Teach the Children Well

Each Generation Benefits from the Union Values of Solidarity.

With every new generation, the task begins anew: passing on the values we have acquired in life’s journey to those who are following us down the road.

We might have groaned and complained a little, but the advice we heard from our parents and their peers will keep enriching us long after they have gone. So, too, will the younger generations appreciate learning those same lessons from us.  

No lesson is more important than the lesson of Solidarity: the idea we are made stronger when we work together toward a common goal.

“Solidarity Works” is the motto of UFCW 8-Golden State and it has been the guiding principle of the entire Labor Movement since its beginnings many decades ago.

Alone, a working person has no chance of negotiating the terms of her or his employment on an equal basis with an employer who has far more wealth and power. Without a Union, a worker is essentially forced to take whatever the company is willing to give, and it better be taken with a smile!

But with a Union, the equation changes dramatically. Through collective bargaining, the entire work force is able to negotiate a fair deal and receive a proper share of the benefits of its labor.

In this Voice of Action magazine, you will see examples of the many ways we benefit through membership in a strong Union like UFCW 8-Golden State: Not just better wages, but also better health benefits, better retirement benefits, better working conditions, better protections against discrimination and unfair treatment, better vacations and much more.

These benefits were not obtained cheaply. Some of them were won through great cost. 

In each round of collective bargaining, we never lose sight of the importance of protecting the achievements of past generations, not just for ourselves, but for generations to come. Just as importantly, we are committed to breaking new ground toward fulfilling the aspirations of generations to come.

Consider this: The United Food and Commercial Workers, which is the largest private-sector Labor Union in North America, also has the youngest membership.

Forty percent of us are under 30 — about 450,000 people who work in supermarkets, drug stores, food processing plants, medical facilities, offices and other work sites in the United States and Canada.

A BOLD VISION

Gavin Newsom leads California
in a new direction for working families

Something extraordinary is happening in California.

Just a month after taking office, Gov. Gavin Newsom has launched our Golden State into a bold new direction on behalf of working families.

Gavin is a good friend — the picture on the cover of the Winter 2019 Voice of Action shows his close connection with our Union — and I believe he will be the finest governor in the United States.

By electing him last November, our state has wisely committed itself to continue building a better economy for all people — not just the wealthy few, but everyone who punches a time clock, has a loved one who needs care, or has dreams of raising a family in a neighborhood with good schools and clean air.

A fresh vision for California

In his first State of the State speech on Feb. 12, Gov. Newsom outlined his fresh new vision for California. Of particular interest for working women and men, he addressed these issues:

• Good jobs and higher wages. Gov. Newsom proposes initiatives for training workers in new skills to ensure technological changes will create jobs instead of destroying them. He also supports ongoing efforts bringing Labor and business leaders together to promote opportunities for higher paying employment. In addition, he intends to expand the earned-income tax credit to cover a million additional working families.

• Affordability crisis. Noting 61 percent of young Californians believe they can’t afford to live in the state, the governor described how he is pushing cities to update their zoning rules to encourage building more affordable homes.

• Health care. Responding to the Trump Administration’s efforts to wreck the Affordable Care Act, Gov. Newsom called for state action to restore the individual mandate and increase subsidies for working individuals and families. These actions would, in turn, help lower premium costs for everyone.
He also announced initiatives to reduce health care costs by promoting competition among hospitals and limiting prescription price increases.

Above and beyond these initiatives are a number of legislative proposals advocated by the California Labor Federation to affirm and protect the rights of working people to organize themselves and bargain with their employers from positions of strength.

We expect Gov. Newsom to support these proposals as they move through the Legislature and sign them when they reach his desk.

At the conclusion of his State of the State address, Gov. Newsom introduced Allyn Pierce, an intensive-care nurse in Paradise, Calif., who drove into the fire to rescue patients from the flames that eventually destroyed the hospital where he worked. The heroic nurse was quoted as saying, “This is what we do.”

Taking care of each other is what we do in the Union Movement, as it should be for all Americans. Gov. Gavin Newsom is making sure this is what California will do for everyone who is fortunate enough to dwell inside its boundaries.

Solidarity works!

Thankfulness in Times of Tragedy

Action is the weapon of hope in its war with despair

In times of tragedy, is it possible to feel thankful? The answer for Union members should be an emphatic “yes.”

UFCW 8-Golden State feels deeply the pain of our sisters and brothers in and around Paradise, Calif., who lost their homes and jobs in the wildfires of November 2018. Our Union is responding actively to help relieve this pain by providing economic assistance, referrals and other resources to Union members and their families.

We also share the concerns of thousands of other individuals, in California and elsewhere, whose lives are disrupted by natural and human-made catastrophes, whether they are wildfires in Southern California or horrific shootings in Pittsburgh and Thousand Oaks.

Americans were already on edge due to previous events of violence and disaster, as well as the recent heated midterm election campaigns and the toxic partisan environment we’ve been enduring for years.
Sadly, we have become accustomed to certain politicians and commentators exploiting and deepening the divisions which plague us.

Still, one must always look for the proverbial silver lining in even the darkest of rainclouds, and this lining is found in the human actions of charity and compassion in response to tragedy.

We have witnessed outpourings of sympathy for the afflicted and acts of kindness to relieve their suffering.

Reminders of the season

In this holiday season, which begins with the celebration of Thanksgiving and concludes with the welcoming of a new year, we remind ourselves of the necessity of such virtues as kindness, compassion and charity.

This is the time of year when we are called upon to step out of our resentments and emphasize the positive virtues we all share and cherish.

Choose hope

Tragedies remind us of the seemingly never-ending enmity between hope and despair. But given the choice between them, I will choose hope every time.

