The vote ended the workers’ two month union organizing campaign. Workers said they became interested in forming a union when management began to use intimidation tactics to increase productivity. Workers cited wanting respect, equality and accountability as reasons to vote for union representation.

“The workers at DFA are very much a close community, and watching management mistreat coworkers was an incentive for workers to fi nd their voices,” said Noah Hefner, a DFA receiver. “I am really proud of my coworkers today,” We are ready to make progress by bargaining a fair contract with management.”

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

• Average wage increases of $1.44/hr for the first year and an additional 30 cents per hour for the next four years;
•  A formal system to resolve workplace issues;

• Time and a half pay for holiday work;

• Night shift premium wages;

• Affordable family health coverage;

• Job advancement opportunities based on seniority; and,

• Funeral leave and paid vacation benefits.

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

Celia Cisneros never imagined that she would need to harvest grapes for 12 hours a day during a hot California summer, just to make ends meet. But she had no other option — she was fired from her job at a poultry plant in Potterville, Calif.
The reason: she says it’s because she is a union supporter.
Cisneros, 53, a resident of Lindsey, Calif., has worked for almost eight years at this Potterville poultry plant. During all this time, she was known as a model worker. She just wanted decent wages, benefits and respect at work for her and her coworkers.
“When I heard that the UFCW was organizing the plant I was very excited. I knew that this was our chance to improve our standards of living,” Cisneros said. “I began talking to my coworkers about the union. They were supporting the union. I was sure that we were going to win the election.”
Instead, the union lost the election, thanks to the behavior of the company.
“The supervisors began intimidating workers,” said Cisneros. “People became afraid. They didn’t want to lose their jobs and when they arrived to the ballot box the company left them with no other option.”
Celia Cisneros was fired four months later. She found herself desperate with bills to pay, a husband with a chronic disease, and four children to take care of.

The union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). After investigating her case, the NLRB ordered the company to rehire Cisneros.

Cisneros knows that she is not alone, and that many other workers across America have to struggle to join a union. Last month she joined other workers fromdifferent states and traveled to Washington D.C., to show her support for the Employee Free Choice Act by talking directly to her elected officials.

UFCW members and workers visited their members of Congress to share their stories of trying to organize their workplace.
“I came to the nation’s capital to let our elected politicians know that we, the workers, want to see the Employee Free Choice Act become a law,” Cisneros said.
The Employee Free Choice Act is a bill that will help strengthen the economy by making it easier for workers in America to join a union and bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. The Employee Free Choice Act is the best way to expand the nation’s middle class and stimulate the economy.
UFCW stewards around the nation have been supporting the Employee Free Choice Act by urging their coworkers to sign pledge cards and to contact their elected officials.
Their effort has not been in vain. Earlier this year, hundreds of workers met in front of the Capitol to deliver these pledge cards.
And thanks to the effort of hundreds of members who volunteered to support the presidential campaign of President Obama, now the nation has a leader who is on the side of workers.

President Obama has said that“unions are part of the solution.”
But we cannot take anything for granted. It is more critical than ever to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
“We came to the nation’s capital because all of our senators need to know that we are counting on their vote in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act,” said Armando Martinez, a steward from Local 22 in Freemont, N.E.
All stewards should urge their coworkers to contact their U.S. senators and let them know that they are counting on their support.
“Call their office, write a letter, send an e-mail, if you want to visit them personally even better. It is important that senators know that all workers are behind
the Employee Free Choice Act,” Martinez said.
Stewards can find sample letters and find out how to contact their elected officials at www.ufcwforfreechoice.org.
Celia Cisneros’ dream is to have a union at her plant, so she never again has to fear losing her job and being intimidated by her supervisors.
“We are all in this together,” said Cisneros. “The Employee Free Choice Act will give us the freedom to choose a better life by joining a union.”

Today, a PriceRite worker involved in the UFCW’s PriceRite campaign spoke out about the need for Employee Free Choice at a press briefing held at the National Press Club. Representatives from the UFCW, as well as the nation’s top workers’ rights groups, labor experts, and progressive leaders laid out the case for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

“The company has made people afraid that they’ll lose their jobs when the union comes in,” said PriceRite worker Joe Sorrentino. He spoke about how the company has intimidated workers who support the union, by telling them that their store will close if they vote for a union, spying on them, sending out letters and even calling the police to arrest organizers who are legally handing out literature to the public.

Workers at PriceRite do not have a union, but many workers at another company owned/and or operated by the same parent company, Wakefern, are represented by the UFCW.

“We just want to the same fair chance to choose a union and have the same union benefits that workers at most ShopRite stores have,” said Sorrentino. “Instead, the company won’t even give us the chance to talk about the union. The Employee Free Choice Act would make it so the company couldn’t interfere with us or try to intimidate employees into voting against their own interests like they do now.”

Sorrentino emphasized the need for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. “To not pass Employee Free Choice,” he said, “would lead to another generation of low-paying jobs and uninsured Americans. The middle class would be a thing of the past.”

The event was organized by American Rights at Work, representing a broad coalition of labor and workers’ rights advocates, which also previewed new television ads as part of a nationwide ad campaign in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

“When workers have a fair process, they choose a voice on the job,” said UFCW Director of Organizing Pat O’Neill. “This is a great victory for the Tar Heel workers. I know they are looking forward to sitting down at the bargaining table with Smithfield to negotiate a contract. The UFCW has constructive union contracts with Smithfield plants around the country. Those union contracts benefit workers, the company and the community. We believe the workers here in Tar Heel can achieve a similar agreement.”

