officials, including President Obama’s keynote address to the Unite Food and Commercial Workers Union in 2008.  Also featured is exclusive footage from labor activist and former Bangladesh garment worker Kalpona Aktar.

“We might not have millions of dollars to pay for TV ads, but we have the stories to share that Walmart doesn’t want the public to hear,” said OUR Walmart member Charlene Fletcher.  “The truth is that Walmart is a company that puts profits over people and employs tactics and strategies that keep employees like me in jobs that don’t let us provide for our families.  Even while Walmart’s profits are going up, my coworkers and I have to rely on food stamps just to cover groceries.”

Citing nearly $16 billion in annual profits and a CEO earning 1000 times the average employee, Walmart employees and communities across the globe are calling for a change of course at the company.  Making Change at Walmart is calling on the company to raise wages, an end to retaliation against employees who speak out as well as increased access to full time hours so that employees make a minimum of $25,000 per year.

Additionally, the group is also calling on Walmart sign a binding agreement on fire and building safety to help prevent tragedies like last month’s Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh which caused the death of more than 1,000 garment workers.

Over the course of the last year, Walmart has seen its reputation and business practices questioned amidst bribery allegations, tragedies in its supply chain and turmoil amongst its workforce including strikes launched last year for the first time in the company’s 51 year history.  Since 2011 Walmart has seen a decline in its reputational index rating, while its competitors have seen an increase during the same period and support for changing course at Walmart has been growing.  Last fall, more than 30,000 supporters joined striking workers on picket lines around Black Friday and since then a number of actions have taken place at Walmart stores across the country including last month when hundreds of OUR Walmart members and their supporters called on the company to correct scheduling problems within stores.

The new website highlights stories from various Walmart employees including those who have called on the company to change course and leadership.  Additionally, it features stories of Walmart employees who receive public assistance and those work along the supply chain.

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UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

Thousands of UFCW members work in the retail industry, including at H&M, and the UFCW will continue to honor the workers who died or were injured in Bangladesh by supporting workers here and abroad who are struggling to protect their basic rights, and by calling on other retailers that have a strong presence in Bangladesh—such as Walmart—to do the right thing and sign this agreement.

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.

• Can you take a moment to sign the petition asking Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju to Make garment factories in Bangladesh safe?

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

Workers at the Thomaston Wellness Connection medical marijuana dispensary (photo source: Andy O’Brien via The Daily Chronic)

Yesterday, history was made when a poll found that, for the first time ever, more than half of the US is in favor of legalizing marijuana.  The survey, done by Pew research center, found that 52% of Americans were for legalization, and 45% against, meaning support for legal pot has grown 11 percentage points in just three years.

Young Americans make up a majority of those who support legal marijuana. Most supporters believe that the costs of focusing law enforcement on marijuana outweigh its benefits, and may even be counterproductive.

In the wake of increasing public support and emerging state laws that allow medical cannabis dispensaries, the medical cannabis industry has grown drastically.  But as the industry grows and more workers are employed in medical cannabis facilities, workers realize that they need to stick together and address the concerns they face in the workplace.  That is why thousands of medical cannabis workers nationwide have decided to organize and join the UFCW. They work predominantly in dispensaries, coffee shops, bakeries, patient identification centers, hydroponics stores, and growing and training facilities.

The most recent workers to launch a unionization effort come from The Wellness Connection of Maine, which operates four dispensaries in the state. In addition to poor treatment by the dispensary operators, workers decided to form their union after several failed attempts to resolve issues surrounding the use of pesticides on the cannabis plants, a clear violation of state law  Despite an overwhelming majority of the workers having decided to join the UFCW, Wellness Connection of Maine has so far refused to honor their choice and recognize the workers’ union.

“We will continue to fight for our right to have our union so that we can help our employer work in accordance with state laws and provide the people we serve in the state of Maine with safe access to medical marijuana,” said worker Amanda Kaler.

UFCW members in the medical cannabis industry understand that in order to gain dignity and respect and ensure medical cannabis jobs are good jobs with benefits that can support a family, they must support each other and speak with one voice in the workplace. We are proud to be the union of medical marijuana workers, and together, we can achieve just that.

Walmart likes to claim that they are organic, sustainable, and all about healthy options. But in reality, Walmart is a driving force in the unhealthy lifestyles that have led to an “epidemic” of weight and diet-related health problems in our country.

Walmart’s share of the grocery market stands at an unprecedented and increasingly-growing 25%.  This means that Walmart has an alarming amount of control over what American eats.

According to an article from Truthout, Walmart has “recast its relentless expansion as a solution to ‘food deserts.’” However, when looking at the stats, it isn’t hard to see that this claim is more of a PR stunt:

“Although Walmart has made food deserts the vanguard of its PR strategy in urban areas, most of the stores the chain has built or proposed in cities like Chicago and Washington D.C. are in fact just blocks from established supermarkets, many unionized or locally owned.  As it pushes into cities, Walmart’s primary aim is not to fill gaps but to grab market share.”

Aside from Walmart’s bogus reasoning behind its rapid expansion, what is truly worrisome is this:

“Walmart’s takeover of our food system has been to intensify the rural and urban poverty that drives unhealthy food choices.  Poverty has a strong negative effect on diet, regardless of whether there is a grocery store in the neighborhood or not, a major 15-year study published in 2011 in the Archives of Internal Medicine found. Access to fresh food cannot change the bottom-line reality that cheap, calorie-dense processed foods and fast food are financially logical choices for far too many American households.  And their numbers are growing right alongside Walmart.  Like Midas in reverse, Walmart extracts wealth and pushes down incomes in every community it touches, from the rural areas that produce food for its shelves to the neighborhoods that host its stores.”

Farmers and food workers are now struggling more than ever to make a living now too, thanks to Walmart’s control of the industry.  In order to avoid being crushed by  the mega-corporation, food companies have been forced to merge and consolidate in hopes that they can supply for Walmart. The result is that 4 meatpacking companies slaughter more than three quarters of America’s beef, and a single dairy producer handles 40% of the country’s milk.  With monopolies like this, the ability for businesses to compete is all but zilch.

The effect of all of this? It comes down to less pay for farmers and food workers, a decrease in the value of the consumer dollar, and higher grocery prices overall.  But since Walmart’s prices are so low, many are forced to shop there, creating a vicious cycle: “As Walmart stores multiply, fewer families can afford to eat well.”

But let’s not forget the other huge reason Walmart is downright unhealthy: It doesn’t provide its hard-working associates with living wages, affordable healthcare, or oftentimes, even a safe working environment.  When the workers who make Walmart the success it is have to decide between food for their family or paying the electric bill, can’t go to the doctor because if they miss work they will be fired, or are afraid to speak out about issues in the workplace because of harassment and intimidation, healthy living becomes impossible–regardless of food choice.

Many IUF union workers are employed by Mondelez International, a leading chocolatier, biscuit and candy maker, and gum manufacturer. Their brands include Cadbury, Milka, Oreo, Nabisco, Tang, and Trident, just to name a few.  Despite being the world’s leading manufacturer for these products, Mondelez international has repeatedly shown that they do not care for the hard workers that make them successful.

Ahmad Abdulghani Awad Abdulghani, 26 years old, worked at Cadbury Egypt, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mondelez, from 2008 to December 2011. He never had a permanent job, but was part of the army of precarious workers making chewing gum at the Alexandria factory. He lost half his thumb while operating a machine which should normally be run by three persons. Then he lost his job.

This is the same factory management that sacked 5 union leaders in June 2012 following a spontaneous protest over the company’s refusal to pay a government-mandated private-sector pay rise.