Hope is manifested by action to relieve suffering and building a better more secure future for all. It teaches us we have more power to repair the tragedies of our world than we ever thought possible.
Action is the weapon of hope in its war with despair.

Coming home

A colleague who lives in one of the communities threatened by the recent fires in Southern California shared a message.

“Before we re-enter our beloved homes,” he wrote, “let’s pause on the curb outside and remember: This separation from home gave us a golden opportunity to gain a whole new appreciation for how precious is the home.

“Thus as we are reunited with home, we resolve to treat home with a renewed sense of love, respect and tender loving care.

“Specifically, we call on ourselves to ban forever more the two most destructive forces for a home: anger and melancholy.

“Forget termites. Anger and melancholy are the real pests.

“From this day forward, it’s a new start. The separation has cleansed the home of any unpleasant energy it ever imbibed.

“Tempers, flare ups, misplaced anger — gone forever. Melancholy, negativity, general malaise — gone forever.

“From today let us resolve to be aggressive in protecting the energy of our homes from anger and unhappiness.

“We will fill our homes with good spirits, beautiful music, positive thinking, patience and understanding, sanctity and prayer, and kindness and hospitality like never before.

“There’s no place like home — enjoy it!”

We are all members of an extended family, and UFCW 8-Golden State is a home we all call our own.
It is a home built on the foundations of hope and solidarity.

Solidarity Works!

Don’t Worry... Organize!

UFCW 8-Golden State President Jacques Loveall also serves as a vice president of the California Labor Federation. This column is adapted from his remarks at the federation’s recent convention in Orange County, where he, along with Union leader and Civil Rights activist Dolores Huerta, presented awards recognizing top Labor organizers from across the state.

As our Union, UFCW 8-Golden State, prepares to enter a potentially tough round of negotiations with the major food industry employers, we are reminded of tough negotiations in the past. In every case, we were able to prevail because of the solidarity of our membership.

This solidarity has worked so well for our members, it’s not surprising some employers are trying to undermine the image and strength of Unions whenever they can.

To provide some background on the current state of Unions, I’d like to review an important episode in Labor history.

Back in 1981, President Ronald Reagan set the tone for his new administration when he destroyed the PATCO air-traffic controllers Union by firing its members.

Today, we look back on this event as the beginning of a new chapter in the ongoing war against Unions.

This war began more than a century ago [see the quote by Eugene V. Debs on page 7]. It accelerated during the Herbert Hoover administration and continued with the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947. And it rages to this day, with the current administration and majorities in Congress and the Supreme Court united in trying to silence the voices of working Americans.

The early 1980s was a time of deep dread in the Labor Movement. It was also the time I started my career as a Labor organizer.

While our foes have tried to kill us off for many decades, we understand every generation faces a unique battle of its own. And in each generation, we’ve found a way to prevail.

We prevail because they’re cynical and we’re optimistic.

We prevail because they peddle fear and we inspire hope.

We prevail because they’re on the side of oppression and we’re on the side of justice.

And we prevail because they’re on the side of deceit we’re on the side of righteousness.

They may never stop telling lies about us, but we will never quit telling the truth about them.

As DeMaurice “De” Smith, president of the NFL Players Association, says, organizing a Union is a hard way to earn a living … but incredibly fulfilling.

For those who are concerned about the hostile environment in Washington, D.C. and in many state capitals across the country, I say: Don’t worry… ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE!

Be aggressive and vigilant and we WILL prevail.

Evidence of our indomitable spirit can be seen in the faces of Union organizers throughout our Golden State. It’s seen in the tearful eyes of young organizers who are eagerly taking selfies with Dolores Huerta, a true icon of Labor. And it’s seen in the joyful tears of the veterans who are seeing their values taken up by a new generation.

Sisters and brothers. we aren’t going anywhere.

When we say “UNION,” you say “STRONG”!

Solidarity Works!

The Power of Positivity: Solidarity and a can-do attitude are keys to successful negotiations

Are you part of the solution?

This is the most important question we can ask ourselves at our critical moment in history.

Anyone who has looked at Facebook or Twitter should be aware of how toxic and negative some people’s public conversations have become.

Almost everyone agrees we can do better, and yet there are some who can’t help feeding into the problem and making it worse.

We can blame Russian trolls, we can blame the political parties and we can blame the cable news shows, but ultimately the responsibility for being part of the solution lies with us.

To solve any problem, it helps to approach it with a positive attitude. When we realize a solution is possible, we can then focus on identifying the solution and implementing it.

This means casting away negative thoughts — fears, despairs and cynical presumptions — which get in the way of progress and create futile and unproductive diversions.

Everyone experiences moments when problems seem overwhelming and negativity threatens to take hold. These are the times when the task of finding and implementing solutions seems most challenging.

When we resist those negative thoughts and push ourselves toward positive actions, everything changes. We find ourselves smiling more and, lo and behold, people are smiling back at us.

We realize we have friends and allies. And solutions become possible.

This lesson can be useful as we move toward the next round of negotiations with the major supermarket employers in Northern and Central California.

As it is with any endeavor of importance, our success in negotiating successful new agreements will require courage, faith and confidence in ourselves.

We have prevailed in the past and we will prevail in the future, as long as we remember we have each other.

Time and time again, our experiences in the Labor Movement have taught us the winning solution to substandard wages, benefits and working conditions is Solidarity!

Solidarity is working people standing together for everyone’s benefit. It is the means by which members of UFCW 8-Golden State have achieved industry-leading standards in pay, health care, pensions, work guarantees, job protections, vacations, sick pay and so much more.

Solidarity is possible when we understand the power of positivity within ourselves as individuals and our Union.

