UFCW boycotts Macy's

Just what a retailer needs during a recession:

A labor dispute between a union and one of the major stores at Tacoma Mall is heating up. Last week, members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 367 voted to approve a strike against Macy’s. The two sides have been negotiating since January. Local 367 represents about 240 workers at Macy’s, most in the store at Tacoma Mall, and about 15 in the furniture gallery on the other side of Interstate 5.


[snip]


They are awaiting permission from the international union headquarters before going out on strike. This could include calling upon the public to boycott Macy’s. Local members would prefer not to do so, he noted.

Stay tuned.

__________________
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Duuude! Marijuana Workers of the World Unite!

Well, if the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) can't unionize Wal-Mart and Whole Foods, they might as well settle on unionizing pot growers.

At a ceremony hosted by Oakland City Council's Rebecca Kaplan, 100 employees at medical marijuana dispensary and education hub Oaksterdam University turned in their membership cards to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 5.

It may well be the first union pot shop in the country, if not the world.

But, alas, there seems to be more than just high times at the bargaining table afoot:

Workers at three medical marijuana businesses in Oakland will announce Friday that they have unionized, another step in a concerted campaign aimed at bringing legitimacy to a once-hidden sector of the state's economy and boosting the marijuana-legalization initiative.

Perhaps the UFCW bosses will start claiming taking their dues payments in seeds.

Now, wouldn't that be something?

UPDATE:  Oh! Wait!  There's more:

If California voters in November approve the Control and Tax Cannabis initiative, which would legalize marijuana possession and use of small amounts of marijuana for those over 21 and tax it, there could be thousands of new workers ripe for unionizing, said Dan Rush, a Local 5 organizer.

In addition to the retail clerks at the dispensaries, union organizers anticipate thousands of new cannabis-processing jobs, agricultural work for growers and security positions at dispensaries.

"These will be good union jobs with middle-class incomes," said Ron Lind, the president of Local 5 and a vice president of the 1.3 million-member international union.

The union has not officially endorsed November's legalization measure. Those recommendations could come in July. But Lind said the union's national leadership is "supportive" of the local's new outreach and it reflects the interests of members.

Yet, Big Government's Bret Jacobson has a slightly different take on the unionized pot heads:

Well, maybe now we know why: they have been laying the groundwork to organize the entire food chain, as it were, since they have organized a pot shop in Oakland. Now you can Super Size it and smoke a spliff without ever crossing a picket line.

Indeed, unionized pot heads swinging through the unionized drive-thru:  There is something to be said for unions creating their own supply and demand.

And, we thought unions had reached their low point when the SEIU unionized strippers exotic dancers some years back!

__________________
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Dues-sucking unions threaten blood collection at Red Cross

 

Led by the United Food & Commercial Workers, unions including the Teamsters, SEIU, Steelworkers, CWA, and OPEIU, may be striking the Red Cross next week.

Unionized blood-services workers at the American Red Cross' regional offices based in Toledo have notified the agency they could strike June 2 if they do not have a new contract by then.

The strike, which would involve 184 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 75, would be one of seven walkouts being coordinated in several states by different trade unions, all to commence at 9 a.m. that day.

[snip]

However, Mr. Dudley said the UFCW is coordinating its actions with several other unions, including the Teamsters, the Service Employees International Union, the United Steelworkers, the Communications Workers of America, and the Office and Professional Employees International - representing about 1,000 workers total at Red Cross blood services offices in Michigan, California, Connecticut, Georgia, New York, and West Virginia. None of the unions reached new contracts, Mr. Dudley said.

The Red Cross has a contingency plan in the event the unions strike.


__________________
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Arizona Electrifying Response to the Left's Boycotts-R-Us Campaign

Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything. 

Wyatt Earp

With the SEIU, the UFCW and the AFL-CIO up in arms over Arizona's new immigration law (which enforces already-existing law), Obama administration officials Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano have admitted they haven't actually read the law, despite their condemnation.

Meanwhile, the City of Los Angeles has opted to boycott the State of Arizona.  According to union-backed Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa:

Boycotts work. We saw this in the early 1990s, when people last boycotted Arizona for the state's refusal to observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: people canceled their vacations to Scottsdale and the Grand Canyon; conventions were moved from Phoenix to Los Angeles, and the NFL moved SuperBowl XXVII from Tempe to Pasadena.

In response to L.A.'s arrogant attempt to economically blackmail the Grand Canyon state, Arizona's Corporation Commissioner gave the L.A. mayor a message:  Two can play that game.

