Posts tagged UFCW
Seattle Mariners Employee Fights Biden Labor Board Cemex Decision Upending Right to Vote in Secret on Union ‘Representation’
February 13, 2024 // Under Cemex, an employer who declines to recognize a union is required to quickly ask the NLRB to hold a secret ballot election. But the NLRB doesn’t have to grant that request. A union can easily prompt the NLRB to cancel an employee vote (or even overturn an election that doesn’t go in the union’s favor) by filing charges against the company and showing the employer committed an unfair labor practice during the “critical period” leading up to the election.
Ben & Jerry’s workers at flagship Vermont plant vote to unionize
December 20, 2023 // UFCW said Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, “agreed to neutrality, paving the way for workers” to unionize. “We are glad to see Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever live up to their stated values by recognizing their workers’ right to unionize instead of forcing a long and drawn out election process,” said UFCW Local 371 President Ronald M. Petronella. Ben & Jerry’s has regularly advocated for social causes such as ending modern slavery and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Opinion: REI is Right to Question Unions
November 17, 2023 // Following the landmark 2018 Janus decision, public sector unions can’t mandate dues on non-members because it violates their First Amendment rights. The Freedom Foundation reports four of the largest public sector unions have lost a whopping 733,745 members since June 2018. An inconvenient truth: The unionized workforce is rapidly dwindling, making up 10.1% of the U.S. workforce. In comparison, the freelance workforce has grown to 45%—with 72 million individuals engaging in independent contracting full-time, part-time, or occasional. Even if I disagree with their politics, companies like REI demonstrate they can offer better benefits and perks over third-party entities like unions.
Alleged fake marijuana unions are expanding foothold across United States
November 2, 2023 // So far, Ascend is the only cannabis business in New Jersey organized by CEED, which reported no members at all in federally mandated filings with the U.S. Department of Labor. CEED claims to be an affiliate of a larger umbrella organization called the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades (IUJAT). IUJAT is not a member of the New York City Labor Council, a council spokesperson told MJBizDaily. And at least two tri-state area labor organizations, including a local Teamsters affiliate, have identified the IUJAT as a “sham” union – an organization that might talk and act like an outfit dedicated to organizing workers that instead acts on behalf of management. LaborPress – a pro-union publication which covers labor issues – described the leader of an IUJAT affiliate as an ex-Teamster suspended from that union for making “sham collective bargaining agreements” who served time in federal prison for extortion. CEED was the focus of a since-withdrawn complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Seattle Mariners Retail Employee Challenges Seattle NLRB Officials’ Refusal to Certify Overwhelming Vote Against Union
October 23, 2023 // Following an overwhelming workplace vote to remove United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union officials, Seattle Mariners MLB retail employee Tami Kecherson filed a Request for Review defending the election result at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, DC. The Request for Review comes after NLRB Region 19 officials in Seattle refused to certify the 50-9 vote result, and instead permitted UFCW union officials to “disclaim” interest in the bargaining unit and avoid restrictions on regaining control over the employees that normally apply to unions that lose elections. National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys are providing free legal aid to Kecherson in her effort to defend the election victory. The Request for Review recounts that, after the worker-requested union decertification vote finally took place, UFCW union officials filed “blocking charges” against Mariners management in an attempt to delay the certification of the vote. “Blocking charges” contain unverified and often groundless allegations of employer interference in a union election.
Nearly four decades after infamous strike, Hormel workers in Austin march on Labor Day for better pay
September 6, 2023 // Meatpacking workers in Austin say they need a raise from Hormel Foods Corp. to keep pace with inflation and potentially avert a strike. The Labor Day march aimed to rally support as the local United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) bargaining team and Hormel leadership are running out of time to negotiate a new four-year contract. Many carried the memory of the bitter 1985-86 strike against Hormel, one of the most infamous episodes in modern U.S. labor history. Workers stopped at the Spam Museum, raising as much noise as possible while onlookers took video on their phones, then went north to Hormel offices and the Spam Museum's former location, before returning to the Austin Labor Center just a few blocks west of the Cedar River. As of last week, workers are seeking $6.50 wage increases by September 2025, while Hormel is offering $2.15 over four years. The two sides are also split on insurance increases, bereavement and pension increases, among other issues. The contract talks come as Hormel profits, and the prices of bacon, turkey and other commodities, dip as markets adjust to post-pandemic conditions. The company recently lowered its financial forecast for the rest of 2023, estimating its sales will decline as much as 4% or remain flat compared to 2022.
Dunkin’ faces first union push in 12 years
September 5, 2023 // Recently, SEIU’s Union of Southern Service Workers has begun working toward a new model of unionism that relies on a combination of organizing across industries in specific cities, shop floor actions and regulatory pressure campaigns. The USSW’s strategy resulted in a strike at a South Carolina Waffle House earlier this summer, and a march on the boss at an Atlanta Dunkin’ earlier this month. Why BCTGM, which is not affiliated with SEIU, chose to pursue a union election at a 23-person Dunkin’ Donuts in Ohio is not clear. But it could signal that the upsurge in labor activity at the margins of the restaurant industry has not yet dissipated. BCTGM members struck Kellogg’s plants in 2021, and a Hormel plant in 2022.
It’s Official: Oregon Masami Foods Workers’ Vote to Oust UFCW Union Officials is Certified
August 4, 2023 // Despite union legal tactics delaying the certification of an NLRB decertification election, Masami Foods workers are free of unwanted union The case is an example of how the NLRB’s union decertification process is prone to union boss-created roadblocks. Foundation-backed reforms the NLRB adopted in 2020 made it somewhat easier for workers to remove unwanted union officials. However, the Biden NLRB is attempting to roll back these protections and make it much harder to decertify a union. For example, the 2020 reforms blocked union officials from resubmitting overlapping charges, which often contain unverified and unrelated allegations of employer actions and delay the process further. Had these reforms not been in place, the three-month delay for these workers could have been extended much longer, possibly effectively indefinitely.
Busted: Kroger Worker’s Card Illegally Altered to ‘Authorize’ Forced Dues
August 2, 2023 // UFCW’s violation of Haefner’s rights is not an isolated incident. In Pennsylvania, Foundation staff attorneys are also representing Giant Eagle supermarket cashier Josiah Leonatti, who charges UFCW Local 1776KS union officials with refusing to accommodate his religious objections to union membership (see page 3). King Soopers grocery employees from Colorado are also receiving free legal aid from Foundation staff attorneys in opposing illegal UFCW strike fines, some of which are as high as about $4,000 per worker. “Jessica Haefner knew her rights under Texas’ popular Right to Work law and actively asserted them, yet UFCW union officials still brazenly took her money against her will,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix.
Dallas-Based Danone North America Employee Slams Union with Federal Charges for Illegally Seizing Money from Pay
July 12, 2023 // Alex Botello, a Dallas-based employee of food manufacturer Danone North America, has hit the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 540 union with federal charges after union officials illegally seized union dues from his paycheck. Botello filed his charges at Region 16 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Dallas with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Botello’s charge says that UFCW bosses rebuffed or ignored his two attempts to revoke a dues checkoff authorization. Botello maintains that the union’s actions violate his rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which is supposed to protect American private sector workers’ right to refrain from union activity.