Unions

Workers Picket Upper East Side Specialty Market

Over 600 workers at a Rite Aid distribution center in Lancaster, California have been fighting for their basic rights as workers.

Preventing Whole Foods workers from unionizing has always been at the top of Mackey’s agenda, and the company has been successful thus far at crushing every attempt.

The release from the victorious union is below. We'll keep you updated on the employer's meritless challenge to the election, a standard union-busting technique:

From: International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 805

Contact: www.teamsterslocal805.org

A Majority of Drivers Vote to Join Teamsters Local 805 at Alle Processing

In a vote of 7-5, a majority of drivers at Alle Processing in Maspeth,
Queens voted to join Teamsters Local 805 for dignity and respect on the
job. The vote took place at 5:30am on August 28, 2008 on the company's premises, and was supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, Region 29 (Brooklyn and Queens).

Workers voted yes after they endured a relentless anti-union campaign led by top company executives and stage-managed by the notorious anti-union law firm Kaufman Dolowich and Voluck, which also represents AgriProcessors, a documented law-breaking anti-union kosher food processing company.

Congratulations to the workers and their union for winning their contract! Predictably, Wal-Mart is already implying it will seek to get out of the government-imposed labor agreement in Quebec. A Wal-Mart human rights official reportedly has threatened to shut down the automotive department. (New York Times)

UPDATE: Wal-Mart has despicably carried through on its threat to close down its newly unionized department in Quebec. The lengths this company will go to in order to maintain its low-wage, absolute control brand of employee relations is mind-boggling. (UFCW Canada)

The Kroger Co grocery chain reached a tentative agreement with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1059 yesterday. The Business Courier of Cincinnati reported that the agreement covers 10,000 workers in the Columbus, OH area. UFCW locals throughout the south and midwest currently have contracts with Kroger stores.

 The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company or A&P-owned supermarkets, Pathmark, Waldbaum, and The Food Emporium, is suing the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) for allowing union members to distribute leaflets to customers outside of the supermarkets in New York City and Long Island (United Press International).

It is 'old wine in a new bottle' at its finest. "Reclassification" is among the newest euphemisms that enable employers to cut the hours, wages, and benefits of their employees--but IBM workers are fighting back.

Today (April 29th) a protest is being waged at an IBM annual meeting in Charlotte, N.C., by members and supporters of the Alliance@IBM Communications Workers of America.

Updated May 1, 2008: Bloomindale's and RWDSU Local 3 Reach Tentative Agreement; Strike averted but negotiations will continue over health care, a contentious issue in every negotiation because of runaway costs in a broken health care system. (RWDSU)

RWDSU Local 3 members at Bloomingdale's in NYC have authorized a strike should it be necessary to push back the high-end department store's demand for concessions. (RWDSU)

95 out of 100 retail workers in the United States do not have the benefit of the collective strength of a labor union. It's critical to support the retail workers fortunate enough to be organized both for the sake of their families and as a model of what decent retail work would look like for workers considering unionizing.

In these incredibly difficult economic times, Bloomingdale's can expect a vigilant and fed up citizenry if they choose to provoke a strike.

A determined campaign, which included overturning the firing of an outspoken union organizer, has resulted in a national union deal for workers at Coffee Bean's cafes in Israel. (Haaretz)