This is the same company whose management in Tunisia has dismissed and suspended union leaders and denies responsibility for these abuses.
This is the company whose corporate management refuses to respond to communications to the IUF, the international union that represents these workers.

The IUF has therefore filed a formal complaint for violations of international human rights standards with the relevant US government agency – and has launched a GLOBAL CAMPAIGN in defense of its members at Mondelez in Egypt and Tunisia.

To learn about the campaign go to http://www.screamdelez.org – there you can learn more and download campaign materials for distribution to union members at Mondelez.

Click here to send a message to Mondelez – tell them to make time to rectify human rights abuses and to meet with the IUF NOW!

Also, please be sure to like the campaign facebook page.

UFCW Pilgrim’s Pride poultry workers visited Secrectary of Agricultre Tom Vilsack, OSHA, and members of Congress to lobby for better wages and worker safety in the poultry industry.

Last week, 12 Pilgrim’s Pride poultry workers from UFCW Locals 227, 455, 540, 1996, 2008, and RWDSU Mid-South Council traveled to Washington, D.C. to fight for changes in the poultry industry.

Despite the financial success experienced by many poultry companies, poultry workers continue to earn some of the lowest wages and face some of the most dangerous workplaces in the industry. Pilgrim’s Pride workers especially are suffering.

When Pilgrim’s Pride faced bankruptcy back in 2008, the company asked the workers to make concessions to keep their plants viable. Those workers with a union voice on the job were able to protect themselves from the most severe cuts, but had to sacrifice overtime pay and holidays to keep their jobs. The company is now posting record profits but the workers have not seen a raise in over two years, or had the overtime and holidays they gave up returned to them. And, Pilgrim’s Pride is holding workers up at the negotiating table and leaving contracts open.

“We work hard and work full-time and we just can’t make ends meet on these wages. My entire community is centered around the poultry plant. When workers aren’t making decent wages, the whole community suffers because people can’t afford to buy anything,” said Brian Rush, a Pilgrim’s Pride worker from the Batesville, Ark., plant and a member of UFCW Local 2008.

“On these wages, a lot of people can’t even afford to buy the product that they make. If a person makes $9 an hour and a box of chicken is around $60 – it all just doesn’t make sense,” said Carey Stanley, a Pilgrim’s Pride worker from the Live Oak, Fla., plant and a member of UFCW Local 1996.

Pilgrim’s Pride traveled to Washington, D.C. on a mission to tell their stories and educate lawmakers and policymakers about what it’s like to work in the poultry industry. They visited and spoke with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and his staff, ranking members of OSHA, as well as Senators Pryor, Kaine, Bennet, and Stabenow, and several members of the House of Representatives.
At the Department of Agriculture, members told Secretary Vilsack and key staff members about the struggles they face working full-time for a successful company that pays low wages. Workers also pointed out that Pilgrim’s Pride receives almost $75 million in government contracts, and is the second largest government poultry contract in the country. They argued that changes have to be made so that there is some balance and justice between company profits and worker wages.

“I brought my W-2 and my last paycheck to show them that I work 40-hour weeks and last year I made only $18,000. I work hard, my family makes sacrifices, and we are struggling so much,” said Idalid Guerrero, a Pilgrim’s Pride worker from the Lufkin, Texas, plant and a member of UFCW Local 540.

Workers then visited with Assistant Director of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels, Chief of Staff Debbie Berkowitz and additional staff of OSHA. In their meeting, workers discussed safety issues on the job, including dangerous ammonia leaks, the lack of decent medical care at the workplace, and the company not reporting injuries to avoid any lost-time reports.

The lobby day continued with workers visiting senators and representatives on Capitol Hill. There, workers educated members of Congress and their staff on the nature of the poultry industry, how workers are treated, and called for the necessary changes that the industry and union can make to turn poultry jobs into middle class, family supporting jobs. Workers also asked members of Congress to support a new federal study on the poultry industry in order to investigate further into worker wages and workplace conditions and bring the poultry industry issues to attention so that companies will begin to be held accountable and changes can be made.

Check out photos from the Lobby days on our Flckr! (Day 1 ,  Day 2)

The annual incidence of domestic violence has decreased by more than 53 percent since VAWA became law in 1994 and reporting by victims has also increased by 51 percent. This dramatic improvement helps explain why the VAWA has been reauthorized twice since 1994 without controversy.

The latest version of the bill, which has bipartisan support in the Senate from Democrats and Republicans, broadens the law by expanding its provisions to cover Native Americans, gays, and lesbians. The bill would also give more emphasis to sexual assault prevention and take steps to reduce the rape kit backlog.

While the bill is expected to pass in the Senate with bipartisan support, House Republicans are balking at the prospect of allowing tribal courts to prosecute non-Native Americans who commit domestic and sexual violence on reservations. Perhaps they should look at the statistics.

Compared with other groups, Native American women are more likely to be raped and abused. The National Congress of American Indians released findings that showed 39 percent of American Indian and Alaska native women will experience violence by a partner in their lifetimes.

Currently, non-Native Americans who abuse their spouses often go unpunished because federal authorities don’t have the resources to pursue misdemeanors committed on reservations.

At UFCW, we have a long, proud history of standing up for fair and equal treatment of all workers both inside and outside of the workplace. Expanding the VAWA to Native Americans, gays, and lesbians isn’t just an essential step towards ensuring the domestic abuse crisis in this country is met, it’s also the right and fair thing to do.

Moderate House Republicans should call on their leadership to pass the bipartisan Senate bill as soon as they are able. Lives are depending upon this bill getting off the back burner and passing. The battered and abused don’t have time for these political games.

The UFCW represents thousands of Macy’s workers throughout the country who have a voice in their scheduling and earn premium pay on holidays thanks to a union contract that they negotiated with their employers. That contract is the difference between a Macy’s worker with no union representation being forced to work undesirable hours on a holiday and a union Macy’s worker who wants to pick up an additional shift.

The retail sector is the largest employment industry in the United States, and retail jobs are increasingly setting the working and living standards for American workers.  That’s why it’s critically important that all employers in this industry compensate workers with the kind of pay and benefits that allow them to live in the middle class.

Academic studies, including a recent report by Demos, provide quantitative evidence that retailers, workers, and the U.S. economy stands to benefit greatly if retail companies invest in their workforce.  According to the Demos report, raising wages for full-time retail workers at the nation’s largest retail companies (those employing at least 1,000 workers) would result in improving the lives of more than 1.5 million retail workers and their families who are currently living in poverty or hovering just above the poverty line.

The entire UFCW family is proud of the courage that Macy’s workers show every day — in the face of retaliation from management and in some instances, heroic actions in the face of violence, as was the case of the Macy’s worker who selflessly looked after others when a gunman opened fire at a mall in Oregon.  We wish our members and all Macy’s workers around the country a safe and peaceful holiday season.

The report includes a chart that shows the amount of Latino worker fatalities each year since 1997, and in 2011, there were a total of 729, the highest since 2009.  Although the higher number of fatalities may have to do with a greater amount of Latinos in the workplace, it is no excuse for the lack of worker protection programs employed by corporations.