In a letter [see below] to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Gary Pierce said a boycott war is bad for both sides, and said he would "be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements" to end the electricity flowing to Los Angeles.

"I am confident that Arizona's utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands," Mr. Pierce said. "If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona's economy."

We'll have to wait and see who blinks first...Arizona or Los Angeles (and its lights).

Response to the LA Boycott by AZ Corp Commissioner
__________________
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

SEIU's New Burger Queen? Internal Documents Expose Plan to Unionize Fast-Food Industry

If you'd like to see how a union plans to exploit and target workers if the hallucinogencially-named Employee Free Choice Act (aka "card-check") is passed, read this post.

Last weekend, we reported on what appeared to be a new union battle that the SEIU was going to wage by invading the UFCW's turf and attempting to unionize grocery workers.  The foundation of this was an interview new SEIU boss Mary Kay Henry gave to a reporter.  On Tuesday, the SEIU was forced to issue a press release reassuring the UFCW it had no plans on invading (also known as raiding) the food sector.

SEIU fully recognizes the food sector as a core industry of sister union United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents more than a million supermarket workers.

Well, it turns out that the SEIU's "correction" (see above) may not be entirely accurate.

Internal SEIU documents have exposed a December 2009 plan hatched to unionize the nation's fast food workers.  The SEIU plan details how the purple behemoth plans on targeting fast-food chains in Los Angeles first, the using L.A. and an "east coast" city as a spring board into other cities.

The SEIU's plan is based on a labor landscape that is post Employee Free Choice Act, but its strategies demonstrate how the SEIU plans to use EFCA to unionize an almost-entirely union-free industry.  While there is much to comment on about the SEIU plan and how a union targets workers within an industry (see highlighted text), we're just going to show you the plan itself.

In its plan, the SEIU states:

Our initial probing in this industry has taken place in the Los Angeles metro area.  Los Angeles County has over 60,000 fast food workers in just the top ten chains.  When we mapped out the restaurants of the major chains, we saw that they encompass large groupings of low income tracts.  While just over 20,000 workers are employed in the top 10 chains in Fast Food in LA, we have broke [sic] down 75% of the geography into 4 Clusters.  This encompasses just over 15,000 of the 20,000 workers.

The SEIU's One-year goal:

Organize 15,000 food service workers in LA County and thousands of additional workers in an east coast market within the first 6 months, and begin raising the standards for these workers.

The SEIU lays out its strategy, as follow:

• Initiate a focused experiment in one or two metro areas to test the organizing theory and bring resources to bear on a limited geographical target.
• Choose metro areas with a favorable local political environment and workforce composition (Los Angeles and an east coast market)
• Target 7-10 of the largest chains to keep bargaining manageable and map out geographic clusters where field work can be concentrated.
• Build broad-based support for targeted workers via extensive community outreach and organizing and political work with prominent local elected officials
• While staying focused on the 7-120 chains, bring workers together across companies within geographic clusters to build a sense of movement and solidarity.
• Use a living wage as a vehicle to excite, build momentum, build worker lists/ID potential leaders and potentially support collective bargaining.  We believe we will have enough traction with an ordinance to use as a legitimate tool for organizing and potentially as legislation to raise standards.
• Move fast and furious with an army of 200-300 Staff/MOs/VOs/other volunteer organizers and the necessary number of leads to:
• Petition for living wage
• ID leaders 
• Bring workers together within geographies
• Sign authorization cards
• File on dozens of restaurants per week 

While the SEIU's plan was prepared during the reign of Andy Stern and presented to the SEIU's Executive Board, there is no indication to believe that this plan has changed as Mary Kay Henry has committed $4 million to organizing and was part of the Executive Board at the time of this proposal.

You can read the rest of the SEIU plan here (captured just before it was mysteriously 'scrubbed')...

h/t: SternBurgerWithFries.

__________________ 

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

 

Told Ya So...SEIU's New President Walks Back Statement on Unionizing Grocery Workers

Either Mary Kay Henry, the new boss of the Union or Purple People Eaters misspoke, or she was taken out of context.  In either case, the SEIU had to issue a press release on Monday, walking back from Queen Mary's Saturday reported statement.

On Saturday, Mary Kay Henry had a conference call with reporters.  Afterward, BusinessWeek reported:

Mary Kay Henry, elected today as president of the Service Employees International Union, pledged to spend $4 million organizing employees in businesses such as banks and supermarkets.

On this, we noted:

Without clarification, it is difficult to know the context in which Henry referenced unionizing supermarkets. If she is intent on unionizing supermarkets through the SEIU, she is clearly stepping on the UFCW's turf.

