Posts Categorized: On Point

The International’s Organizing Department team is offering training sessions for Special Project Union Representatives (SPURs) this year.

These training sessions are designed to build stronger connections with members while honing the skills needed for effective union work. Several locals participated in these trainings last year, and found them to be helpful in identifying potential leaders like stewards, representatives,  organizers, and membership services representatives.

The SPUR trainings highlight three key topics: how to better engage workers through reflective engagement; how to have effective worker conversations; and how to assess workers and handle challenges. The “Reflective Engagement” segment of the training helps SPURs to engage with workers thoughtfully, actively listen, and understand their concerns to build trust and strong connections. The “Making Effective Worker Conversations” segment focuses on helping participants have better worker conversations. The “Assessing Workers and Handling Resistance” segment helps participants to develop strategies to identify the skills and strengths of workers and gain tools to effectively handle any resistance, ensuring a constructive approach to challenges.

“I encourage all locals to take advantage of these trainings, which are already having a positive impact on our union,” said Executive Vice President and Director of Organizing Dave Young. “These trainings help to identify potential leaders and build a stronger and united membership.”  

If your local is interested in holding a training for organizers and SPURs, contact your Region Director.

On Jan. 22, Planned Parenthood workers in Michigan who are members of UFCW Locals 876, 951 and 1473 ratified their first union contract. The workers are employed as medical assistants and registered nurses at Planned Parenthood health care facilities in Traverse City, Ann Arbor (west), Livonia, Kalamazoo, and Marquette.

The three-year contract includes guaranteed wage increases and daily overtime benefits if workers stay over an hour past clinic hours. The contract also includes two additional paid days off and increases to bereavement leave. In addition, the contract establishes a process on how to be awarded jobs in higher wage brackets, as well as a safety committee to address safety issues in the facilities. 

“We are thrilled to join this contract with the UFCW,” said Mariah Metzke, who is a medical assistant at Planned Parenthood in Traverse City and a member of UFCW Local 876. “This gives us a space to truly uphold our PPMI workplace values of tending to the team, caring about our mission while making positive change within the organization, and displaying what it means to be equitable. This experience has brought us closer together, given us a voice, and has shown us how we can best support patients and our team members.”

“The work we do is very emotionally taxing with long and difficult days regularly,” said Déirdre Rounds, who is a medical assistant at Planned Parenthood in Kalamazoo and a member of UFCW Local 951. “One of the things I like best about the contract is that the stewards are given the right to form a safety committee to meet, discuss, and officially speak on patient and worker safety. We are the ones doing the work – we deserve better!”

“We organized because we all love this work and care about the patients that see us,” said Autumn Cote, who is a medical assistant at Planned Parenthood in Marquette and a member of UFCW Local 1473. “To see everyone involved in this stand together as a united front was so amazing!”