Lessons of Rosie the Riveter

As I write these words on positivity and solidarity, I am inspired by the legend of Rosie the Riveter, which is told in this issue of Voice of Action.

Rosie represents the “can do” spirit of the Union Movement.

She reminds us how inclusiveness, pride and positivity can fill our lives with promise.

We are proud. We are positive. And we never forget we are part of the solution.

Solidarity Works!

Union Members Get More, and Here’s Why

We often say “Union Members Get More!” because it’s true.

For example, an average Union worker’s total compensation is $10.62 per hour higher than a non-Union worker’s.

This adds up to big money over the course of a lifetime. In fact, a full-time member could earn $662,688 more than a non-Union worker earns over a 30-year career.

And this doesn’t include holiday and vacation pay, workplace guarantees and many other perks of membership.

All this is possible because Unions are about giving power to working people.

In the spirit of solidarity, we bring workers together so they can stand up for themselves and negotiate as equals with the giant corporations which employ them.

Through the collective bargaining process, we negotiate contracts with employers to protect and promote the interests of working people, who really are the force behind economic growth in our country.

Beyond the substantial differences in wages I described above, here are a few additional examples of how your Union negotiated contract makes your career and your living standards better than “normal”:

Equal pay for equal work

Technically, it’s against the law for companies to pay their workers differently according to gender, race, ethnicity or other arbitrary distinctions which have nothing to do with a worker’s job performance.

Unfortunately, reality has a long way to go before it catches up to the ideal set by law. Women and racial minorities especially feel the sting when equal pay does not come with equal work.

Fortunately, our Union-negotiated contract provides legally binding guarantees of wage standards for all. Every Union member knows exactly what to expect, based entirely on job classification and experience. If any discrimination exists, we will enforce the contract vigorously.

Pensions

Most working Americans have Social Security or an equivalent. This maintains a minimum standard which might not guarantee one’s ability to retire with security, but it can supplement other sources of retirement income to enable people to barely get by.

For Union members, though, it’s not enough to barely get by. Our contracts provide retirement plans which supplement Social Security and ensure financial security and dignity into our later years.

Health care

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, requires large employers to provide health care packages to their full-time employees and their families. While they are much better than no health care, these plans can’t compare with the high-quality, comprehensive and low-cost packages you enjoy as a member of UFCW 8-Golden State.

Workplace guarantees

Employees without a Union contract are “at will,” which means managers can discipline them or even fire them in most situations with little or no recourse. There’s nothing to stop a boss from terminating an employee simply because he or she earns more than a less-experienced employee at a non-Union workplace.

Fortunately, Union workers are protected by strong contracts which enforce fairness and equal treatment. Your manager is not allowed to deny you work hours simply because he or she has a friend who is getting those hours instead.

Your Union contract’s grievance procedure means you are entitled to a hearing if you are being mistreated or if you are accused unfairly of breaking the rules.

Protections against harassment

We’re hearing a lot these days about sexual harassment and bullying on the job. Should you be affected, please contact your Union Representative immediately.

Your Union membership means you have a powerful and effective ally in correcting injustice. Those who don’t have a Union usually have to go it alone, regardless of what the law says.

None of these protections and benefits come to you as gifts from your employer, and government doesn’t always succeed in getting you what you deserve from your job.

The members of UFCW 8-Golden State have earned it all by sticking together and demanding more than the minimum standards required by government or the free market.

Solidarity Works!

Our Union Family Steps Up

Members respond to tragedy with compassion, generosity

 
In times of sadness, we are comforted and inspired by the ways our Union family responded to the tragic events of recent months.
 
Together, we witnessed a senseless act of mass violence in Las Vegas, followed by the terrible loss of life, property and jobs in fires throughout Northern California.
 
Almost simultaneously, our fellow Americans suffered through devastating hurricanes in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.

Our members reacted to each of these tragedies with life-affirming generosity.

This is especially evident closest to home. When Secretary-Treasurer Kirk Vogt and I went to Santa Rosa to assess the damage caused by the fires, we were moved deeply by the spirit of our members who lost everything. Through the pain, they focused on the positive side: healing and rebuilding.
When faced with their own seemingly unbearable challenges, they showed their concern for others and their willingness to help each other.

A common comment from those who lost all their material possessions was “It was just stuff.”
In the fires’ aftermath, we were continually reminded of the bonds which connect us to each other and our Union.

We experienced the compassion of our members on a daily basis. When our District Union Representatives (DURs) entered stores in fire-ravaged areas, members immediately asked them, “How are YOU doing?” and “Did YOU lose anything?” These are questions our DURs typically ask the members.

Our representatives worked long days and nights to find the whereabouts of members and determine whether they lost a home and needed shelter or any other kind of assistance.

The DURs and office staff provided valuable information, advising and directing members to the resources available to them. Just as important, they were ready to listen when someone needed to talk about his or her experiences.

The Union website, UFCW8.org, also provided information about assistance available to fire victims.
We’ve witnessed many acts of generosity — to our members as well as store supervisors, managers, vendors, drivers, sales staff and other affected individuals in our industry.

We thank UFCW International President Marc Perrone, our International Union, our sister UFCW Local Unions, the UFCW Northern California Trust Fund employees and our service providers for their generous donations to the UFCW 8-Golden State Disaster Relief Fund.

We also recognize our employers who stepped up — whether it was Safeway paying for housing for nearly two weeks for evacuated employees, or Foster Farms donating $100,000 to a local food bank, or Petaluma Poultry, Save Mart/Lucky, Rite Aid, Raley’s or our other independent retailers providing their assistance to those in need.

Of course, we want to thank the first responders — the firefighters, police and medical personnel who risked their own lives to protect people they’ve never met.

We are one family

In sad times and happier times, Union members don’t lose sight of who we are and why we’re here: people banding together for the common good.