Monday's press release emphatically denied that the SEIU would be starting a turf war with the UFCW:

SEIU plans to engage in conversations with sister unions throughout the labor movement to discuss our shared interests. However, despite a recent media report, SEIU has no intention of organizing grocery workers. SEIU fully recognizes the food sector as a core industry of sister union United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents more than a million supermarket workers.

We would have loved to have heard the angry telephone call Joe Hansen (UFCW) made to Queen Mary after seeing the reports.
__________________
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Shaw's bloodies UFCW's nose again...

Once upon a time, the United Food & Commercial Workers was the bully of the grocery industry.  However, having had its clock cleaned so thoroughly in the famous grocery strike of 2003 and 2004, the union has become a shadow of its former self.

A case in point is the UFCW's latest press release:

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 791 announced today that Shaw’s Supermarkets rejected the union’s contract offer and countered with a very regressive proposal that is significantly worse than their two previous packages. With no agreement reached, the strike at the Shaw’s Methuen Perishable Distribution Center is in its ninth week. Local 791 has filed an unfair labor practice against Shaw’s with the National Labor Relations Board stating the company is bargaining in “bad faith.”


[snip]


Since the onset of the strike nearly two months ago, concerned citizens, political, religious, labor and community leaders from across New England have expressed their support for the striking Methuen workers, and have called on the company to bargain in good faith so their workers can go back to work. After the company’s regressive proposal yesterday, supporters of the Methuen workers are vowing to continue the fight until Shaw’s and its parent company — Supervalu – agree to a decent and fair proposal.

Problem is, the company has already exercised its legal right to permanently replace the UFCW strikers, leaving the union little choice but to issue press releases as it hopes for a National Labor Relations Board ruling in its favor.
__________________
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Would UFCW strikers benefit from Employee Free Choice Act?

Let's see if you can find the flaw in this story:

UFCW strikers go on strike over management greed.

Members of the United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 1167 have been on strike for nearly a week.

With earnings of $19.55 an hour, they will have wasted $782 in wages as of tomorrow.

The UFCW workers are out on strike over wages--they want a $0.10 per hour increase

Their employer does not want to give it to them.

"I think they've been offered a very good contract," says their boss.

Their employer is currently using management and (presumably) temporary replacement workers to fill the strikers' jobs for now.

If their employer gives in to the strikers demands tomorrow (one week after the strike started) by granting the $0.10 per hour increase, it will take the strikers three years and 40 weeks to recoup what they have lost in the one week they have been out on strike.  If the strike lasts a month, it will take the strikers 15 years and two weeks to make up the money they will have lost...if they get that dime an hour increase.

Now, here's where it gets interesting:

Unions have spent years and hundreds of millions of over a billion dollars to get politicians elected in order to get a law passed called the Employee Free Choice Act.  One of the rallying cries for EFCA is the allegedly weak labor laws here in the U.S.  And, one of the cornerstones of EFCA is a process called binding arbitration--a process where a government arbitrator imposes a union contract on the unionized employer.

In fact, here's what one union has about EFCA on its website:

The Employee Free Choice Act is legislation designed to protect the middle class by giving workers a free choice and fair chance to join a union. Employee Free Choice would ultimately raise wages, benefits, and working conditions for workers. It would do it by empowering workers with the chance to join a union in a simple one-step process: if a majority of workers choose union representation, their company must honor that choice and negotiate a union contract. It also holds companies accountable for trying to suppress workers’ freedom to join a union. CEOs negotiate their contracts—Employee Free Choice would ensure workers have the same right. With more members uniting for a voice on the job, we can build more power at the bargaining table to negotiate better contracts and restore the American Dream for millions of workers.

Despite the fact that EFCA will ultimately destroy more jobs, unions have used just about every labor-management conflict imagineable (like the example above) to push for this legislation.

So here's a couple of questions (and the rub):

Would EFCA help the strikers that we used in the example above get their $0.10 per hour increase?

Would it matter?

Or, since these workers are already unionized and EFCA's binding arbitration provision only applies to newly unionized workers, would they still be striking their greedy employer over a measly $0.10 per hour?

Does it matter that the greedy employer cited above is, in fact, the United Food & Commercial Workers whose own employees went out on strike last week?

And does it matter that the above EFCA quote is from the same UFCW local's website?

Perhaps the word hypocrisy should begin with capital "U."

