Posts Tagged: UFCW Local 648

FCW Women’s Network lobbied in Sacramento, Calif., for three different bills that support workers.

Last week, members from the UFCW Women’s Network lobbied in Sacramento, Calif., for three different bills that support workers. The women from UFCW Locals 8, 135, 648, 1167, 1428, and 1442 talked to their state legislators about raising the minimum wage, the “Fair Schedule and Pay Equality Act”, and the “Grocery Worker Retention Act.” The three bills address core work issues that workers and their families are facing everyday in the state of California.

UFCW members are supporting raising the minimum wage in California because no family who is working full-time should live in poverty. They also talked about the “Fair Schedule and Pay Equality Act,” that would require large food retail employers who have 500 or more employees to provide their workers with a two-week advance notice of their work schedules. The third bill is the “Grocery Worker Retention Act.” The bill would would mandate that any new employer who purchases an existing grocery store must retain the incumbent workers of the grocery store for 90 days.

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.