Posts Tagged: UFCW Local 1442

Workers at Southern California Food 4 Less locations from UFCW Locals 1428, 770, 135, 1167, 324, 1442, and 8GS all came together in a strong show of solidarity last week for a fair contract.

Customers standing in support of Food 4 Less workers at Local 770’s action.

Kroger, the parent company of Food 4 Less and Ralph’s, has been treating its Food 4 Less employees worse than those at Ralph’s, and when they went into negotiations with workers on June 19th, they offered nothing but takeaways.

Not willing to stand for unfair treatment, on June 26th a majority of members from the local unions voted overwhelmingly to strike should one become necessary. But after returning to the bargaining table on July 2nd, Kroger’s offer was no better.

So this week, on Wednesday July 9th, members and workers from each of the Food 4 Less locals came out in full force to hold actions at dozens of Food 4 Less stores across southern California. There, they asked customers and community members to stand with them in their fight for a fair contract, and were met with an outpouring  of positive feedback.

UFCW members collected signatures from customers pledging their support for the workers, passed out information, and proudly wore their solidarity buttons at the actions.

At one of the actions attended by members of Local 1428, workers from non-unionized retailers like Big Lots and Lowry’s came out to support the workers, and talked about how they wished they had union representation at their workplaces.

The locals will return to the bargaining table again within the next few weeks, strong and united.

A Food 4 Less worker wears her “Hard Work Fair Pay” button.

Passing out info about a fair contract to customers and community members.

UFCW Locals from the Western States Council held a successful lobby day in California that saw five UFCW-sponsored bills pass through their houses.

Last week, members and staff from UFCW Western States Council, Locals 5, 8, 648, 1167, 1442 and worker activists from OUR Walmart traveled to the California State Capitol to lobby for issues and legislation important to workers and working families.

The week began with a reception held at the Capitol and provided an opportunity for members to meet and speak with lawmakers. Members and staff began lobbying at the Capitol the next day and visiting 80 Assembly members’ offices. During their time there, five UFCW-sponsored bills passed their houses and will be moving forward through the legislative process.

The bills that passed are:

• AB1792, the Public Benefit Report, would require that an annual report be done on private and public employers who have 25 or more employees on the state’s public assistance programs such as Medi-Cal and CalFresh.
• AB1897, the Accountability for Labor Contractors bill, addresses the abuse of third-party labor contractors violating labor laws.
• SB945, the Minimum Wage Fairness Act, authored by Senator Mark Leno, would increase the minimum wage in consecutive years from 2015 thru 2017 to $11, $12, and $13 dollars per hour, and begin to align workers’ worth with the immense rate of productivity that workers have delivered to companies across industries in the state.
• SB270, the bill that would eliminate single -use carryout plastic bags statewide.
• AB2418, the Improving of Patient Medication Adherence bill.