...but it probably doesn't matter.
__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Labor Shorts: Exposing Union Bosses One Skid Mark at a Time

This week, to give break to the weightier milieu of the union agenda we wanted to lighten things up a bit by bringing back our ever-popular Labor Shorts and share some of the usual (and not-so-usual) shenanigans of today's union bosses:

First things first:

• The NLRB Scorecard: With the new, union-controlled National Labor Relations Board finally seated, we introduced the NLRB Scoreboard on the LaborUnionReport blog over the weekend to keep an unofficial tally of NRLB decisions, as well as general NLRB "stuff" (blogs and other souvenirs from the Land of Liebman and Becker).  If you have suggestions, blogs you'd like to see posted, tips, or see a case we haven't posted, please give us a shout here.
• NLRB Blowback: The business community is on edge, as Politico notes this morning, over President Obama's appointment of Craig Becker to the NLRB, as well as the prospect of appointing the NLRB's General Counsel in the Fall.  We blogged about it here.

All About Andy...

• His 'time to leave'...Ever since SEIU top boss Andy Stern's announced "retirement" from the SEIU last week, the pundits (from yours truly to Glenn Beck) have been trying to figure out why.  Then, on Thursday, like a post-bean dip epiphany, everything became eye-wateringly clear with a story that summed it all up:  Andy changed America forever, lost interest in the day-to-day running of the SEIU and got bored.  In fact, in his pontificating-on-all-things-union interview with a fawning Ezra Klein, Stern ends the speculation (and interview) by stating that he's going to the beach (...we'll see).
• Good Riddance... says former friend and current arch rival Sal Roselli.
• A Purple Palace Coup challenges the Queen of Labor... Instead of ensuring a smooth transition for his presumed successor, Anna Burger, Andy has left Anna flailing without as much as a simple nod or endorsement. The Queen of Labor's throne very is much in play, with a challenge from inside the purple palace.  Now, in an internal letter to the SEIU Executive Board, four out of nine executive vice presidents have endorsed one of their own, Mary Kay Henry, in her bid to replace Andy Stern.
• AFSCME and I'll tell ya... Loud, foul-mouth AFSCME boss Gerry McEntee threw a splash of cold water on the hopes of a family reunion in the House of Labor, stating the SEIU's rumored re-entry into the AFL-CIO is not likely.
• Now, that's what friends are for... As Andy looked on last Friday, actor-turned-union-activist Danny Glover received a pair of shiny silver bracelets at one of the Sodexho protests.
• A most Dangerous Place... Between Andy Stern and a microphone, notes Bret Jacobson on Breitbart's Big Government.com, as Andy asserts unions don't cost taxpayers a dime...(!)

When Hypocrisy Strikes...

• Shock! Not All Unions Like Card-Check...? After hundreds of millions spent and years of hard work to pass the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free Choice Act, it's hard to believe (well, maybe not) that when a union's own employees want to unionize, the union-employer wouldn't just voluntarily succumb agree to recognize the union based on card-check.  Such is the case here.
• Shhh!... Don't tell the UFCW you saw this, 'cause this is not your normal UFCW strike and they'd rather not have it talked about.
• Oh Hilda! You've got picketers at your door!  Will you or won't you cross?
• An Injury to One?... AFSCME throws Solidarity Under the Bus...  (again...)

Strike That!...

• Eee Gads! That Stinks! New Yorkers may soon discover the joys of hailing their own taxis, hauling their own garbage to the curb and opening their own doors if SEIU's 32BJ pulls 30,000 doormen (and women) out on strike tomorrow.  [Factoid: NYC produces 11,000 tons of garbage every day...who knew?]
• A juicy one...? The UFCW's RWDSU might be walking out on strike at Mott's NY applesauce and juice plant.
• Week Four... The Machinists at Merrill Manufacturing Corp. have been on the lines for four weeks.  Problem is, the company is operating at full capacity with replacement workers.
• Schools Out... Teachers in the North Penn School District walked out on their students Monday, causing classes to be cancelled.
• No Contract, No Talks, but No Strike either... The Teamster still don't have a contract with Waste Management in WaSta, but they're not striking either.  (Here's why.)

And then there's this...

• The bigger they are... On the same day President Obama rewarded his union buddies with a federal PLA on construction projects, a union-owned and built high rise was condemned for shoddy construction.

If you can't do the time...

• Stealing $50,000 earns this union boss no time served ever
• Stealing $110,000 netted this CWA boss five years probation, six months home detention and 200 hours of community service
• Allegedly stealing $46,000, draining the union's bank account, a firefighter from Norwell, CT earned himself a pair of shiny new bracelets
  
  

And this...