The figures from 2011 should prompt policymakers and authority figures to amp up laws and regulations that protect workers on the job. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is sorely in need of more funding and needs to update its policies so that it can keep up with this fast paced economy.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency responsible for enforcing and strengthening workplace safety standards, is in dire need of funding and reform to enable it to be more nimble and effective in the twenty-first century economy. With a meager $500 million budget, OSHA under the Obama administration has succeeded in hiring hundreds of additional workplace inspectors, targeting enforcement to high-violation industries, and improving prevention outreach to workers around common hazards like heat illness and falls in construction. However, OSHA’s reach remains limited; in 2010, there were only 7.3 OSHA inspectors for every million workers. Vulnerable workers are further threatened by the end-of-year

Lawmakers must also act to strengthen OSHA’s authority to regulate rapidly evolving industries, such as poultry processing, and strengthen the agency’s ability to crack down on repeat bad actors, who currently consider the agency’s weak fines and legal recourse a cost of business rather than a deterrent from breaking the law. Protecting workers from deadly injuries at work requires serious consideration of these and other important legal and regulatory reforms.fiscal debate, in which cuts to OSHA’s budget could total $46 million if sequestration proceeds.

No amount of cut costs is as valuable as a human life.  It’s time for more worker protection programs in the workplace, no matter what occupation or race the employees may be. Click here to read the full NCLR report. 

Warehouse workers have raised serious concerns about broken equipment and high injury rates in the warehouses they work in, moving Walmart merchandise. But when they have asked for working equipment, they have been retaliated against.

Walmart spokesperson Dan Fogelman said “workers’ claims were ‘either unfounded, or if they are legitimate, have been addressed.’” (Los Angeles Times, Sep. 17)

But a management document from inside the warehouse tells a different story. A worker found a company checklist with Walmart’s logo on it that shows a lot of equipment is broken and even dangerous. The document is dated Aug. 8, but workers report that problems noted in the document still have not been fixed. (You can view the document here.)

Send an email to Walmart and NFI, the warehouse operator, and tell them they have been caught red handed.

This document proves Walmart and NFI know what the problems are, yet none of these serious hazards have been addressed.

Last week, warehouse workers  delivered more than 120,000 signatures  to Walmart in five cities. The next day, warehouse worker Javier Rodriguez cornered Walmart executive Rajan Kamalanathan, who heads the company’s ethical outsourcing initiative, at a private event in Washington, D.C. In Illinois, workers at a Walmart distribution center joined warehouse workers on strike to end retaliation.

Walmart is feeling the heat and it knows there are problems. Help warehouse workers by sending Walmart and its contractor, NFI, an email today. 

At the rally, warehouse workers, exhausted from the journey and the 103-degree heat, took the opportunity to express to the crowd that, although the pilgrimage was tiring and hard to endure, it was nothing compared to the conditions they are forced to work in at the Inland Empire warehouse, a subcontractor of Walmart.

These warehouse workers are not protected by a union, and, by taking a stand to highlight the abuses they have endured, they have risked everything.  But the risks are worth it to these workers, who work in 120-degree warehouses with no fans, which often results in vomiting and nosebleeds. Not only is the heat unbearable, but they are no given clean water or regular breaks, and the equipment they use is unsafe. Does Walmart, who controls the working conditions of the sub-contracters, think that putting workers in terribly unsafe environments and then not paying them enough to make a decent living, is okay?

It simply isn’t.  

The strike has brought well-deserved attention to the unacceptable conditions at Walmart warehouses, and drawn many supporters to the workers’ cause.  Warehouse Workers United, health professional volunteers, and countless supporters have helped in the effort, and speakers at the rally on Tuesday included Rep. Judy Chu, California Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, City Councilman Ed Reyes, National Farmworkers Association co-founder Dolores Huerta, California Secretary of Labor Marty Morgenstern, and LA County Federation of Labor secretary-treasurer Elena Durazo.

Despite widespread community support for workers, Walmart and its sub-contractors haven’t offered to meet about improving the situation at all.  In fact, a Walmart spokesman has claimed that Walmart officials regularly tour the locations of their subcontractors, and the conditions are “ambient.”

Despite the lies and blatant denial of those responsible, workers have taken a stand and a national spotlight is shining on the unjust treatment they receive.  Once they return home, the warehouse workers plan to continue to picket outside the facility in Mira Loma where they work, in the hopes that even more workers will take a stand to decrease the amount of worker injuries due to unsafe working conditions, to fight for respect, and to force corporations like Walmart to be responsible.

For more information on the warehouse workers’ pilgrimage, and to see great photos from their journey and the rally, click here.

Dear Friends, 

After five years lifting heavy boxes every day in the warehouse my body aches. I am 31. Walking is difficult, lifting my son is nearly impossible, and I frequently have very painful back spasms. I finally left my job at the warehouse after I seriously hurt my back.

But I had to fight for medical attention. The managers of the warehouse didn’t care about my health or safety. They tried to prevent me from seeing a doctor. I fought and I won medical care, but I have seen a lot of my coworkers fired for similar injuries. They leave the warehouse hurt, with no job and no healthcare.

We move goods for Walmart, but we are treated like we are disposable. To this day it makes me angry, that’s why I am joining with other workers and people who support us to end these inhumane working conditions.

Watch our video and then join with us to help make our jobs better:

Will you stand with us and tell Walmart to take responsibility for its warehouses? 

Together, we can improve the lives of the thousands of people who live with these conditions on a daily basis. Support warehouse workers and sign our letter to Walmart. We will deliver it to Walmart executives when we arrive in Los Angeles at the end of our march.

Thank you for your support,

Marta Medina
Warehouse Worker
San Bernardino, California

OSHA’s PSM Standard applies to most meat packing, poultry, and food processing plants. One PSM requirement is that the company must conduct an audit of their compliance every three years. Stewards can request to see the recommendations from the past two audits and find out what actions have been taken. By looking at the audit results and the follow-up stewards can see if the company is taking their PSM seriously.

“When I was sent out for training, I received a lot of information about PSM that I realized could be helpful to not only me, but also my co-workers at the plant,” said Jim Oldenburg, a steward at JBS and a member of UFCW Local 1473 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Even though every worker at the plant cannot receive specialized PSM training, workers do have the right to stay informed about their plant’s PSM program and come to their stewards with questions or concerns. To help his co-workers at the plant, Oldenburg submitted a list of PSM questions and responses to the company. These questions were developed by the Industrial Refrigeration Consortium at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

“People look to me to help them and I’m doing everything that I can for them every day. Having this information available is just one of them,” said Oldenburg.

Here are the ten questions Jim submitted to management. According to the PSM standard your company must respond adequately to your concerns. Their responses to these questions can give you a sense of the condition of your plant’s ammonia safety program. If you need help evaluating the company’s response you can email the UFCW Health and Safety Representative for Process Safety Management at bthielen@ufcw.org.

1. When was our last compliance audit?

2. Can you show me the closeout of recommendations from the last compliance audit?

3.  Can you provide me a copy of the most recent incident report and documentation that shows how we closed out recommendations/from the incident report?

4.  When was our last Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) conducted and can you show me documentation that closes out the recommendations from the last PHA?

5. How often do we certify our plant’s written operating procedures for the covered process?

6.   What training program do we have for our operators and what are the means used to verify they have understood the training?

7.   How often do we do refresher training?

8.       Based on our plant’s mechanical integrity program, what is the next piece of equipment scheduled for retirement and when is it scheduled to come out of service?

9.  What criteria do we use to evaluate contractors that work on our covered process?

10.  What was the last change made to our system and can you show me the documentation for that change?

“It’s critical that OSHA continues to take company-wide actions like these to protect workers,” said Jackie Nowell, Director of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Occupational Safety and Health Office. “Rather than addressing problems with employers like Market Basket piecemeal and leaving workers at risk – OSHA can make real changes to systematic problems that occur across an entire company.”

The enforcement action came after repeat safety violations by the company – including two serious injuries to Market Basket workers in almost-identical falls from unguarded storage areas in two different stores. Workers at Market Basket don’t have a union at their work, making it harder to stand up for safer stores.

