Monthly Archives: September 2018

UFCW Local 5 recently persuaded the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that Safeway and Macy’s violated the National Labor Relations Act when the companies pressured members to agree to sign promissory notes or agreements for the repayment of amounts the members supposedly misappropriated without the union’s involvement or consent.

The NLRB found that by doing so the companies unlawfully dealt directly with members. In these cases, the company convinced members to sign agreements to repay amounts that were much larger than the theft the company could prove based on the company’s speculation that the member had engaged in theft for a long time. Members signed the agreements under a fear that the company would otherwise report them to police. In both cases, the company settled by agreeing to stop this practice and to involve the union in any similar communications with members in the future.

“One might think that large, sophisticated companies like Safeway and Macy’s would understand that this practice is wrong, but that is clearly not the case,” said UFCW Local 5 President John Nunes. “This is a great example of the importance of union representation during disciplinary interviews.”

For more information about the NLRB decision, contact George Wiszynski at the UFCW International’s Legal Department at gwiszynski@ufcw.org.

The UFCW International’s Information Technology Department recently added the Sidekick app to the Local Union Membership Management (LUMM) system to allow locals to update current membership information and sign up new members in real time from any mobile device.

The UFCW International developed LUMM as a free membership tracking software and supports it at no cost. LUMM is responsible for over 50 percent of our local’s membership management and is widely used throughout all regions. The new cloud-based Sidekick app offers many features needed to join and service our members. These features include use of multimedia, digital membership application, reporting, surveys, grievance, document and file repository, texting and email and others. The Sidekick app provides a fast and easy way to maintain and clean up membership data, while servicing our members face-to-face.

UFCW Local 1500 decided to invest in iPads for each of their 10 representatives and use the Sidekick app to establish a better relationship with members.

“We’ve been using Sidekick for about a month and it makes it easier for our reps to interact with our members in real time and update our membership database,” said UFCW Local 1500 President Anthony Speelman. “I wish we had done this sooner.”

“Workers are appreciative that we’re trying to modernize our efforts to service them at a higher level,” said Joe Waddy, assistant to the president at UFCW Local 1500. “Sidekick has been working really well so far.”

To learn more about the Sidekick app, contact Laurie Kolish at the UFCW International’s Information Technology Department at lkolish@ufcw.org.