We don’t care about your family background, the color of your skin, how old you are, whom you worship (or don’t), or the language you speak. We march together and won’t stop until everyone can share in the bounty of our amazing country.

This is why, in our Union, we call each other Sisters and Brothers. We are family.

Solidarity Works!

Stewards Fortify Value and Values of Our Union

Our Union completed a series of workshops for Stewards across the length and breadth of our jurisdiction, from Redding in the north to Bakersfield in the south and from Santa Rosa near the coast to Lake Tahoe at the Nevada border.

It’s always productive and informative to meet with so many of our key UFCW 8-Golden State activists. We were inspired by the stories they shared of coworkers who were helped through personal struggles and workplace-related problems by their Union.

At the same time, the Stewards were given a thorough update on the extraordinary value of Union membership, which delivers not only higher wages, but also superior health care, retirement security through defined benefit pensions (increasingly rare in today’s world), vacations, sick leave, workplace protections and a host of other benefits.

After adding up the economic value of these benefits, we find the price of Union membership to be one of the greatest bargains we’ll encounter in our lifetimes. In fact, the ratio of value to cost is about 100 to 1!

In the Summer 2017 issue of Voice of Action and in other Union communications, we’ll share with you some of the information we provided to the Stewards as well as some of the touching stories they shared with us.

In a time of deep divisions among people in our country and around the world, it is comforting to meet so many good people who live in the spirit of unity, of brotherhood and sisterhood.

When so many are focused on tearing others down to build themselves up, we as Union members dedicate ourselves to creating a world in which all of our fellow human beings can lift their heads toward a brighter future.

Our Stewards exemplify these Union values. They are selfless people who volunteer their time and energies to helping their coworkers get more and keep more for themselves and their loved ones.
Through their dedication, these UFCW 8 Stewards are critical to our Union’s success as we serve the needs and aspirations of 35,000 members across thousands of square miles.

We are proud of our full-time staff of approximately 100 District Union Representatives, office staff and support personnel, but we can’t do the job all by ourselves. Our Stewards assist every day by acting as the eyes, ears, heart and soul of UFCW 8-Golden State.

Together, we commit ourselves to protecting and strengthening the value and values of our Union.

Solidarity Works!

The Road to Retirement Security

CORPaTH Works Toward a Brighter Future for Workers

CORPaTH is an alliance of financial experts, pension fund trustees, Union leaders and other professionals dedicated to rescuing the dream of a secure retirement for working people.

In just a few years, the annual CORPaTH Summit has emerged as the premier forum for analyzing the nature and causes of the worldwide pension crisis and providing workable solutions.

The problem takes many forms, but the issue affecting most Americans is their employers’ abandonment of traditional defined-benefit pensions in favor of defined-contribution plans like 401(k)s.
Here’s the difference: Defined-benefit pensions like the ones enjoyed by most Union members provide guarantees of a steady income during retirement. Defined-contribution plans, on the other hand, are funded primarily by employees and provide no guarantees at all.

In a 401(k) plan, an employee is expected to put money aside every month into a special fund which is invested in the stock market or other money-making ventures to build up equity over the years. If all goes well, the worker has gathered a nice nest egg by the time he or she retires.

The problem is things rarely work out the right way. The average worker has no idea how to properly manage funds in an investment portfolio and doesn’t have the means to endure severe downturns like the one we experienced in the Great Recession of a few years ago.

Furthermore, most workers have to deal with such competing priorities as financing a child’s wedding or college education. Confronted with few options,  any choose to borrow from their retirement funds.
Because of these factors and more — such as high investment fees and longer life spans — we are heading for a catastrophe of huge proportions.

Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research finds 52 percent of U.S. households are at risk of running low on money during retirement, up from 31 percent of households in 1983.

Approximately 45 percent of all households currently have NOTHING saved for retirement, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security.

In his outstanding recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Timothy W. Martin reports how even the creators of the 401(k) plan are saying they regret the suffering their creation has caused.

“I helped open the door for Wall Street to make even more money than they were already making,” said Ted Benna, who first formulated the idea in 1980.

“That is one thing I do regret,” he told Martin.

“We weren’t social visionaries,” said Herbert Whitehouse, another innovator of the 401(k).

Damage has been done, but regrets aren’t enough to repair it. This is why CORPaTH exists.

CORPaTH is developing strategies to strengthen traditional defined-benefit pensions and reverse the trend in which employers have been pushing their workers onto 401(k) plans.

To this end, the organization is a proud supporter of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. These principles encourage transparency and accountability by corporations toward their investors, which include pension funds administered jointly by Unions and their affiliated employers.

CORPaTH also advocates letting these pension funds use criteria for investment which take their own interests in account. For example, a Union fund shouldn’t be forced to invest in anti-Union companies.

Recently, we were pleased to learn Tom Perez, the outgoing secretary of Labor under former President Obama, has listened to us and issued new rules to improve corporate accountability to investors.

We have a long road ahead, but through coalitions like CORPaTH, we can make real progress toward achieving retirement security for millions of working people who deserve it.

Irrational Hyperbole and Contempt vs. Reason and Respect

Regardless of your political persuasion, there has been no shortage of ironic hypocrisy, hostility, cynical sniping, sarcastic smugness, labeling, hate speak and irrational hyperbole over the last several months leading up to the presidential election.
 
Comedians and political pundits have made careers out of it and we all have friends and family who are terrific at slicing and dicing the politics of today.

Sometimes it feels good to be snarky in your observations of those you have differences of opinion and it can surely feel more safe to remain insulated in your world-view bubble.

It isn’t likely this type of behavior is going to end any time soon. After all, it is a traditional aspect of free speech in our country.