“This new enforcement program clearly shows that when OSHA finally gets tough with bad-actor employers, workers get better protection – far faster than waiting on empty promises by corporate executives to comply with our basic safety laws,” said Nowell. “We hope the Obama Administration will continue using these new tools to give all workers – especially the many retail workers who don’t yet have a union – a safe place to work.”

“The UFCW applauds Secretary Tom Vilsack’s decision to extend the comment period on USDA’s proposed poultry inspection rule in order to further study its impact on worker safety. We have said all along that this rule should be halted until it is proven that increased line speeds are safe for workers. The UFCW will use this 30-day extension to work directly with USDA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Obama Administration to determine a course of action to study the probable effects of increased line speeds on worker health and safety. Today is a victory for all poultry workers who can rest assured that their safety on the job is being taken seriously.”

“”This NLRB rule is a modest but important first step toward ensuring a level playing field for workers in the union election process. Preventing unnecessary delays and frivolous litigation means less time for employers to intimidate, harass, and in some cases fire pro-union employees. Every worker has the right to decide whether he or she wants a union, free of interference.

“Now it is time for the Senate to confirm President Obama’s nominees to the NLRB. Leaving the Board short of a quorum in 2012 is unacceptable.”

“Increased line speeds means increased bottom lines for Big Poultry,” said Mark Laurtisen, UFCW International Vice President and Director of the Food Processing, Packing and Manufacturing Division. “For workers, it means more danger on the job.”

By increasing line speed so dramatically, workers will be at heightened risk of repetitive motion related injuries. In fact, a recent study by Wake Forest University showed that 59 percent of poultry workers had definite or possible carpal tunnel syndrome at current line speeds. Despite these alarming statistics, no comprehensive effort has been made to determine the impact this proposed system will have on the health and safety of workers.

“Quite frankly, it is no surprise that Big Poultry wants to rush this new system into operation,” Lauritsen said. “That’s why USDA—as the responsible regulator—must slow this process down until it can guarantee that workers are protected.”

The UFCW is calling on USDA to halt this rule until the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducts comprehensive studies on the impact it would have on the health and safety of workers in poultry plants. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) must then use that information to develop a standard that would adequately protect workers.

Many UFCW members have already submitted their opposition to USDA in advance of the April 26 comment deadline. The UFCW will continue its push for worker safety into the summer and beyond.

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.

The good news is, according to new reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), workplace safety in the meatpacking industry is steadily improving, with injury and illness rates for full-time workers on the decline.

The bad news is, in comparison to other industrial and manufacturing sectors, meatpacking and poultry processing are still among the most dangerous. Food manufacturing workers are twice as likely to experience injuries and illnesses than industrial and manufacturing workers as a whole. The meatpacking industry also ranks high for severe injury and illness cases – meaning those that cause workers to miss days at work or those that necessitate restricted work activities or even job transfers. Nationally, the poultry industry has the fifth-highest rate of worker illness across all industries.

Though progress has been made on worker safety in the meatpacking and poultry industries, we must understand what the numbers really mean, and make sure we are addressing issues that really make a difference in improving safety and health in these industries.

Some in the meat industry, like the trade association (read: lobbying outfit) American Meat Institute, are quick to highlight improvement using data that does not reflect the most dangerous jobs in the industry. That’s a slippery slope – and one that risks obscuring the truth on safety for the sake of profit-margin. The truth is, there is some doubt about the accuracy of the BLS numbers themselves. Studies conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conclude that both BLS and OSHA miss from 20 percent to as much as 50 percent of the nation’s workplace injuries. A number of factors can cause this kind of under-reporting: workers sometimes don’t report injuries because of fears surrounding their immigration status and retaliation by their employers; employers are motivated to under-count injuries in order to win safety awards, and managers are incentivized by low-injury bonuses; and finally, some employers have instituted programs requiring workers who report injuries or accidents to undergo drug testing – adding additional risk to reporting.

For all these reasons, we must not let a modest increase in overall workplace safety lull us into a false sense of security when it comes to the meatpacking and poultry processing industries. We must continue to strive for better and safer workplaces for all meatpacking and poultry processing workers – and for collective bargaining agreements as well as stronger regulations that make it safe for all workers to report hazards and injuries.

One hundred years ago, on March 25, 1911, a fire spread through the cramped floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City.  When the workers—mostly young female immigrants—tried to escape, they encountered locked doors and broken fire escapes.  Rather than be burned alive, the workers began jumping out of windows and fell to their deaths on the street below as bystanders watched in horror.  That terrible tragedy, which took the lives of 146 workers, served as a catalyst for major labor reforms and changed the way we work and live.

A century later, the fight to protect workers continues amid anti-union legislation that is sweeping though the country.  Just three years ago, managers at the Imperial Sugar Company in Port Wentworth, Georgia—one of the few non-union plants in the industry—tolerated dirty and dangerous worksite conditions, and 15 workers without a collective voice died in a massive fire and explosion.  Twenty years ago, 25 poultry workers at the Imperial Foods plant in Hamlet, North Carolina, were locked inside by their bosses and died in a horrible fire.  Like the Triangle workers, they had no other voice to demand safety.  Indeed, we just saw the worst mining disaster in 40 years, as the executives at the Massey coal mine in Montcoal, West Virginia, told their subordinates to put production first before any other job duties. Surviving workers testified to the rampant fear that effectively suppressed complaints in a company that had viciously opposed unions for decades.

The right to a safe workplace was won after decades of struggle by workers and their unions. On Workers’ Memorial Day, we honor and pay tribute to the men and women who died at Imperial Sugar, Imperial Foods, Massey Energy and all the other dangerous workplaces.  In their memory, we renew our commitment to preventing such tragedies by supporting workers who are struggling to protect their basic rights–including safe jobs, workplace fairness, collective bargaining, freedom from discrimination and favoritism.

Event also streaming live at 9:00am EDT, viewable at http://s.dol.gov/DP or http://whitehouse.gov/live.

WHEN: Approximately 10:30 EDT, Monday, March 28, 2011

WASHINGTON – Monday morning at 9:00am EDT, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the White House and Department of Labor are hosting a Women’s History Month forum with women workers and organizers, discussing their courageous roles in organizing their workplaces.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Valerie B. Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls will be joined by women who are currently working to organize their workplaces, including Ernestine Bassett, a Walmart Associate from Laurel, Maryland.  A significant majority of Walmart’s hourly Associates are women.

“”As a retired CWA member, I understand there is strength in numbers. I know first hand the pride that comes with being part of a union. That’s why I am committed, despite significant intimidation from my employer, to winning that same respect for my fellow associates at this county’s largest private employer, Walmart,”" said Bassett.

On March 25, 1911, one hundred years ago, 146 garment workers – most of them young women and girls – died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City.  A seminal event in the United States labor movement, public pressure after the fire spurred critical and long overdue workplace safety reforms. This compelling history highlights the critical need to ensure worker safety and labor standards for all workers. It is also a story of women who were seeking to improve their workplaces and lives by organizing– the same action many women are taking up today in the workplace.

The White House event is not open to the press, but Ernestine Bassett will be available for interviews after the discussion.

Jennifer Stapleton, Assistant Director of the United Food and Commercial Worker’s Making Change at Walmart campaign said, “”Ernestine Bassett is a profile in courage – working to organize her store despite intimidation by her employer, Walmart.  The role of our campaign, Making Change at Walmart, is to stand with workers like Ernestine, who are organizing for respect in the workplace.  We’re looking forward to her participation and the discussion.”

