Posts Categorized: Organizing

On Sept. 24, over 900 workers at AHRC Nassau in New York joined UFCW Local 888 for a better life. AHRC, which has headquarters in Brookville, N.Y., provides services for over 4,000 children and adults with developmental disabilities in Nassau County, Long Island.

The workers, who are employed as direct support professionals at 103 AHRC Nassau locations, including group homes and 24-day habilitation programs, joined our union to secure better pay, a safer work environment, and a voice in the workplace. 

UFCW Local 888 strategically assigned organizing staff to the campaign based on cultural backgrounds, languages, and demographics to reach workers effectively, and maintained a highly involved committee with daily communication and monthly in-person meetings. The campaign included direct engagement with workers through in-person meetings at their workplaces and homes. UFCW Local 888 also leveraged social media to communicate with workers and emphasize the benefits of union membership. This organizing effort was further strengthened by the support of staff from UFCW Region 1 and Region 2, as well as UFCW Locals 1208, 1445, 1500, and the RWDSU and RWDSU/UFCW Local 338.

These workers joined our union via a mail ballot election. Ballots were mailed out by the NLRB on August 22. The deadline to return completed ballots was Sept. 12, and ballots were counted on Sept. 24.

“Local 888 didn’t just tell us to go organize on our own, they were right there with us the whole way,” said William Lewis, a direct support professional at AHRC Nassau. “Now that we are part of Local 888, we are so happy and grateful to the union for helping us finally have a real voice at the table.”

Truck drivers at the Tricont Trucking Company in Columbus, Ohio, joined UFCW Local 1059 on Sept. 10.

The 12 truck drivers, who deliver refrigerated products for Del Monte Foods, joined UFCW Local 1059 because they wanted stronger workplace protections and a more stable work environment, and cited shifting company policies as a major concern. In-person meetings and conversations helped fuel the organizing campaign, which culminated in the successful unionization effort.

The truck drivers are looking forward to negotiating a first union contract that brings more transparency, fairness and security to their jobs.

“The company took away our safety bonus without telling us,” said Cherish Johnson, who is a Tricont Trucking Company employee. “They took some of our routes away and gave them to temp workers. We need the protection of a union contract now more than ever.”