That being said, the toxicity has reached dangerous levels that do not suggest anything but more bitter differences for the near future, and that is troubling as we wrestle with finding our way toward a future we can all be proud of in this great country.

Keeping an open mind with people who seem closed to your views is extremely difficult to do and treating others with respect while they hold your views or even you in contempt requires superhuman patience and tolerance. Nonetheless, this is what we need to strive for if we are going to find a path to civility and productivity. The recent presidential campaign did more than expose an already existing divide between two Americas occupying the same land. It drove a wedge into our common ground, separating parents from children, wives from husbands, rural folk from urban folk, people who have college degrees and people who don’t.

Era of toxic rhetoric

In the 1960s, the generations were split by diverging opinions concerning the war in Vietnam, civil rights, popular music and other issues of a society in transformation. But we’d have to go back to the 1860s to find an era when the rhetoric was so pervasively toxic.

Abraham Lincoln saw the storm gathering as he delivered his first inaugural address in January 1861. Even as the newly formed Confederate States of America gathered its troops, the new president pleaded for restraint in word, thought and deed:

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

It is tragic that his words fell on deaf ears. Within three months, Americans marched to war against each other. More than 620,000 Americans died in the Civil War and more than a million were injured before it ended.

No one expects the social divisions of our day will lead to massive death and destruction on this scale. But I’m not alone in thinking the fabric of American society has been torn in ways that won’t be easy to mend.

Nevertheless, we must try.

We can begin by reminding ourselves we are all sisters and brothers of the American republic. Wherever we come from, whenever we got here, whatever we believe, we share a common history of devotion to a common ideal of a nation dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal and our government is created by the people and for the people.

Mother Teresa, now known as Saint Teresa, wasn’t an American, but she knew the score when she said: “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

As Union members and Americans, we must never forget we belong to each other. We must always try to reach into our own hearts and find the “better angels of our nature.”

We can disagree strongly with others’ opinions, but we must never, ever treat each other with contempt. We must pull back from words of hate and choose instead the words of love.

I would like to end this column by wishing you and your loved ones a happy holiday season and a new year filled with joy and brotherhood (and sisterhood). Thank you for all of your work in making our Union stronger, and thank you for proving to the world, time and time again…

Solidarity Works!

Calamity in Flint Sparks a Fire of Outrage

The calamity in Flint has sparked a fire of outrage, igniting intense examination of the disastrous consequences of anti-Unionism on middle class jobs, public infrastructure and quality of life.

This Michigan city has been in the news because its water system has been poisoned by lead leaching from old service pipes. Approximately 100,000 residents are affected.

Many thousands of infants and children have high levels of lead in their blood, putting them at risk of devastating mental and physical impairments. An outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease is also linked to the disaster.

It started in 2014, when Flint city officials, desperate to save a few million dollars, cancelled their contract with the city of Detroit for delivery of water. The idea was to get water from a new treatment plant near Lake Huron, but this facility isn’t scheduled to open until late this year. So, for the meantime, the city of Flint decided to draw its water from the nearby Flint River.

Blame falls on Gov. Snyder

Unfortunately, the water in the Flint River has a higher acid content than the water from Detroit. This acid has been eating away at the old leaded service pipes leading to the homes of Flint’s residences, poisoning their occupants.

Blame is landing on state regulators who signed off on the plan and for several months disregarded warnings coming from Flint health authorities and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

We’re just beginning to learn the extent of callous contempt held by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration for Flint’s residents. Recently, we learned how the state failed to include a federally-required additive to prevent the leaching of lead into Flint’s water supply — putting children at risk to save a lousy $100 a day.

Flint’s rise, fall and hopes

How did we get to this point in a city once at the center of America’s flourishing auto industry?

My grandmother organized the AC Delco spark plug plant in Flint in 1936, just about the time our Union, now known as UFCW 8-Golden State, was coming into existence in Sacramento.

This was the beginning of Flint’s heyday, when the city was a model for our nation’s economy with its strong middle class.

The United Auto Workers was a powerful force in local and state politics. As a result, the state of Michigan had good laws serving the interests of working people. It didn’t matter if the governor was a Republican or Democrat — this was a pro-Labor state.

Fast-forward to 2016. Michigan is now led by an anti-Union governor — Rick Snyder — and its laws are written and passed by an anti-Union legislature.

Michigan has become a “right to work” state, which means Union power is diminished by crippling restrictions.

With its Unions weakened, Michigan’s laws to protect working families have been replaced with laws favoring the greed of rich and powerful corporations, under the flawed belief tax cuts and other favors for the wealthy will somehow “trickle down” to everyone else.

As we’ve learned again and again, tax cuts for the wealthy only make the wealthy wealthier while blowing holes in governments’ budgets. So these governments cut corners, with disastrous results like those we are seeing in Flint.

Here we observe what happens when Unions are not sufficiently involved in politics: decaying infrastructure, lack of environmental and health regulation, the decline of the middle class and a widening gap between rich and poor.

Meanwhile, America’s Unions, including the UFCW, are coming to the aid of Flint’s residents (see below). Leave it to the Unions to do the right thing!

Early in February, while addressing the UFCW International Union’s Advisory Board and Executive Board, I connected the calamity in Flint with the decline of middle class jobs and the devolving of Michigan into a “right to work” state.

I was gratified by the strong response and inspired to see such passion at the highest levels of leadership in our Union.

The people of our nation need to understand the significance of the tragic events in Flint, for they reveal the dangers awaiting us all if the attack on Unions is allowed to spread wider than it already has.

The fire sparked in Flint can be quenched only by the rising tide of a resurging Union movement.

Solidarity Works!