• Dumb & Dumber? Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) call unions strongest proponent of good government.
• In space DC, no one can hear you scream...  Where are the investigations (and media)??? A week ago, it was revealed that the SEIU paid the White House Political Director (former SEIU boss Patrick Gaspard) $37,000 in 2009 and, so far, there is only...silence.

And, that, dear readers, wraps up this week's edition of LaborUnionReport.com's LaborShorts.

__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Rotten Apples: UFCW Authorizes Strike Against Motts

As the UFCW contends with its own workers out on strike, the union is trying to stir up some bad press for the makers of all things apple:

Over 300 members of Local 220 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, UFCW, voted to authorize a strike if no agreement can be reached with Mott's for workers at the company's Williamson, NY facility. The vote, which was 250-5, gives authorization for the union to call a strike if the company continues to engage in unfair labor practices and refuses to bargain.

"We may have no choice," said RWDSU Local 220 President Mike Leberth. "All we want is a fair contract but the company refuses to even talk to us."

This could get juicy.

[Gawd, that was bad!]

__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Not Your Normal UFCW Strike

With unions, they just go together like hand and glove:  Strikes and unions, that is.

A unionized workforce negotiates with management.  Management gives the union workers a lousy offer and the union workers strike.

It happens more often than most union bosses would care to admit.

And they really would rather you not know about this.

The United Food & Commercial Workers is a 1.3 million-member amalgamation of a union representing baggers, checkers, meat cutters, deli persons, slaughterhouse workers, nursing home aides and other assorted classifications.

And it has a bit of a union problem:

Workers who process union insurance claims and membership dues paperwork went on strike Thursday -- against the union that employs them.

About 20 office workers at Local 1167 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, the union that represents employees of the area's major supermarkets, walked off their jobs at the local's Bloomington office in a contact dispute at 3:30 p.m. and began picketing their own union.

The office workers, who are also members of the union, say they no longer want to be classified and paid the same levels as workers in stores.

Ariana Banuelos, one of the striking workers, said she and most of the office workers once worked in the stores -- and left to do more challenging work. She said they should be paid better for that.

"We asked for 10 cents more an hour and were turned down. They pretty much said no, no, no," Banuelos said of the union management. "Our only other alternative is to strike."

Bill Lathrop, president of Local 1167, said the office workers have always been paid based on the contract UFCW negotiates with the stores. Currently the office workers make $19.55 per hour.

Lathrop said it was painful being picketed by his own workers but he is not planning any immediate steps to rectify the situation.

"I think they've been offered a very good contract," Lathrop said.  [Emphasis added.]

Wait.  Let's see if we've got this straight:

Management (the UFCW) is letting its own workers go out on strike over ten cents an hour?

Talk about corporate union greed.

According to the union's website:

At approximately 3:30 PM April 15th, 2010 the Dues Membership and Benefits Department employees of UFCW 1167 turned down the Area Standard Agreement of $19.55 per hour (Experienced Food Clerk Rate) and walked off the job.

All employees here at the local have an outstanding benefits package superior to that of the stores (Holiday, Pension, Full time 80 HRS of sick leave, etc)

The Union Office remains open 8:00AM to 4:00PM and our management staff is available to answer contract questions and file grievances. Union Representatives will continue to serve our membership out in the stores as usual. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our membership.

Sadly, though, it's not the first time the UFCW has had its own union staff go out on strike.

But, let's just keep this our little secret...k?

__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

NLRB issues complaint against UFCW: Union behemoth refused to recognize employees' right to quit union

The United Food & Commercial Workers, the mega-union that represents grocery workers in many states, has refused to recognize employees' right to quit the union, according to a complaint issued by the National Labor Relations Board.

Fry's Food Stores of Arizona and the United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 99 violated labor laws by refusing to recognize an employee group's efforts to quit the union, according to a complaint issued March 31 by the National Labor Relations Board.

The ruling could make it easier for some 30,000 UFCW members in Arizona to quit the union.

Union spokeswoman Ellen Anreder said the UFCW plans to fight the complaint. A Fry's representative did not return calls seeking comment.

The action stems from unfair-labor-practices charges filed in December by the National Right to Work Foundation on behalf of seven Fry's employees. The charges allege that the workers resigned their union memberships in writing at various times in fall 2009, as the organization was preparing to strike against grocers Fry's and Safeway.

The union refused to acknowledge the resignations and continued to collect dues, which were deducted from the workers' paychecks by Fry's, despite written notices rescinding the authorization, the charges state.

We've written before of the UFCW in Arizona, including its attacks on Arizona-based grocer Basha's.