Ronnie Ann Simmons, a veteran of 13 years at the plant said, “We are thrilled. This moment has been a long time coming. We stuck together, and now we have a say on the job.”

Workers at 26 Smithfield-owned facilities around the country already have UFCW representation.

CLICK HERE for photos of Smithfield workers.

“Nowadays, we have more organizers outthere,” says Richard Vazquez, a steward from Local 540 in Plainview, Texas. “The more organizers we have to help workers form a union, the stronger we will be. With more members, we can speak with one voice and have more power at the bargaining table.”
“It is important that all the plants have a union,” he continues. “Because then we can have better benefits and wages for all.”

Vazquez has been a union member for 18 of the 21 years he has worked at the meatpacking plant. For nine of those years, he has worked as a steward.
“There have been a lot of good changes throughout the years,” says Vazquez. “Even now we have an office here in the plant, where we can help more workers band we can be closer to them. And we’ve seen the difference first hand with more membership and more density.”
For the past 10 years, David Espinosa Rangel has worked as a truck loader for a food company in Salinas, California. Since his first day on the job as a new member of Local 1096, he has been an active union member. Three years ago, Rangel became a steward.
On January 1, 2007, his local merged with UFCW Locals 120, 373R, 428, 839, 870 and 1179, to form Local 5, based in San Jose, California.

“When I heard about the merger, I thought it was an excellent idea because I knew we were going to have more members working together, and a stronger voice to negotiate,” says Rangel.
Rangel said that before the merger, some locals were too small and not strong enough. “Now we are over 20,000 members and we are very strong. We are stronger at the bargaining table and we can get better benefits and wages to all workers.”
He says one of the main advantages of the merger is that there are more available resources.
“It is easier to organize more people because there is more money and more support. Other workers who are not organized can see how we have a better standard of living, and they are more interested in organizing a union at their workplace. Every worker in America needs to join a union. Together, we can reach a better life- -with one union speaking with one voice.

Rosiles is on leave from his job as a worker at the Tyson Foods plant in Joslin, Illinois, where he served as a steward for Local 1546.  As a steward, Rosiles served as a significant link and conduit of information between union leadership and the workers at the Tyson Foods plant in Joslin, and had the advantage of knowing many of his fellow workers.  His new role as an organizer in the state of Nebraska presents the challenge of meeting and connecting with workers he has never met before and who may not be familiar with the benefits of joining a union.

“Some have a little bit of knowledge, some don’t,” said Rosiles.  “That’s what drives me—winning campaigns and helping people be united at work.

The changing demographics of the packing and processing industries have also posed a challenge for Rosiles, and many of the plants that he is working with in Nebraska have attracted immigrant workers from around the world.  Many of the immigrant workers he has approached are afraid of losing their jobs or unsure of their rights as workers in the U.S.  To counter that fear and uncertainty, Rosiles and other organizers have made a point to connect with workers outside of the workplace by visiting their places of worship and even their homes to show that the union is part of the larger community.

Rosiles believes that his experience as a steward has helped him hone his skills as an organizer, and encourages other UFCW stewards to get involved with organizing campaigns such as the Heartland Campaign in the Midwest.

“We need more leadership and people getting involved in plants,” said Rosiles.  “That’s what makes a union strong.”

For more information about the UFCW’s effort to provide workers with better wages and benefits in America’s Heartland and around the country, visit www.fairnessforfoodworkers.org.

•   Enforcing union contract provisions and identifying safety and health hazards; and

•   Participating in chain meetings to coordinate bargaining strategies with union brothers and sisters from other locals.

In effect, stewards are leading the fight for workers’ rights. “I got involved in the union because I couldn’t stand seeing how supervisors treated my coworkers,” says Maribel Cervantes, a steward at the Excel beef operation in Dodge City, Kan., and UFCW Local 2 member. “You don’t need to know everything to be a steward. It only takes love for your coworkers and pride in your job.” Maribel, along with nearly a dozen other UFCW stewards from across the country, recently attended a training workshop at UFCW International headquarters in Washington. The workshop focused on developing steward skills to recognize on-the-job safety and health risks, then take the appropriate action so that companies correct them. The “Train the Trainer” workshop also focused on providing stewards with skills to go back to their workplaces and share information with coworkers on how to become more involved with solving workplace concerns.

 
Stewards are not only involved in actions to protect rights at work, they also play a leading role in planning bargaining strategy, and helping coordinate negotiation tactics for members nationwide who work for the same employer. Through chain meetings, UFCW stewards meet with other stewards and UFCW support staff to exchange experience and devise a plan to approach national employers.

 
“Coordinating negotiations in the Hormel chainhas been very beneficial for us,” says Dean Shinn, the walking steward at the company’s Knoxville, Iowa, plant and member of Davenport, Iowa, Local 431. Dean recently attended a chain meeting in Kansas City, Mo., along with stewards from all over the country, who work at the major food processing, manufacturing and meatpacking chains. “It’d be ludicrous for our plant of 105 people to try to negotiate by ourselves with a company like Hormel that has more than 8,000 employees,” he says. “With the growth of our major employers into nationwide operators, bargaining plant by plant just can’t happen any more. The chain meetings give us a chance to share information and coordinate tactics with brothers and sisters in other plants.”