California on Path Toward $15 Minimum Wage in 2022

This is a historic moment, the beginning of a new era for working people in California.

I am with Gov. Jerry Brown as he signs into law the strongest minimum wage standards in the nation. With all of us working together, we secured a $15 minimum wage, providing a better future for workers.

The final obstacles fell away last week, when the governor reached an agreement with leaders of Unions and the California Legislature. The Assembly and Senate passed the legislation within a few days.

Most economists agree Californians need a raise — a big one. Now it’s going to happen.

This historic measure strikes a blow to income inequality and will help lift millions out of poverty. What’s more, it will help Union members across all industries and pay scales.

This is a perfect example of all Unions working together toward a progressive agenda. It helps all working people and not just those working under Union contracts.

The new law helps in another important way. It means non-Union retailers like Walmart are less able to drive wages downward throughout the retail industry.

Here is an example of Union activism in the political process can improve the lives of all working people.

Solidarity does work!

In Solidarity,

Fear and Hate vs. Courage and Love

We who love freedom and respect for human rights have different ways of reacting to the terrible events in Paris and San Bernardino in recent months.

 

We can react with pain, grief, horror and anger toward the people who carried out these attacks on innocent human beings.

We can feel compassion toward the victims. We can act with firm resolve to tighten our defenses against future assaults. We can vow to pursue the culprits wherever they hide.

All of these responses are appropriate for a free people in a democratic republic.

Other responses are not appropriate: indiscriminate hatred and violence, racism, religious intolerance and a willingness to surrender the very freedoms we are trying to protect.

I won’t specifically address some of the recent positions taken by political figures who embrace bigotry as public policy. But it’s worthwhile to note how these same individuals can be counted among the most dangerous opponents of Unions.

Unions, after all, embrace the idea of regular, “ordinary” people putting aside their differences and working toward a common goal: a better future where all of us can raise a family, own a home, send our kids to good schools and have respect in the workplace.

Unions have the critical role of making sure the working people get a fair share of the wealth they create for their employers.

When Unions are strong, we have a strong middle class. When Unions are under siege, as they are now in many states, we have a middle class in decline.

Those who oppose Unions say they act in the name of freedom and opportunity, but somehow the beneficiaries of their actions are always the wealthiest individuals and corporations in the land.
Why do Americans put up with this?

The simple but true answer is fear. For centuries, political leaders have used fear of others as a means to keep the citizenry in line.

In the past those “others” have been Jews, Catholics, Chinese immigrants, African Americans, hippies and “welfare queens.” More recently, they have been Latino immigrants.

Now a new “other” has been discovered: refugees from a horrible war thousands of miles away.
Of course we need to be vigilant, but vigilance doesn’t necessarily mean hating all those who profess a certain religion and entering their names into a government database. And it doesn’t mean turning our backs on people who are suffering.

The opposites of fear and hate are courage and love. These are the values of a healthy and growing society. These are the values we need to nurture and protect, even as we are vigilant against those who reject those values.

Our way is stronger than theirs. We will prevail.

As we pursue our hopes and dreams in the year ahead, let’s practice more courage and love. Cherish those who are close to you and be compassionate toward those who are far away and “different.”

The struggle for a better world begins within us.

Solidarity Works!

Working People are the Real Leaders of American Progress

As the sun rose on Labor Day, a group of Union leaders, staff and family members gathered around the flag pole in front of our Union headquarters in Roseville.

We came to participate in an American ritual.

We saluted the flag of our country as it rose to meet the brightening sky.

In doing so, we also saluted the American worker.

It’s unfortunate how America’s history books have been edited to exclude the role of working men and women in making the nation great.  One assumes this was done to allow more room for the presidents, generals and industrialists who “led” us to our national destiny.

But I can’t help thinking about the tradesmen who were cut down by Redcoat bullets in the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Midwestern farm boys who died at Antietam, Shiloh and Gettysburg to cleanse our land of the stain of slavery.

Let’s not neglect the striking miners who battled Pinkerton agents sent to crush their hopes for a better life or the brave suffragettes and garment workers who marched for fairness and dignity.

In American history, it is often the working people who lead the “leaders” in building a better society.
Indeed, Union members literally built our country, paving the roads and constructing the buildings in which we live and work.  The story of America’s progress has many chapters to go, and working people are still writing the pages through their Union Movement. As a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers, you are helping write those pages.

We don’t have to go back far to see the contributions Labor has made to modern living standards.
This September, President Obama — at the urging of Unions — ordered all companies doing business with the federal government to provide paid sick leave to their employees.

In California, a new law protects grocery workers from being laid off just because their store was sold to another company (see story on page 5). This landmark law was enacted after the UFCW launched an intensive lobbying blitz in Sacramento.

Last year, UFCW 8-Golden State scored an important victory for Unions across the country when the United States Supreme Court upheld the rights ` of Union pickets on private property in California.

Strong new contracts with Safeway, Vons and Rite Aid

Not all of the battles were fought in the courts and Capitols in Sacramento and Washington.

This fall, our Northern California members at Safeway and Vons ratified a great new contract made possible by their Union Solidarity.

Members of UFCW 8-Golden State also made modern history when we stood in solidarity with our fellow UFCW Unions in Northern and Southern California to win strong new con tracts with Rite Aid.

The message of America’s Labor Movement is heard loud and clear in the stores, plants, distilleries and offices where our members work.

It is the message of Union Solidarity.

Solidarity has been the key to our success in winning better lives for ourselves, and it will be the key to protecting the gains we have made, now and in the future.

Solidarity Works!

Two Victorious Teams of Our Golden State

It’s time to make some noise!
 
Most of us are cheering the recent victory of the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.