Contact:
Casie Yoder – (202) 223-3111 x1451 / cyoder@ufcw.org

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Valerie B. Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, were joined by women who are currently working to organize their workplaces, including Ernestine Bassett, a Walmart Associate from Laurel, Maryland.

“We are still fighting to provide adequate working conditions for all women and men on the job, ensure that no person within our borders is exploited for their labor, and uphold collective bargaining as a means to give workers a seat at the tables of power,” said President Obama in a proclamation released at the event.

“At today’s event, the Administration made it very clear that it values the role unions play in building the middle class in this country,” said Joe Hansen, UFCW International President. “We thank them for standing with courageous women who are currently trying to improve their lives by organizing their workplaces.”

“Walmart is the largest private employer in this country,” said Patrick O’Neill, UFCW Director of Organizing. “Their practices set the standard for the retail industry. We are pleased that the White House and Department of Labor gave a Walmart associate the chance to testify about the intimidation she and her coworkers face when trying to exercise their legal rights to organize for respect on the job.”

“I am committed, despite significant intimidation from my employer, to winning respect for my fellow associates at Walmart,” said Ernestine Bassett. “We are organizing to ensure safety and a better life for all Walmart associates.”

To watch the event online, visit:

“The legislation introduced today by Senators Menendez and Leahy is an important step toward real, meaningful comprehensive immigration reform.

“As we have said, for too long, our nation’s badly broken immigration system has allowed unscrupulous employers to drive down wages and working conditions in industries across the nation, while creating an underground economy where labor laws are shredded and workers are afraid to report safety violations.

“The legislation announced today would chart a new course for our country: A course that protects workers, respects families and reflects our nation’s rich immigrant tradition.

“We applaud these Senators for offering real leadership and sensible solutions to our nation’s challenges, and we stand ready to work with them to ensure that pragmatic immigration reform becomes a reality. The labor movement has already released historic joint principles on immigration. The House has introduced a CIR bill, and now Senate Democrats have acted. It is time to roll up our sleeves and make this happen.

”It is unfortunate that Republicans across the country continue to use the issue of immigration as a tool to divide and to scapegoat. The American people want and deserve more. So rather than fabricating stories about beheadings in Arizona, let’s use this opportunity, and this legislation, to begin a level-headed debate about revamping our immigration system and revitalizing our economy.”

At a near universal level of agreement, voters strongly believe our economy needs to be defined by jobs with benefits and wages that can support a family. It is exactly this message that families from across the country are coming to Washington on Oct. 2^nd to deliver to Congress.

“American voters want our nation’s lawmakers to focus on creating economic policies that support and sustain good, quality jobs,” said Joe Hansen, UFCW International President. “They want politicians who will stand up to the fringe elements of our society and to stand for pragmatic solutions to our economic challenges.”

“One Nation is about turning our attention to the needs of people,” said Ben Jealous, President of the NAACP. “A strong economy is only strong if it provides good jobs that support families and bring opportunity. We need to get our country moving; we need to get on common ground, we are coming together this Saturday to start this process; we are going to turn out in force this election cycle, and elect leaders who put people first.”

“The UFCW poll shows that a huge majority of Americans agree we must improve job quality, even as we focus on creating new jobs,” said Janet Murguia, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). “That’s just one of the reasons why on October 2 we’ll be joining thousands of our friends on the National Mall calling for jobs, justice, and, yes, comprehensive immigration reform.”

Over the last 30 years, workers’ wages have remained essentially stagnant, while worker productivity skyrocketed by 75 percent. For three decades, American workers have been producing more, but taking home paychecks that don’t reflect their hard work. Consequently, we see the biggest pay gap in nearly a century.

“The only way to achieve lasting economic recovery and to ensure future prosperity is to address the wage inequity crises that is plaguing our nation’s workers,” added Hansen. “If our elected officials fail to address this issue, our nation can never fully regain its financial footing.”

With so much of the cable television debate focused on the noisy fringes of our society, it seems that the aspirations and needs of the vast majority of hard-working Americans are getting drowned out by the noise and the nonsense of the extreme elements of the political debate.

The reality, as this poll shows, is that the American people want pragmatic government solutions and sensible legislative actions that address job creation and that ensure a foundation for secure and stable communities.

Voters have a clear vision of what kind of economy they want, and while they understand the current economic situation is difficult, they still believe that all jobs should pay a living wage, come with affordable, quality health care, and offer real retirement security.

The poll, taken among 700 randomly selected registered voters nationwide, shows: 

1. Concern about the economy goes beyond the present; voters are deeply questioning the types of jobs America will have in the future. Eighty-seven percent of voters are very or somewhat concerned that America’s future jobs will be low-wage and low-benefit – including 65 percent who are very concerned.
2. Eighty-nine percent of voters agree that economic development should result in jobs with good wages and benefits that can support a family.
3. Eighty-four percent of voters agree that economic recovery means creating jobs with good benefits so people can afford to take care of their families, not low- wage jobs with no benefits.
4. Eighty-four percent of voters favor requiring that government contracts go to companies that provide good paying jobs and benefits so that their employees don’t end up on welfare programs like Medicaid and food stamps.

According to the Lake poll, a majority of voters believe job growth must be good job growth. In a number of polls, Lake Research has found that a key economic frame for Americans is to have good-paying jobs—no matter what the sector.

To make that happen our elected officials must actively engage in the policy decisions that guide economic growth and job creation, and they must correct the current wage gap so that as worker productivity increases, paychecks also increase.

In addition to pushing for economic policies that address income inequality and quality job growth, the UFCW, NCLR and other civil rights organizations will be using the One Nation Working Together rally to push for comprehensive immigration reform as a key component of economic recovery and prosperity.

Study after study has shown that meaningful, comprehensive immigration reform would help bolster the economy and ensure that there is fairness and justice in America’s workplaces.

“Failure to enact immigration reform impedes our economic recovery efforts because under the current system, unscrupulous employers exploit undocumented immigrants to lower wages and working conditions for all workers,” added Murguia. “Reform that requires undocumented immigrants to come forward, pay taxes, and learn English to obtain legal status would strengthen labor standards for all, by eliminating the ability of bottom-feeding employers to rip off workers.”

The UFCW will continue working with leaders like NCLR and NAACP, as well as other labor organizations, to organize and mobilize our members and their families around key issues facing our communities—from job creation to labor law reform to immigration reform.

A year ago today – June 9, 2009 – it was a warm afternoon in Garner, North Carolina when a powerful explosion leveled the ConAgra Foods plant. A tragic error in judgment while installing a new water heater led an outside contractor to repeatedly release natural gas from a pipe into an enclosed room near the center of the building and an unknown spark set it ablaze.

The resulting explosion and toxic ammonia release killed four people and injured 70 others. It was a preventable tragedy that destroyed lives, livelihoods and a community of friends and neighbors. The United Food and Commercial Workers represented the more than 300 ConAgra workers affected by the blast and saw first-hand the devastation caused by this explosion.

Conflagrations like this one killed and injured workers from Missouri to Michigan, and yet no regulations existed to prevent contractors from purging gas lines into closed spaces. Working with authorities and experts from across the country we set about to change this. Our fight became marked by even greater urgency after five workers were killed in yet another gas purging explosion in Connecticut that February.

Along with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, who investigated this explosion, we urged the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) – who provides safety codes for building contractors across the country – to adopt regulations that would prevent contractors from purging explosive gasses into enclosed spaces. But after heavy lobbying from the natural gas and propane industries, the NFPA wilted like old lettuce and failed to stand for the safety of America’s workers.