For more information on the United Food & Commercial Workers, go here.

__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Going to the Mattresses: Unions at war with each other over fat tax

A couple of weeks ago, it was Teamsters protesting soda taxes in Philadelphia but this story from New York gives a whole new meaning to the term Union Fat Cats:

Some background:

In late February, outgoing former cokehead New York governor David Paterson proposed putting his fiscally-floundering state onto the path to skinnydom by putting a penny-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages--most notably soda.

Paterson's proposal, like Philly Mayor Nutter's soda tax idea, has set off a firestorm of criticism and prompted the forming of a group calling itself New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes. While the anti-tax crowd consists of a broad coalition of businesses, it also has unions involved who have done a few union protests at the state capital.

Unionized workers clearly have some skin in this game, as many work for companies that produce the savory (and sugar-filled) sodas being targeted as the fomenters of high fatitude.

Unions (and their employers) fear that if soda prices go up, people will be inclined to drink less soda. Less soda sold means less soda made and fewer jobs for the soda makers. That's not too hard to understand, right?

Who could blame the Teamsters for getting a bit testy?

Except maybe Andy Stern and his Union of Purple People Eaters...

Here's where it gets a bit fizzy and, of course, it involves America's President Obama's favorite union, the Service Employees International Union...

As is it with so many other union issues, the SEIU is on the opposite end of the fat tax issue with the other unions. In fact, the SEIU is siding, supporting and funding the fatricidal sodaphobes through a group called the Alliance for a Healthier New York.

According to AHNY's website:

Two studies show that increasing price can decrease consumption. One completed by the U.S. Economic Research Service found that a 10% increase in the price of soda would lead to an 8% reduction in consumption among low income populations. In a Norwegian study, increasing the price of soft drinks by 10.8% was estimated to decrease consumption by nearly 7% in the lowest consumption group, by 17% in the highest consumption group, and by an average 9.5% overall. Increasing the price by 27.3% was associated with a drop in consumption of 17% in the lowest use group, 44% in the highest use group, and an overall 24% reduction in consumption across the population.

In other words, the SEIU is supporting:

1. Behavior modification through the imposition of economic penalties
2. Higher taxes that will negatively impact low-income workers and their families
3. Higher taxes that will likely cause members of other unions to lose their jobs

Obviously, the Teamsters working for beverage makers Coca-Cola and Pepsico have a lot to lose but another union is getting into the fight of the union fat cats as well: The United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW).

The UFCW is the large behemoth union that represents grocery store workers throughout much of New York. As a union representing grocery workers, apparently, the UFCW realizes the fat tax would cause its members hardship as well and is throwing its weight behind killing the tax, putting it squarely at odds with the SEIU*.

The UFCW announced it is now beginning to run ads that read:

We're all tired of being taxed by the government. Still, not all taxes are created equal. A Regressive Tax (the kind that hurts lower income people much more than wealthier people) is one of the worst. Any tax on sugar-based products will hurt thousands of New Yorkers in neighborhoods with meager purchasing options. In these communities, people are forced to shop in smaller stores, such as bodgeas and limited-product markets where they have fewer healthy alternatives. The sugar tax will force people to pay more simply because they have no other choice. [Emphasis added.]

It is fascinating to watch the machinations of unions like the UFCW and Teamsters fight soda taxes.

In fact, it seems almost...well...revolutionary.

If this sort of behavior keeps up and some politician gets the idea to tax other sugary drinks like, say... Lipton Iced Tea, these unions may actually become (Iced)Tea Party activists.

Then what will the SEIU do?

__________________

* Interestingly, the UFCW, like the Teamsters, is also part of the SEIU's Change to Win federation—the 2005 brainchild of Andy Stern that was formed to breakup the AFL-CIO when AFL-CIO bosses wouldn't go along with Stern's plan to consolidate the federation.

__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Fat Cat photo credit: Moe

Socialists: UFCW's New Stop & Shop Contract is 'Crap'...

Just hours before 36,000 New England grocery workers were to strike, negotiators for the United Food & Commercial Workers and grocer Stop & Shop reached a new three-year contract.  While there appears to have been some give and take in the agreement, the Socialist take on the contract is anything but flattering:

...[S]ome of the workers who gathered for the meeting at a function hall in Randolph, located just south of Boston, were angry that a portion of the pay increases for this year had been replaced by a signing payment and the increases themselves were negligible.