Golden State’s success has been a long time coming — 40 years since its last championship in 1975.
To make this moment even sweeter, the Warriors prevailed against a great Cleveland team led by a man widely acknowledged as the best basketball player of our time: LeBron James.

It hasn’t been long since the Warriors weren’t considered contenders, but their management and players worked hard on their basics and carefully built a team of winners.

Our Union team, the mighty UFCW 8-Golden State, has always been a winner, but we share some important qualities with the newly victorious basketball team.

Yes, we both have “Golden State” in our names. But we share something deeper as well — something at the core of the meaning of teamwork.

We call it “Solidarity.”

In everything we do, the team called UFCW 8-Golden State is committed to the success of everyone in the organization.

We succeed when each one of us does his or her part, bringing our individual gifts to promote the good of all.

Supermarket workers, drug store workers, meat processors, wine makers, distillers, office workers, pharmacists, medical workers — we use our diversity to build our collective strength.

In this way, we win with the best wages, benefits and workplace protections in the many industries we serve.

As do the Golden State Warriors, UFCW 8-Golden State has depth. We have our stars — the Stewards who inform and inspire their co-workers, the Organizers who recruit new talent, the District Union Representatives who make the big assists and the Officers who call the plays — but every player has a role in the team’s success.

To carry the ball, or rather the analogy, further, let’s look at the team the Warriors defeated for the NBA championship.

LeBron James performed incredibly well throughout the regular season and the playoffs. But his teammates, stricken by injuries, were unable to perform at their highest levels to help him win the title.
Even with “the best player in basketball,” the Cavaliers couldn’t reach the prize. A fully functioning team was needed.

The Golden State Warriors were fortunate in having team members like Stephen Curry who can sink three pointers and drive to the basket with consummate grace. But they also had patient and good-hearted “bench warmers” like Andre Iguodala who waited their turn and got the job done. Iguodala didn’t play a single game in the regular season, yet he performed at such an extraordinary level during the Championship games, he was awarded series MVP.

We never really know what some people are capable of until they’re given an opportunity to shine.
The Warriors were in the game together. And so are the members of UFCW 8-Golden State who show the world, each and every day...

Solidarity Works!

Engaging Young Workers: The Future Depends on Us

Do you remember the first person who talked to you about your Union?

Some of you may have to think back a few decades, while others may recall a conversation from a few weeks ago. Chances are you remember this person — a District Union Representative, a Steward or another co-worker, probably — with fondness and gratitude.

Typically, he or she was a kind, concerned and thoughtful individual who reached out to a young worker who felt a little lost and alone.

You may have been a high school student or a recent graduate, hired for the first time by a large company. Fortunately, there was someone who cared enough to speak with you about our Union and the great things it does for all of us.

I want you to become this someone for someone else.

Consider this: The United Food and Commercial Workers, which is the largest private-sector Labor Union in North America, also has the youngest membership.

Forty percent of us are under 30 — about 450,000 people who work in supermarkets, drug stores, food processing plants, medical facilities, offices and other work sites in the United States and Canada.

This is an important responsibility and also a great opportunity to participate in building a better future for working people.

People who were born in the last two decades of the 20th century, commonly known as Millennials, have had a tough go in this age of industrial decline and growing disparity between a tiny wealthy elite and everyone else.

America’s recovery from the economic shocks of the previous decade remains painfully slow and the jobs being created tend to be in the retail, food-service and health care sectors, where wages have been historically low.

The UFCW, therefore, stands as a great hope for millions of young people who are struggling to get a grip on the middle class and the American dream.

Our Union’s members, young and old, consistently earn better wages and benefits than their non-Union counterparts. What’s more, we represent industries with jobs which cannot be sent overseas.

Young people commonly take jobs at our stores with the intention of moving on after a short while. But in time many of them learn to appreciate their prospects for a satisfying career. They can thank our Union for negotiating the compensa tion packages and work rules to make this a viable option.

It’s crucial for all of us to get this message out to young workers in the general population, not only to improve their lot, but also to strengthen our Union’s ability to negotiate strong contracts.

At the same time, it is equally important to engage the young people who already belong to the UFCW, including UFCW 8-Golden State.

They are the future of our organization. The more they understand and appreciate the benefits of Union solidarity, the greater our ability to confront and overcome the challenges awaiting us.

Please do your part. Regardless of your own age, take the time to get to know the young people in your
workplace. Share with them the values you have learned about Union solidarity and its role in securing our rights, our wages and our benefits.

Let them know how much your Union membership means to you. Explain to them how your contract works and why it is so important.

Become a role model for Union activism.

The future doesn’t just depend on our youngest members. It depends on all of us, including you.

Solidarity Works!

Organizing for a New World

Building our Union is the key to fairness and respect

‘We have it in our power to make the world new again.” These words, written in 1776 by the patriot Thomas Paine, inspired the men and women of the American colonies to launch a new nation, changing the path of human history.

As he wrote these words in his fiery pamphlet titled Common Sense, Paine envisioned a country based on equality and mutual respect, where there would be no nobilities and all would be accountable to the same laws and rules.

America’s story since then has been, for the most part, about the epic, often blood-drenched struggle to achieve this Founder’s vision of equality and justice. We’ve made some good progress over the years, but every step was met by stubborn resistance from those who enjoyed the privileges of the status quo.
It is unfortunate how the nobility of the old monarchal system has been replaced by a new nobility consisting of a small number of super-wealthy families who pass their riches down from generation to generation.

One of these families is the Waltons, who are the main beneficiaries of the Walmart retail empire. This family controls a massive fortune equivalent to the wealth of 40 percent of the American population, and it is only getting richer through its ongoing exploitation of Walmart’s poorly compensated work force.
How is this different from the nobility Thomas Paine railed against in 1776? The more we look at the problem, we see more similarities than differences.