So here we are, one year later. The plant in Garner rather is scheduled to close, bringing a second round of devastation to the community. We know we can’t bring back these workers, these friends, these family members back to their community and their loved ones. The broken system at the NFPA has failed to learn from these tragedies and has bowed to industry pressure to let these deadly indoor gas purges continue unregulated.

This is frankly unacceptable. As Debra Petteway, a Food and Commercial Workers member who worked in the ConAgra plant and lost her son to the explosion said, “Louis Watson was my son, he was my only son, and now he’s gone. They didn’t have to die, and if someone doesn’t fix this, it’s going to happen again.”

Ms. Petteway is right. The NFPA, who is supposed to protect workers like her son, has shirked their duty.

So one year later, the “experts” charged with protecting America’s workers have failed to learn from this tragedy or from the legions before or after. How much longer will we wait with no regulatory or legislative action for the safety of American workers? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and our legislators must not wait for these quasi-governmental regulatory bodies to demonstrate their craven kowtowing to industry demands any longer. We need comprehensive legislative or OSHA regulation so that the lessons of those who gave their lives in these explosions are not forgotten and all those that come later are protected from a similar fate.

In mid-March, a Kroger employee working in the back room of a store in Franklin, Ind. was crushed by falling pallets of water. Five days after the accident, the employee died. The Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated the accident and fined Kroger $17,000 for unsafe working conditions. This tragic incident and others like it are preventable – especially if UFCW members and locals take action for safety today.

When you are at work or a worksite, here are some things to look for:

• Don’t transport double stacked pallets beyond the distance necessary to remove them from a truck. Double-stacked pallets are inherently unstable, and when they have liquids (like bottled water) as cargo, they often exceed the safe weight limits for forklifts.
• Avoid double stacking pallets when storing them.
• Carefully monitor the stability of pallets at all times.
• Don’t attempt to straighten pallets that have begun to shift. Unload the pallet instead.
• Maintain a clear safety area around pallets when they are being moved.
• All forklift operators or other powered-equipment operators must be trained and certified. This is an OSHA requirement – check for proper recordkeeping.

Palletized bottled water is especially dangerous because of the high volume moved, the heavy weight involved, and increasingly thin plastic causing cases to be unstable. In addition, the limited amount of floor space in the back of grocery stores often leads to water or other heavy unstable products, being stacked higher than safety permits.

Kroger and UFCW Indiana locals have learned from the tragic accident in Franklin and are actively working to prevent future injuries or deaths. We urge you to do the same before something similar happens in your stores.

“For too long, our nation’s immigration system has fueled exploitation, discrimination and abuse. It has allowed unscrupulous employers to drive down wages and working conditions in industries across the nation, while creating an underground economy where labor laws are shredded and workers are forced to toil in fear.

“This legislation charts a new course for our country. A course that protects workers, respects families and reflects our nation’s interests and our better instincts. It upholds our values as a nation of immigrants and embraces the vitality and diversity that are the fabric of a vibrant and strong society.

“The UFCW applauds Congressman Gutierrez and his colleagues for offering real solutions to address this important issue, and we look forward to working with him to make comprehensive immigration reform a reality.”

Michaels was nominated by President Obama earlier this year. He is an epidemiologist and professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. He has conducted many studies on the occupational exposure to toxic chemicals, and has served as assistant secretary of energy for Environment, Safety and Health.

This is the first time, since the previous administrator’s resignation in 2008 that OSHA once again has a permanent administrator.

The ground-breaking program initiated by Tyson Fresh Meats, formerly known as IBP, and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, has involved workplace improvements that have helped reduce worker injuries and illnesses, such as strains and sprains.

Ergonomics, which is the science of designing the workplace to fit the worker, had not been extensively used in the meat industry until the company and union reached an agreement after an historic OSHA citation and settlement in late November 1988 followed up with the joint Tyson-UFCW program to develop a comprehensive ergonomics research program.

The program got underway in early 1989, with the company’s Dakota City, Nebraska, beef complex serving as the pilot plant, and production workers represented by UFCW Local 222, were actively involved.  Due to the success of the pilot, the program was quickly expanded to all of the company’s beef and pork plants.

Some of the key elements of the program include ongoing ergonomics training for production workers; the involvement of hourly workers as ‘ergonomic monitors;’worksite analysis and the redesign of work stations and equipment; and a medical management program focused on early detection and treatment of workplace injuries and illnesses.

Tyson and UFCW leaders believe the program has made a difference.  For example, the OSHA recordable injury and illness rate at the Dakota City plant is currently running 67 percent below the rate recorded in 1991.  Meanwhile, the current rate of injuries and illnesses at Dakota City requiring the involvement of a physician is 73 percent below 1991 levels.

“Over the past 20 years, our company has devoted millions of dollars in ergonomically designed equipment and process improvements, as well as training, which we believe have helped prevent workplace injuries and illnesses,” said Jim Lochner, chief operating officer of Tyson Foods.  “However, the real key to the success of this program has been the workers who serve as safety and ergonomics monitors.  The input we’ve received from hourly production workers and the participation of our plant and corporate management teams, have been invaluable.”

“What this program shows is that when workers have input on working conditions, when they are part of the decision-making process, you come up with a better, safer environment—and that’s good for everybody,” said UFCW Food Processing, Packing and Manufacturing Division Director Mark Lauritsen.  “It works because everyone is involved from Tyson management to UFCW leaders, ergo monitors and production workers.”

“The union and Tyson have worked together to make this ergonomics program what it is today (and) I think we’re way ahead of the industry with our program,” said Marvin Harrington, President of UFCW Local 222, which represents workers at the Dakota City plant.  “We’re proud the program is part of our UFCW contract with Tyson.  We train UFCW members on how to identify hazards and recommend fixes.  Having both Tyson management and UFCW members engaged on detecting hazards makes for an efficient process.”

Tyson has been involved in numerous engineering projects designed to modify work stations and equipment in order to reduce physical stressors on the job.  Examples include redesigned knife handles, height-adjustable work stations, use of lighter-weight saws/power tools, hydraulic/mechanical assists to lift or separate product, lower overhead chains and conveyors to eliminate reaching over shoulder height, product diverters on conveyor lines to bring product closer to workers, comfortable/level floor surfaces, improved illumination and job rotation.   The company has also worked to reduce the vibration generated by certain tools and modified personal protective equipment to make it fit better and be more comfortable.

“We’ve implemented some major mechanical and process changes in our beef and pork plants over the years,” said Tom DeRoos, Corporate Ergonomics Program Manager for Tyson.  “This includes equipment designed to replace some of what had previously been done manually by production workers.  For example, many of our pork plants have automatic loin trimmers to remove fat from surface of the pork loins.”

Ergonomics were part of the design of Tyson’s new, multi-million dollar beef processing floor at Dakota City.  The new addition, which became operational in early 2006, includes adjustable work stations as well as a production flow designed with worker safety and health in mind.

But not all of the ergonomic improvements have involved major changes.  “Many of them have been what we call ‘quick fixes,’ which are projects that can be done in a matter of a few days,” said Dennis Golden, Training Manager/Ergonomics Liaison at Tyson’s Dakota City plant, who has been involved in the ergonomics program since its inception.  “For example, since late 1988, we’ve implemented more than 3,600 quick fixes at our Dakota City plant, making minor adjustments such as moving a gear box or relocating a knife sanitizer to make the work station more comfortable for team members.”