Brian [an employee] said there was good and bad in the contract. “The wage rate is not good, especially for the part-timers. I think all the wages could be higher.”Andrea Fay, a bakery worker who voted for the contract, said, “It’s not that great, but I can’t afford to strike, I’d lose my home. I’ve been doing this for 20 years. The company is going to give you what they want to.”

The wage increases are indeed paltry. Full-time weekly employees will receive a $750 signing bonus and a wage increase totaling $1.15 an hour over the course of the three-year contract. That figure includes a 25-cent an hour pay raise this year, beginning in August.

Part-time workers with more than two years of service will receive a $400 signing bonus, and a total 60-cent per hour increase over three years. But their first raise of 30 cents per hour is not due until March next year, with a further 30 cents per hour in 2012.

Part-timers with 12 to 24 months of service will get a $300 signing bonus next week and a total 55-cent per hour increase: 25 cents per hour in March 2011 and a 30 cent per hour hike in March 2012. Those with less than 12 months service will receive a $100 signing bonus and a 25-cent per hour raise in 2011 and a further 25-cent an hour raise in 2012.

Under the new contract there will be no extra health care costs for this year, but from March 2011 there will be increases of between $12 and $20 per month for all full- and part-time employees. The rate of increase will depend on the cost of current policies, and the increases will remain in place for the next three years.

Many of the part-time employees had hoped the contract negotiations would provide an opportunity to improve their working conditions. Gary Little is a part-time worker at the Stop & Shop in Watertown, Mass. “For part-timers it’s crap,” he said of the contract. “I work part-time. We have to wait until Fridays to get our schedule. You can’t plan anything, like a doctor’s appointment. How can you make an appointment for the next Monday when you don’t know what days and hours you’ll be working? Everything’s up in the air.


More here.

There's no mention yet on whether there will be an increase on union dues, but time will tell.

------------------
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776


Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.


For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Countdown: UFCW Just Hours Away From Striking New England Grocery Chain?

With an already expired contract, the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) is gearing up for a possible strike tomorrow against New England grocer Stop & Shop.

However, since losing the 2004-2005 grocery strike (and lockout) in Southern California, the UFCW has refrained from striking grocery chains over the last few years (including in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico earlier this year).

More here...

---------------------------

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Unions Have Become Democrats' ATM Machine

Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor has a bone to pick with Democrats.

I understand that a party that alleges to support workers and advance the middle class, uses the labor movement as an ATM, as a source of free campaign workers, as a strong back to carry them to victory, and a perceived weak mind that would not notice the huge disparity between promises and deliveries. Suffice to say, we have noticed.

Sagar's not alone. Union bosses and other Lefties all over the country have been grousing over the Democrats' inability to pass the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free Choice Act and, more recently, failing to seat hand-picked SEIU attorney Craig Becker onto the National Labor Relations Board.

Connie Leyva, president of Local 1428 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents grocery workers in western San Bernardino County, said she was "infuriated" by that [Becker] vote....

"The hard part for us is getting our Democratic elected officials to commit to doing what they're supposed to do," she said. "They're wavering and they need to act."

We've been saying for quite some time that the Democratic Party has become the de facto Labor Party in the United States.  However, after spending hundreds of millions of dollars to secure the obedience of the Democratic majorites in Congress (and the White House), apparently union bosses are beginning to feel they've been scammed.
-------------------------------

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776


Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

Cross-posted.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com

With Friends Like These: Colorado Dem gets dissed by Big Labor

Not even a week has passed since Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) dutifully voted for Big Labor's nominee for the National Labor Relations Board and his supposed union friends have already thrown him under the bus by endorsing his rival.

Ex-CO House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D) received 2 key labor union endorsements this week, less than a day after his primary rival, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), made a play to rally them to his side.


The CO Teamsters and UFCW announced that they are throwing their weight behind Romanoff in the Dem primary, citing their "long-standing relationship" with him. The 2 are among the largest unions in the state.

"Andrew Romanoff was always straight with us," CO Teamsters pres. Steve Vairma said in a statement, taking a veiled jab at Bennet over his less-than-clear stand on card check. "We didn't see eye to eye on every issue, but his door was always open, and we could trust him to tell us the truth."

Ouch! 

How does it feel to viewed as a liar by your friends, Senator?

You know, as the saying goes: With friends like these, who needs enemies?
-------------------------------
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776


Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com

Honor UFCW's Amish Market Boycott? It depends what's on tomorrow's menu...

The United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) staged a protest in New York City earlier today to announce a boycott of Amish Market [no relation to the Amish of horse and buggy fame].

After a Rosie O'Donnell impersonating politician spoke at the rally, avid union man, Tommy Keating proudly stated [at 1:15] that "the country should be run by unions."  [Apparently, Tommy doesn't watch the news?]