In our contemporary scene, there is only one force fighting for the “commoners” — those who aren’t born with the privileges of vast wealth, but do the real work of feeding, healing and clothing our nation.
This force for justice and fairness is the American Labor Movement. Through the Unions, millions of working Americans have banded together over the decades to win a better share of the wealth they have created at the places where they work.

Thanks to the Unions, America was able to create the largest middle class in world history. Along the way, they led the charge for regular days off, vacations and safety standards in the workplace.
As Union members, we are the stalwart fighters for the American dream of a fair economy working for all of us, not just a tiny elite segment of the population.

This goal isn’t just our hope — it’s our responsibility. In this way we honor the contributions of our predecessors and leave behind a better world for future generations. It may seem a daunting task, but we already know the key to success: growing our numbers.

Bigger Union, stronger voice

The bigger and stronger we are as a Union, the more influence we will have on the national stage. And we’ll use this influence to raise the standards for all working people.

How do we grow our Union? We do it through a process called “organizing.”

In the Labor Movement, we have two kinds of organizing: internal and external. Both are critically important.

Internal organizing is about cultivating Solidarity among the current membership. This is crucial to negotiating strong contracts with the employers. It involves encouraging our members to stand strong together and participate as active volunteers.

It starts with simple steps like showing our support for UFCW 8 at work and sharing our enthusiasm with our co-workers and management. In this way, the company will appreciate how its work force will refuse to be intimidated by unreasonable demands when bargaining time comes around.

External organizing involves helping non-Union workers understand how joining a Union will improve their lives through better wages, benefits and working conditions.

When more workers in more industries join our Union, we all get stronger, increasing our market share and gaining clout at the bargaining table.

UFCW 8-Golden State provides many opportunities for involvement in external organizing campaigns such as the California Labor Federation’s “All in to Win” coalition. You can also assist Walmart workers in their struggle for fair treatment by helping their OUR Walmart campaign. See the box at left for a list of some volunteering opportunities.

Through your active involvement in UFCW 8’s organizing efforts internal and external you’ll be doing your part to move America closer to the fair and just society our Founders envisioned in 1776.

Thank you for stepping forward to make our world new again. 

Thank you for proving, again and again ... Solidarity Works!

‘All In’ for Working Families

California Labor Federation backs three organizing campaigns

Most of the recent issue of Voice of Action is dedicated to “All In to Win,” a campaign by the California Labor Federation to support key organizing drives in the state. But before I go into that, I want to share an experience which underscores the need to reach out to young workers.

A couple of weeks ago, I was in the drive-through lane at a fast food restaurant in Northern California. I ordered a chicken sandwich and a Diet Coke.

When I pulled up to the window, the young lady inside — she looked like she could be 18 — handed me my food and then asked about the “UFCW 8-Golden State” logo on my shirt.

I replied: “It’s the Union representing people who work in supermarkets and other places.”

“I don’t understand,” she said. “What’s a Union?”

The young woman’s question was disappointing, but not terribly surprising. Many of today’s young people have little or no knowledge of Labor Unions and their historic role in creating the American middle class.

This wasn’t the case in my family when I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s. As a third-generation Union activist, I knew Unions empowered working people, making it possible for them to earn good wages, buy their own homes, send their children to college and, when the time came, retire with dignity.

How Unions work: the power of Solidarity

We also knew how Unions work. Even as young children, we understood Solidarity is the key ingredient for a Union’s success in winning a fair share for working people.

My brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, neighbors and schoolmates knew these things as well. We wouldn’t think of crossing a picket line any more than we would consider crossing a busy freeway at rush hour.

So, what happened? How did we reach a situation where an intelligent 18-year-old isn’t even aware of the concept of “Union”?

In the most recent Voice of Action, Secretary-Treasurer Kirk Vogt describes how, 35 years ago, many Americans were seduced by a disastrous political philosophy. This philosophy is based on the mistaken view that everyone would prosper if we changed our policies to favor rich people and corporations over working people.

As a result, companies were allowed to deny the basic human rights of their employees, including their right to join Unions and improve their lives. Union membership began to decline and fewer people learned the values of Union Solidarity to pass on to their children.

It’s time to fight back and rebuild the strength of America’s Unions. Our Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, is proud to lead the way.

Our success will rely a great deal on raising awareness of the “Union Difference.”

In the latest Voice of Actioin, you will see facts and figures showing how Union members have better health care, have more paid vacation days and get better pensions than nonmembers.

Our success also relies on building stronger coalitions with other Unions as we bring word of the Union Difference to more workers at more companies in more industries.

In this spirit, the California Labor Federation, comprised of Unions representing 2.1 million workers in our state, has launched “All In to Win.” As the effort expands, all of these Unions will support three campaigns:

OUR Walmart (Organization United for Respect at Walmart) — Workers at Walmart are standing up for themselves against low wages and abusive treatment by their employer. The “All In” campaign will help these brave workers gain the respect they need.

Taylor Farms — Employees at the world’s largest supplier of fresh-cut vegetables, including packaged salads, are fighting for recognition and dignity. These workers are being organized by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

USWW (United Security Workers West) — This Labor organization is working to represent the security guards at Apple and Google. Their fight is our fight.

In this issue of Voice of Action, you’ll learn more about these campaigns and the support they are receiving from the member Unions of the California Labor Federation. As a vice president of the California Labor Federation, I am proud of the enthusiastic support expressed by members and staff of UFCW 8-Golden State for the “All In to Win” campaign.

Through this initiative and others, we will rebuild the Union movement in America. And   the day will come when young women and men at fast-food counters and discount stores and salad packaging plants will all know and appreciate the benefits of working Union.

Solidarity Works!