Posts Categorized: Resources

On Nov. 12, the International’s Organizing Department launched its second reflective engagement training for certified trainers as part of our union’s ongoing effort to build stronger relationships with our members and potential members. The cohort, which includes 25 participants from the International and Regions 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, will be broken down into three groups so that participants can learn to use reflective engagement in organizing campaigns, at steward trainings, during negotiations, in political or legislative campaigns, and when engaging with current members.

Decades of successful organizing experience and professional studies show that active listening, asking questions and reflecting back the response is the most effective way to connect with people. By using this technique, those who are trained are having measurably more successful and higher quality conversations with workers and members.

The reflective engagement trainings for certified trainers are designed to help participants learn how to improve their ability to listen to what issues workers are concerned about, reflect on the conversation and the issues of importance, and connect workers concerns and stories to each other.

Last year, the Organizing Department hosted its first reflective engagement training for certified coaches in Chicago, where Region 1 General Organizer Anthony Bueno; Region 4 International Representative D.J. Totty; Region 6 Collective Bargaining Representative Georges Tounou; and Region 8 International Representatives Hevily Espinoza and Maricruz Cecena participated. 

“Reflective Engagement helps us hone our craft as UFCW organizers,” said International Vice President and Director of the Organizing Department Todd Crosby. “Meaningful organizing conversations from member to member and worker by worker allows us to build a powerful union.”

“At a time when our members and working people as a whole are struggling, scared and unsure of the future, it’s so important for us to be able to communicate effectively,” said Assistant to the Director of National Bargaining Fallon Ager, who is a member of the new cohort.  

UFCW locals from across the country are continuing to find success as they apply reflective engagement to their organizing and outreach campaigns. If your local is interested in learning more about this innovative approach, contact Jenny Reed at jreed@ufcw.org.

In a victory for workers that strengthens their right to join a union, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently ruled in favor of workers at four of a company’s 33 jobsites who formed a bargaining unit.  The company claimed the unit should be forced to include workers at more jobsites, putting an increased burden on workers trying to unionize, but the the NLRB ruled in the union’s favor.

The NLRB relied on a few key facts in reaching its decision to allow a smaller bargaining unit in this case.  First, the NLRB found that workers at four of the company’s jobsites all worked within a five mile radius of one another in Monterey, Calif., while workers at the company’s other jobsites worked farther away in other cities in northern California.  Second, the NLRB emphasized that the workers at the Monterey jobsites generally only worked with each other.  While the company sometimes assigned workers from one of the Monterey jobsites to work at another Monterey jobsite, the company almost never assigned workers from the other northern California jobsites to work at a Monterey jobsite.

Because of these facts, the NLRB found the Monterey workers were an appropriate bargaining unit, even though the workers at the company’s other northern California jobsites performed similar work, had similar skills, and had similar working conditions.

This decision may help organizers argue that when workers at several nearby stores in a geographic area work more closely with each other than they do with workers at other company locations that are farther away, it is appropriate to hold a union election in a smaller bargaining unit. 

The case is Audio Visual Services Group, LLC, 370 NLRB No. 39 (2020).  The decision is available at this link.