Posts Categorized: Legislation and Politics

After working with the UFCW International to amplify their inability to pay rent and reliance on food stamps to eat, the struggles of potential members at Best Market and others have inspired Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) to introduce legislation that would help address their concerns.

Best Market, which operates 29 stores in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, is one of the most profitable grocery chains in the country. Despite the grocery chain’s success, hard-working women and men at Best Market stores have continually struggled to earn enough hours, pay or benefits.

“Last year, Best Market put me in the worst situation of my life,” said David Ness, who works at Best Market in Selden, New York. “I was working full-time at the store. My wages were low, but I was able to just scrape by. I couldn’t understand why more people were being hired at my store, while they were cutting the hours of longer term workers like me. Even though I was willing to work in any department at any time, I just wasn’t getting the hours I needed to pay the bills. I couldn’t believe that I wound up homeless.”

“It seemed like we were understaffed all the time at work,” said Louis Wood, who works at Best Market in Commack, New York. “It also seemed liked safety just wasn’t a priority for the management of Best Market.  I have had multiple injuries at the store.  In 2015, I slipped and fell on a greasy floor. We had been complaining to management about the floor for months, but the floor was never cleaned.   I missed 2.5 months of work because of that injury.  I’ve lost all my life’s savings.  I am in constant pain.  I’m now 29.  I can’t do any of the things that I used to love.  I can hardly walk at all now.  My mother and I are now worrying that we may not be able to afford rent soon and we don’t know what we are going to do.”

These firsthand accounts of Best Market workers, coupled with similar stories from workers at other profitable companies, such as Walmart, Amazon and McDonald’s, inspired Senator Sanders and Representative Khanna to introduce legislation that would establish a 100 percent tax on corporations with 500 or more employees equal to the amount of federal benefits received by their low-wage workers. For example, if a worker at Amazon receives $2,000 in food stamps, the employer would be taxed $2,000 to cover that cost.

Our union family has always believed that no one should have to struggle alone, and we are proud to support Best Market workers as they stand together to build the better lives they have earned and deserve.

For our union, the defeat of work for less in Missouri is just the beginning of our 2018 efforts to secure meaningful electoral victories for hard-working families. Leading up to Election Day in November, we will be coordinating with UFCW locals across 26 states to make it easier for our members and their families to vote for the issues that matter to them. We will also be having more than 300 Lost-Timers deployed across the nation to visit worksites, knock on doors, and encourage entire communities to stand up and shape their futures.

What happened last week in Missouri should be motivating for all of us. Missouri became the 28th work for less state in February of 2017 and instead of accepting a tough defeat, UFCW locals in Missouri dusted themselves off and fought back. They immediately partnered with other labor unions and community allies to collect signatures and place a constitutional amendment on the 2018 ballot to reverse the law. Then they got to work canvassing, phone calling and visiting worksites to show hard-working families everywhere why stopping work for less was the right thing for Missouri’s future.

In the final weeks of this get out the vote effort, UFCW locals poured in from across the country to help with the final canvassing push and knocked on 52,386 doors. Newer technologies like Hustle were also deployed in partnership with the International to ensure that every UFCW member in Missouri understood the historic stakes of this election. In total, we were able to reach out to 2,780 members through Hustle to share information about how and when to vote.

These incredible efforts were a rousing success and voters rejected work for less Proposition A by a 2 to 1 margin on August 7.

“Defeating Prop A in Missouri is a clear sign that everyone, whether they are in a union or not, understands that we have to fight back against corporate greed,” said UFCW Local 655 President David Cook. “Hard-working middle class families deserve good wages and fair benefits, and I believe the overwhelming win in Missouri is proof that a message focused on what workers have earned resonates with a broad coalition of people.”

Rest assured, we will bring that message wherever we can this fall. The UFCW is committed to having the voices of our union family heard loud and clear in every election. For more information about the UFCW’s plans this election year or to get involved, contact the Legislative and Political Action Department at (202)-223-3111.