“I’ve been involved with the ergo program from the start as a UFCW member serving on a monitoring committee and as a union representative,” said Carmen Hacht, Local 222 Recorder.   “The key to making it work is monitors making the rounds, surveying workers, documenting the kinds of strain people are feeling, then following up and making sure that the fixes make a positive difference.”

Effective medical management is also essential to the ergonomics program. Its focus is early reporting and treatment of any workplace injuries or illnesses. “We require our team members to report all work-related injuries or illnesses, no matter how minor they believe them to be,” said DeRoos.  “By immediately assessing and treating such injuries or illnesses, we’re often able to help reduce the severity and duration.”

Tyson Fresh Meats currently operates eight beef plant and six pork plants in the United States.  In addition to Dakota City, this includes beef plants in Amarillo, Texas; Denison, Iowa; Joslin, Illinois; Emporia, Kansas; Finney County, Kansas; Lexington, Nebraska; and Pasco, Washington.  The company’s pork plants are in Logansport, Indiana; Louisa County, Iowa; Storm Lake, Iowa; Perry, Iowa; Waterloo, Iowa; and Madison, Nebraska.   The UFCW represents workers at Tyson plants in Dakota City, Joslin, Perry, Logansport and Waterloo.

About Tyson Foods, Inc.

Tyson Foods, Inc., founded in 1935 with headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, is the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork, the second-largest food production company in the Fortune 500 and a member of the S&P 500. The company produces a wide variety of protein-based and prepared food products and is the recognized market leader in the retail and foodservice markets it serves.  Tyson provides products and service to customers throughout the United States and more than 90 countries.  The company has approximately 117,000 Team Members employed at more than 300 facilities and offices in the United States and around the world.  Through its Core Values, Code of Conduct and Team Member Bill of Rights, Tyson strives to operate with integrity and trust and is committed to creating value for its shareholders, customers and Team Members. The company also strives to be faith-friendly, provide a safe work environment and serve as stewards of the animals, land and environment entrusted to it.

About the UFCW

The UFCW represents 1.3 million workers, 250,000 in the meatpacking and poultry industries, including 22,000 who work at Tyson plants.  UFCW members also work in the health care, garment, chemical, distillery and retail industries. The UFCW and its predecessor unions have represented workers in the packing and processing industries for more than 100 years. Union contracts in the industry ensured equal pay for equal work for African Americans and women decades before equal pay became a larger societal goal. The UFCW has also been a leading national voice on workplace safety and health, helping spearhead protective federal legislation and OSHA regulations on waste containment, ergonomics, diacetyl, and combustible dust, among other initiatives.

“The report also revealed a convoluted and ineffective system of injury reporting that allows companies to pressure workers, supervisors and medical professionals to underreport workplace injuries. Corporations cannot be allowed to continue practices that promote the illusion of safety by blaming workers instead of unsafe working conditions.

“Thousands of workers in America deal with workplace injuries everyday. This epidemic of suffering is damaging to the workers, their colleagues, their workplaces, and their families and the communities in which they live. American companies, especially those in the food processing industries, must stop contributing to this problem by pressuring and intimidating workers to keep silent about these problems.

“We must stop this epidemic – and it can’t be done without clear and accurate reporting of the injuries as they occur. Unfortunately, this GAO report makes clear current OSHA policies are centered on crunching numbers rather than getting the facts from workers. In fact, OSHA inspectors are not required to interview a single worker when auditing injury reports.

“Effective and comprehensive injury prevention must place workers and the worker voice at the center of the effort. Only when workers are meaningfully involved can we grasp the true scale of workplace injuries and implement meaningful regulations that make America’s workplaces safer.

“This report is a step in the right direction, and we’re glad that government is recognizing what the Charlotte Observer among others have already reported. However, now we must fix this problem. America’s corporations must be responsible and stop their deceptive reporting practices and better oversight and inspections by both federal and state OSHAs must ensure it.”

The CDC has developed Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to the 2009-2010 Influenza Season. The new guidance currently applies to any flu virus circulating during the 2009-2010 flu season, not only 2009 H1N1 flu virus.

The CDC states: It will be very hard to tell if someone who is sick has 2009 H1N1 flu or seasonal flu.

The guidance recommends that employees with flu-like illness stay home at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever (100 degrees F) or signs of a fever (have chills, feel very warm, have a flushed appearance, or are sweating).

Workers in retail food stores have a higher than normal exposure to the public, which may put them at higher risk of contracting the flu during the 2009-2010 flu season. In line with CDCs guidance, the UFCW agrees that employers should be taking steps now to:

• “”Protect employees health and safety
• Limit the negative impact to the community, economy and society, and
• Minimize disruption to business activities.”"The UFCW OSH Office is making the following recommendations for employers in the retail food industry to take, at a minimum, the following steps:

  1.Refer to CDC Guidelines and CDCs Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to the 2009-2010 Influenza Season. These are available on the CDC Web site: www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/business/guidance and www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/.

  2.Make the flu vaccine available at no cost to employees – and encourage employees to get vaccinated for seasonal flu. With pharmacies located in supermarkets, this can be done with minimal disruption during work hours.

  3.Create policies for flexible sick leave, which provides paid time for sick employees to stay home. CDC guidance advises employers to allow employees who get sick at work with the flu to go home as soon as possible, and to advise all employees to stay home if they are sick, until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs of a fever.

  4.Provide resources to employees so they can be protected from infection: Provide tissues, no-touch trash cans, alcohol-based hand cleaner at the work station, time to use the restroom to wash hands frequently.

  5.Provide cleaning agents to cashiers to clean surfaces which are more likely to have frequent hand contact with the public.

“”This notice is an important first step on the way to a permanent rule to ensure the safety of millions of American workers,”" said Jackie Nowell, Director of the UFCW’s Occupational Safety and Health Office. “”More than 900 workers have been killed or injured since 1980 because of combustible dust accidents. These are avoidable tragedies that must be stopped.”

The UFCW also urges OSHA to work quickly to issue a tough rule that will protect workers.

“”We can’t wait any longer,”" said Nowell, “”the time for a tough, comprehensive rule on combustible dust is now. We hope that employers, unions, and OSHA can work together to make this badly needed protection a reality.”"

On February 19, 2008, immediately following the Imperial Sugar explosion in Port Wentworth, Ga. that killed 14 workers, the UFCW and  International Brotherhood of Teamsters petitioned the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to immediately issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for combustible dust in general industry noting that “”workers who are employed in facilities where uncontrolled combustible dust emissions are present face ‘grave danger’ of experiencing fatalities or serious injuries as a result of dust explosions and resultant fires.”"

This Advance Notice is the first step toward rulemaking since that time.

The union reacted to the CSB’s safety bulletin on the deadly explosion at the ConAgra Slim Jim manufacturing facility in Garner, North Carolina the morning of June 9, 2009. The explosion killed three people, injured scores of others and severely damaged the plant.

“Once again the CSB has failed to take the most basic steps for the safety of American workers,” said Jackie Nowell, Occupational Safety and Health Director for the UFCW. “By not recommending urgent standards on fuel gas purging they leave the lives of thousands of workers at risk.”

The CSB failed to recommend changes in fire codes that would restrict the practice of purging gas piping and set criteria for performing it safely. While CSB Chairman John Bresland commended the state of North Carolina for their action to change their codes, unfortunately, the CSB did not recommend the same for national fire codes.

“If the CSB continues to fail America’s workers by not taking a stronger stand for safety, it’s time for change at the CSB,” said Nowell.

The UFCW represents more than 900 workers at the facility, and is the union for thousands of food processing workers in similar facilities nationwide.

