Posts Tagged: UFCW Local 99

The GOLD internship program comes to a close after four weeks.

The GOLD Internship Program came to a close last week at a final debrief in Chicago. Thirty six interns reflected upon their four week action projects and planned for how they could be effective activists when they return to their local unions. Action projects took place all across the country.

• In Chicago: GOLD interns helped deliver 25,000 signatures to the Mayor in support of paid sick leave.

• In Mississippi and North Carolina: GOLD interns helped hundreds of people register to vote.

• In California: GOLD interns helped the “Summer for Respect” campaign in their fight to give workers a stronger voice.

• In San Francisco: GOLD interns campaigned for the Retail Worker Bill of Rights, a bill which would guarantee fair schedules and full-time hours for retail workers.

• In Iowa City: GOLD interns partnered with the Center for Worker Justice to document cases of wage theft.

• In Washington D.C., South Carolina, and Florida: GOLD interns traveled to poultry facilities to capture stories from UFCW members who were injured while on the job.

Here’s what interns said about their GOLD internship experience: “One of the biggest things I learned from this program is that you can make a difference if you just try. We held a workshop to inform immigrant workers of their rights, and help them with the housing process. It was amazing to see how much they appreciated something that was fairly easy and simple to do. Making a difference in the community is something new to me—I’m not a steward and I wasn’t ever overly involved with my union, but through GOLD I learned a lot and am looking forward to going home and helping to improve my own community.” – Gerardo Garcia, UFCW Local 99, Iowa City Worker Center Action Project.

“It was a great summer – it just felt good to help people and be a part of a movement. Instead of just saying ‘I don’t like my job’ or ‘we need a raise’ this internship taught me how important it is to stand up and involve yourself and your co-workers. If someone were considering this program, I would tell them to do it. If I learned anything this summer, it’s that the more active people we have in our union, the better life will be for workers everywhere.”  – Fawzi Ghantous, UFCW Local 1445, Organizing in Maryland Action Project.

“I became a GOLD intern because too many union members, myself partially included, don’t fully understand what our union is about. They have no idea what we stand for, and that makes me really sad. This internship builds us up and gives us the knowledge to go back to our locals and give them inspiration to say, ‘You know what, we are one! And if you have an issue, we are fighting it together; you don’t have to do this alone.’ I’ve been a union member for almost 12 years, and I didn’t realize the power we have until this summer. Now I know that I have a lot of people backing me up and fighting for me.” – Tracy Officer, UFCW Local 653, Organizing in Seattle Action Project.

“I personally think people should become GOLD interns because you take away more than just the organizing aspect of it—you take away more than just learning about the history of what the union is— I’m going to be taking away friendships that will last a lifetime and connections with people from other places that I never would have interacted with if I hadn’t been a GOLD intern.” – Samantha Christian, UFCW Local 770, Freedom Summer Action Project in Jackson, Mississippi.

“My favorite part of the summer was when we did a sick time action that was a huge success. A lot of people showed up and we had people honking horns, we had customers going in and telling management they support us 100%. We did a petition and ended up collecting about 600 signatures from associates and customers and we presented them to the managers inside. It felt good to feel like we had accomplished something and it was just a really moving experience to see how happy and supportive everyone was.” – Ariana Marie Davis, UFCW Local 21, “Summer for Respect”, Northern California.

“I would say do this program. There are problems in every workplace and the GOLD Internship is a good way to meet people that might have similar stories and possible solutions. You are in a setting in which you can feed off of each other—take ideas and adapt them to your situation.” – Erica Clemmons, UFCW Local 1059, Earned Sick Time Campaign, Chicago, Illinois.

Although the internship has ended, the real work is just beginning. The skills and experience learned by interns will carry beyond this summer – GOLD interns will be an asset to UFCW Locals and the International for years to come.

Last week, staff and activists from UFCW Locals 75, 99, 230, 431, and 770  participated in a training to learn how to help UFCW members and their families become U.S. citizens.  The UFCW, in partnership with the National Partnership for New Americans are working together with legal experts across the country to provide the trainings to local unions across the country.

The training took place at UFCW Local 431 in Davenport, Iowa. It is the second in a series of immigration and citizenship workshops hosted by UFCW staff and community partners such as the  Quad Cities Interfaith Coalition, Catholic Diocese of the Quad Cities, and Eastern Iowa Center for Worker Justice. Over the course of the three day training, staff learned about the naturalization process and how to take what they learned and set up processing workshops at their own locals.

“It was valuable to sit down and go through the whole procedure for naturalization to help workers become citizens and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to help youth obtain employment authorization and protection from deportation. With a union they have a voice on the job and with citizenship and the right to vote their voice will be heard beyond that,” said Anthony Garcia from UFCW Local 431.

The first day of training focused on the importance of workers becoming citizens; naturalization requirements and pre-screening procedures; walking through the actual forms and paperwork, and waivers and exemptions from testing and process fees. The second day focused on strategies to mobilize members to naturalize and encouraging naturalized citizens to become advocates. Members also learned about DACA and how to organize a DACA workshop. The training wrapped up with a continuation of member mobilizing and legalization preparation for workshops.

“I wanted to come to the training because we have a lot of people at our local who could become citizens, especially through DACA. I want to take back what I learned these past few days and be a resource to help members through the naturalization process because it can be very complicated and confusing,” said Joyce Vazquez from UFCW Local 230.

Locals who are interested in more information or would like to host a training can contact Eduardo Pena at epena@ufcw.org.