However, when asked if he would continue eating at the Amish Market (or would he support the UFCW's boycott), avid union man Tommy Keating declared:

“We’ll see. Depends on what’s on tomorrow's menu.”

It sounds as though, in a union town like New York, a boycott can be broken by serving a pastrami and rye.

And union bosses wonder why they can't keep members?


Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

UNBELIEVABLE! Union Gives Ousted Bosses Truck and a Car As Retirement Gifts!

A week ago, we wrote about Crisanta Duran's campaign for Congress.  Ms. Duran is the daughter of accused nepotist and money mismanager, Ernie Duran, Jr. the outgoing boss of Colorado's UFCW Local 7.

As Mr. Duran was voted out of office earlier this year amid allegations of improprieties, it seems his soon-to-be former members may have made the right call.

According to Denver's Westword, the outgoing Executive Board of UFCW Local 7 has voted to give Mr. Duran and his sidekick outgoing Secretary-Treasurer Stan Kania their union vehicles as parting gifts--gifts paid for by his union members dues.

Today was the outgoing executive board's last meeting. Duran serves as chairman of that board and when his term is up on Dec. 31, he's slated to keep his 2007 diesel-fueled Ford truck. Kania will drive home his 2006 Ford Five Hundred car, which he says has 59,000 miles on it.

"I told the board that if they wanted to do me a favor, they'd give me a motorcycle," Kania jokingly told Westword last month. "They said no."

They don't call it a racket for nuttin'...

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

After Biting Basha's Into Bankruptcy, Union Calls Off Attack Dogs

The United Food & Commercial Workers hates nonunionized grocery stores. So much so, in fact, that the UFCW bosses' approach to nonunion grocers has been, as former UFCW president Doug Dority declared, to: "...either reduce these chains' market share ... or we must put them out of business. There is no other option."

Tom McNutt, another UFCW chieftain, once stated, "If we can't organize [nonunion supermarkets], the best thing to do is to erode their business as much as possible."

In Arizona, that 'scorched earth' mentality forced family-owned Basha's supermarkets to file for bankruptcy in July. Before finally succumbing, the iconic Arizona grocer had endured four years of relentless and damaging UFCW attacks.

In July, the Arizona Republic noted:

The 1.4 million-member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has conducted a years-long campaign to punish Bashas' for daring to resist its efforts to unionize company workers.

The union manufactured a dubious "scandal" about baby food sold at Bashas' stores. It launched a remorseless campaign, especially in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods, to turn loyal Bashas' customers away from the company.

It has organized rallies alleging, egregiously and falsely, that the Basha family is somehow anti-immigrant. It has spread baseless rumors about the cleanliness of Bashas' warehouses. And it has conducted a leaflet campaign characterizing Bashas' as a higher-cost supermarket than its competitors.

It would be one thing if any of the allegations against Bashas' were proved. They are not. It would be another thing if the Bashas' employees the union seeks to represent are underpaid compared with unionized workers elsewhere. They are not. Bashas' workers actually make slightly more than local union-represented supermarket employees. [Emphasis added.]

Moreover, when Basha's filed in July we pointed out that:

Bashas Supermarkets, Inc. had 14,000 employees not so long ago. To the UFCW, Bashas' 14,000 employee workforce meant approximately $420,000 (at $30 per month) in union dues every month, or $5,040,000 every year. [The chain is now down to 10,000 employees.]

The problem was, the UFCW didn't want the employees to vote on union representation through a secret-ballot, the UFCW wanted the Company to agree to "neutrality" and "card-check." In essence, like a gang of rustlers trying to steal a rancher's herd in the dead of night, the UFCW wanted the Bashas' family to turn their employees over to the union without a fight. [Emphasis added.]

Yesterday, a truce was called between the UFCW and Basha's, making way for Basha's to emerge from bankruptcy:

According to court documents, both sides have agreed to call off negative informational campaigns against one another and settle a raft of lawsuits.

"All parties will terminate hostile public campaigns and the use of Websites supporting these campaigns," the agreement reads.

Additionally, the union will suspend its efforts to organize the supermarket chain's employees "for a period of time."

The documents did not specify a time, but Phoenix labor lawyer Christopher Mason said six months to a year is typical.

Given the destruction that the United Food & Commerical Workers has caused to this well-regarded Arizona grocer, as well as the thousands of jobs it has cost Arizonans, "six months to a year" seems much too short.

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

-------------------------

"I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes." Thomas Paine December 23, 1776