The unions reacted to the CSB’s new report on the deadly sugar dust explosion on Feb. 7, 2008, at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia. The explosion killed fourteen people, injured scores of others and severely damaged the plant.

“The Imperial Sugar tragedy is compelling evidence of the need for stricter OSHA regulation on combustible dust,” said Steve Sallman, Health and Safety Specialist from the United Steelworkers (USW). “Without a regulation, upper management will typically not commit the resources needed to achieve compliance, or, more importantly, to protect their employees.”

“As recently as 2006, the CSB recommended to the Congress that OSHA adopt a comprehensive new standard on combustible dust, but today they let that ball drop,” said Eric Frumin, Health and Safety Coordinator, Change to Win.

“”The CSB’s leadership is a remnant of the Bush administration’s dangerous legacy for America’s workers,”" said Jackie Nowell, Occupational Safety and Health Director for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW). “If the Board continues to ignore its obligation to oversee the scope of our safety regulations, it will require new leadership to assure that its mission is accomplished.”

In a November 2006 report, the CSB pointed out serious deficiencies in OSHA’s various standards on combustible dust hazards. That report identified hundreds of combustible dust incidents over the last 25 years, causing nearly 120 deaths and hundreds more injuries.

On Feb. 19, 2008, immediately following the Imperial Sugar explosion, the UFCW and  International Brotherhood of Teamsters petitioned the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to immediately issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for combustible dust in general industry noting that “workers who are employed in facilities where uncontrolled combustible dust emissions are present face ‘grave danger’ of experiencing fatalities or serious injuries as a result of dust explosions and resultant fires.”  To this date, no standard has been set to protect America’s workers.

“Labor Day is an important time to reflect on the state of the American workplace and worker.  As the world’s largest retailer, and America’s number one private employer, Walmart has the largest, most profound impact on jobs and on our economy,” O’Neill said.  “Nobody wants an economy where workers earn wages that can’t support a family. Nobody wants an economy where people who go to work everyday and work hard have to turn to public assistance for basic needs.

“The Department of Labor last week released a report showing that the retail sector will see tremendous growth in the coming years, and it is up to all of us to determine what kinds of jobs those will be.  We are trying to engage Walmart, not isolate it.  With 1.4 million Americans working in its stores, Walmart bears a unique responsibility to its workers and our communities, and we’re asking them to embrace this challenge.”

On the conference call, O’Neill issued direct challenges to Walmart in five key areas:  worker rights, quality jobs, equal opportunity, corporate responsibility and a healthy environment.  He then laid out next steps for how the coalition, led by the UFCW, will hold Walmart accountable for those challenges, and to the ideals it puts forth in its advertising.

The full American Values Agenda for Change at Walmart can be viewed at http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/commonsense/.

Additionally, Lichtenstein asserted Walmart’s vast impact on the American economy.

“When a company gets to be as big as Wal-Mart and employs so many workers – more than any other private enterprise in the world – it is no longer a ‘private’ entity,” Lichtenstein said. “It sets the wage and benefit standard for every other mass retailer and influences the business practices of just about every firm in America’s huge service sector. So Wal-Mart is part of this country’s debate: on health care, wages, equal employment, and the role of trade unionism in our democracy.”

Coalition members include:  AFL-CIO, Change to Win, Sierra Club, Campaign for America’s Future, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, National Consumers League, AFSCME, American Rights at Work, Communications Workers of America, Interfaith Worker Justice, LIUNA, National Labor Coordinating Committee, Service Employees International Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, United Auto Workers, United Farmer Workers and United Steel Workers.

As a part of the launch of this important new campaign, WakeUpWalmart.com will be releasing two new television advertisements called “Common Sense Economics Rules”  calling on Walmart to offer quality, affordable health care coverage to all its employees. Both ads highlight Walmart’s failure to cover 700,000 of its employees, nearly half of its workforce. They end with the message “Walmart can afford to be a better employer; Now would be a good time to start.”

The ads can be viewed at:  http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/video/commonsense/.

The Chemical Safety Board is conducting an in-depth investigation into the fatal explosion.  Their work will be instrumental in determining the cause of this tragic accident that took the lives of three workers and injured many more.

Over the next several months, investigators will sift through the evidence, consult with Board members, and review regulations and industry practices. The investigators will draw lessons learned from the accident and make recommendations for corrective action to make sure it can’t happen again.

Workers who survived the explosion have been active participants in the investigation, giving detailed interviews, telling their stories about what happened June 9, 2009.

The UFCW supports this important work and are proud partners in their ongoing work to prevent workplace accidents.

The UFCW is working closely with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency, and the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration (NC-OSHA), as they investigate the accident. The UFCW is providing full assistance to help shed a light on the unfortunate event. In addition, the UFCW has established a fund to assist the victims of the tragic event.

“”The Garner incident is a heartbreaking tragedy that reminds us that worker safety is of the utmost importance in the workplace,”" said Jackie Nowell, UFCW Director of Occupational Safety and Health. “”We are working with the regulatory agencies and the company to ensure that such catastrophes are prevented.”"

The UFCW believes that ConAgra is stepping up to the plate by continuing to pay the employees their full salaries, indefinitely. Such measures will bring the much needed comfort to the workers while they try to rebuild their livelihoods.

With this budget, the Department of Labor has returned to its mission of protecting America’s workers rather than serving the needs of corporate lobbyists, and high-dollar donors.

This budget provides for hundreds of new investigators to ensure that Americans are paid for their hard work, increased Occupational Safety and Health Administration funding so that they come home safe every day, and new funding for programs that help the unemployed find new work. We at the UFCW know that this budget is an important step to jump start our economy, and make work pay for every American.”

Hacht worked at Tyson Foods Inc. meatpacking plant (formerly IBP) in Nebraska for 20 years, playing a role as an active steward from the very beginning of her time there. In the mid-1980s, IBP workers were suffering from high rates of MSDs. Local 222 and the UFCW International’s Safety and Health department filed an OSHA complaint, and IBP receieved one of the highest fines ever for failing to provide a safe and healthy workplace.

Settlement of the citations led to a successful ergonomic program, and Carmen became an “”ergonomic monitor,”" a line worker trained in ergonomics. She was responsible for job analysis, audits of workers on light duty jobs, worker advocacy when workers were injured and needed help getting through the medical system, and monitoring workers training and skills.

Carmen’s work at Local 222 now includes overseeing the ergonomics program at the meatpacking plants. She teaches new monitors what their jobs will entail, and has earned the trust and respect of the plant workers. The UFCW is proud of the contributions that Carmen has made over the years to improving working conditions for thousands of workers.

Sioux City, Iowa– Nearly a thousand workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 1142 voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new contract with Smithfield Foods at the company’s John Morrell Plant in Sioux City, Iowa. The four- and a half-year agreement delivers wage increases that keep plant workers at the top of the industry standard and maintains affordable health care.

“We’ve been at the bargaining table since last October,” said UFCW Local 1142 President Warren Baker. ”The negotiations were contentious. There’s always give and take, but, in the end, we arrived at a fair settlement.”"

The new contract establishes:

–Wage increases including $1.50/hr. base wage increase over the life of the contract for production workers and $1.65/hr. base wage increase for maintenance workers.

–Maintains affordable health care, with no co-premium increases in the first or last half year of the contract. Weekly increases of $1.50 for individual and $3 for family coverage are triggered in years two, three, and four of the contract.

–Maintains pension security

–Increases sick pay

–Improves working conditions

“The contract is really good in terms of the health insurance,” said Gary Petz, who has worked at the plant for 23 years. “Overall, the good wage increases and benefits are a result of everyone sticking together for a contract that provides security for our families.”