Posts Tagged: Right to Work

UFCW Local 23 members with West Virginia State Senator Jack Yost.

Last week, members from UFCW Locals 23 and 400, gathered at the West Virginia State Capital to rally against right to work legislation. In West Virginia, Republican legislative leaders are making right to work legislation a top priority for the 2016 Regular Legislative Session. The first bill, introduced in the state Senate on January 13, was the one written to make West Virginia a right to work state.

Opponents of the legislation called right to work “destructive” and said that it would clear the way for lower wages and the weakening of work protections. They also said that right to work legislation  is an attack on unions and will be harmful to the hard-working men and women and their families in West Virginia.

On Oct. 18-22, Local Union leaders and staff from around the country and Canada convened in Atlanta for the second UFCW Retail Conference this year.

Conference participants focused on organizing and bargaining opportunities in the retail and retail food sectors.  UFCW union leaders and staff attended workshops that revolved around initiatives, contract language, right to work, communications, best practices, and broke out into groups by company and region to build on the progress that was made during the previous conference in April.

The conference also focused on the importance of messaging in relation to reaching out to potential members, and included a plenary on communication strategies. Other plenaries focused on the need for fair and reliable schedules in the retail sector, and the how the retail industry as a whole is driving racial inequality and keeping Black and Latino workers from climbing up the economic ladder.

Some of the materials used throughout the conference can be found on the Local SharePoint site. The next UFCW Retail Conference is scheduled to take place in the spring of 2016.