We hold employers accountable for safer workplaces.
Maintaining a safe workplace is an ongoing process and everyone is responsible for doing their part. Our staff, stewards, and safety monitors work every day to ensure companies rigorously follow safety programs to the letter of the law, regulation, and our contracts, even as we fight in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals for stronger safety rules. Safety programs and rules are only as good as their enforcement by government agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Safe jobs save lives.
The UFCW drafts contracts that include strong, enforceable safety language that goes beyond what’s required by law and regulations to protect hard-working UFCW members. We work together through training, enforcement, and contract negotiations to bring real expertise and collective power to compel companies to ensure every member’s safety. We also encourage our members to speak out and report any unsafe conditions they encounter.
We are strengthening legislation to make all workplaces safer.
Opposing increased line speeds in poultry, swine, and beef processing plants
Meat and poultry processing workers are highly trained professionals who serve as an extra layer of protection for consumers when it comes to food safety. Even at current line speeds, these workers face risks that can lead to severe injury, illness, and even death. Increasing line speeds in meat and poultry processing plants is dangerous to workers and consumers alike. The UFCW opposes the United States Department of Agriculture’s loosening of line-speed regulations and supports requiring a worker safety impact analysis for any future decisions.
Securing retail spaces
As one of the few remaining public spaces that everyone frequents, grocery stores have become a growing target for politically motivated and other forms of violence. While no single solution has proven effective at insulating retailers from violence, there are ways to prepare and protect workers. The government can and should require a variety of protective measures, including minimum staffing ratios, panic buttons, and federal safety grants.
Protecting America’s workers by increasing oversight
The Protecting America’s Workers Act would increase OSHA penalties for violators. It would also require the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate all workplace fatalities and severe injuries and require the investigators to meet with victims’ families.
Advocating for minimum staffing ratios
Understaffing — employing too few workers to do the work — is a major problem across the nation. In healthcare it drives down the quality of care and pushes many people away from the healthcare profession. The UFCW supports healthcare worker staffing ratios and overtime protections to ensure hospitals and nursing homes have adequate staffing to provide the best care and safety for workers. We also support minimum staffing ratios in retail stores, where understaffing leaves workers more vulnerable to workplace violence.
Calling for workplace excessive heat prevention standards
The UFCW’s 194,000 members who work in meat and poultry processing plants and food manufacturing facilities are often in hot and humid conditions while wearing stifling personal protective gear. They’re also exposed to noxious chemicals, which become more dangerous in hot, humid environments. A federal standard for excessive heat prevention and response, indoors and outdoors, is needed to keep our workers safe.
Supporting chemical worker safety training grants
The International Chemical Workers Union Council’s Center for Worker Health and Safety Education has built a nationally recognized hazardous materials training program that is a critical part of our national emergency disaster preparedness system and should continue to be funded.
Supporting laws to ban child labor
The Preventing Child Labor Exploitation in Federal Contracting Act is bipartisan legislation that would bar companies from receiving federal contracts if they’ve been found to have committed child labor law violations.
