UFCW 2016 Lobby Day...A Success!

On Tuesday UFCW & RWDSU members from throughout New York hopped on buses to our state capital, Albany. Over 100 UFCW members attended Lobby Day this year, to lobby for legislation to help UFCW families.

Local 1500 members with NYS Assembly Member Michaëlle Solages

Jerome Gomez, who works at Fairway on Long Island, explained why he went to Lobby Day this year said, “We are the voice for the working families. It’s very important that here in Albany, they hear us and our families. We are here to represent our community and our neighborhoods. The assemblymen and women we saw today, they live in our neighborhoods, they need to know and see us representing our community.”

James Williams, a UFCW Local 1500 member from Fairway Market, spoke about his first lobby day experience, “It gives you a chance to actually speak to the people who make things happen for your community. I was very pleasantly surprised the way they took to us and they were open to our ideas and agendas. I’ll definitely be back.”

Thank you to all UFCW New York Local Unions and members that joined: Local One Local 888 Local 2013 Local 1500 Local 342 Local 1262 Local 1245 Local 464-A RWDSU Local 338 RWDSU Local 1102

What We Lobbied For: 

 Pass Fair Work Schedules S-52 & A-261

 Problem: Companies use “on-call” scheduling to force people to work harder and longer and be unaware of their shift until the last moment. These “on-call” shifts require workers to call their employer, often just hours before their shift starts, to and out if they should come in. While there is no guarantee of a shift, the worker is expected to be available, preventing them from attending to other responsibilities.
  
Solution: S-52/A-261 would guarantee at least four hours of pay (at minimum wage) for workers who are required to contact their employer or wait to be contacted less than 24-hours before their shift starts.  Workers in New York are currently guaranteed four hours of pay each day they report to their job. S-52/A-261 simply closes a loophole that employers are using to avoid this requirement.

Repeal Minimum Wage Reimbursement Tax Credit S-1280 & A-6532 (also known as the “Walmart Tax Break”) 
If an employer in New York State hires a student aged 16-19 and pays them minimum wage, then they are provided with a tax credit of $1.35 multiplied by the total number of hours worked by all eligible employees.

Problems with this tax credit:  All employers are eligible—including: Walmart, McDonalds, etc.
n Provides employers with an incentive to hire young workers and pay them low. As of 2013, 90 percent of New York’s lowest wage workers were above age 20. n The New York Department of Taxation and Finance estimates the credit will cost the State $43 million in FY 2016. n Does not require employers to disclose participation or credit received. n The cost of the program is not capped.

UFCW Lobby Day in Albany

 

Our annual Lobby Day will be held on May 17, 2016. We'll be charting a bus to Albany, NY and providing UFCW gear/food for all attendees. Here are the bus pick up locations:

Bus Pick Up Locations:

1.  6:30 AM: UFCW 1500 Office: 425  Merrick Road Westbury
2.  7:15 AM: Stop & Shop 2592: 2136 Bartow Ave Bronx

Register by filling out the form here & join hundreds of UFCW members to travel to Albany, N.Y. to hold our elected officials accountable!

For more info/questions contact Brendan Sexton: bsexton@ufcw1500.org 516-214-1362

UFCW Local 1500 Lobby Day!

JOIN US FOR LOBBY DAY ON APRIL 23^RD IN ALBANY!

Join UFCW Local 1500 members traveling up to Albany to discuss important political issues that affect your jobs! We will be discussing legislation with Senators and Assembly members throughout New York and in YOUR districts. 

Issues like: 

• Fair Elections 
• Speaking against the Walmart tax credit for employing teenage workers at minimum wage 
• Farmworker Bill of Rights 
• Holding corporations accountable to the public money they receive 
• Much more!

Interested in any of these issues or finding out more information about lobby day? Contact Adam at aobernauer@ufcw1500.org.

Related articles

• UFCW Pushes for Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights

Raise New York's Minimum Wage

This is long overdue and according to a report from Fiscal Policy Institute today, raising the state’s minimum wage to $8.50 an hour in January 2013 would benefit about 1 million New York workers.

NY Grocery Workers Union: Raise NY Minimum Wage
Pledges Resources and Support to Pass Minimum Wage Increase

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, New York's largest grocery workers union, announced today that it will enthusiastically and aggressively encourage New York State elected officials to increase the State's minimum wage to $8.50 an hour. The Union, based out of Westbury New York, said it would mobilize its 23,000 members to contact their elected leaders and demand their support for the wage hike.

Bruce W. Both, President of UFCW Local 1500 stated: "Neither a strong economy nor the American dream can be built on a wage of $7.25 an hour. We must realize New York State cannot overcome its economic challenges in a sustainable way if at the very foundation of its economy are workers living below the poverty line. We must support common sense economic principles and a strong minimum wage is at the top of that list. It is unfortunate that it has taken Albany so long to address this vital issue but our Union looks forward to working with Governor Cuomo, Speaker Silver and members of the New York State Senate to get over one million New Yorkers the raise they so desperately need."

UFCW Local 1500 will mobilize its members to call legislators, mail in post cards, write letters to the editor, and to talk to friends and family members. The Union acknowledges it will have to combat an aggressive and well-funded campaign by the business community who is in opposition to the minimum wage increase.

"It is amazing how much money corporations will spend from their own pockets to make sure no additional money goes into their workers pockets," said Anthony Speelman, UFCW Local 1500 Secretary-Treasurer. "It is appalling that the voice opposing the minimum wage increase will come from those making ten, twenty even fifty times what those on minimum wage make in a year. Any business that can only survive and profit by paying their workers poverty wages should either rethink their business model or consider another line if work. Regardless, their voices of greed will be drowned out by the voices of need."

Speelman also sent a strong message to New York State's elected leaders. "You were sent to Albany to do the right thing for your constituents. You cannot look in the eyes of any of your constituents making $7.25 an hour and tell them that increasing the minimum wage will actually hurt them," Speelman said. "Should you argue that New York State can only prosper if workers remain at $7.25 an hour, then it may time for you to leave Albany, return to your district, get a minimum wage job and then let us all know how that is working out for you and your family. Perhaps then you will come to understand why New Yorkers need a raise," concluded Speelman.

UFCW Local 1500 represents grocery workers employed by Shop Rite, Stop and Shop, King Kullen, Key Food, Pathmark, Fairway Markets, Gristedes and D'agostinos. Their members live and work in Long Island, the five boroughs, Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess Counties.

Permalink: http://readme.readmedia.com/New-York-Grocery-Workers-Union-Raise-New-Yorks-Minimum-Wage/3613908



In the Press:

Mid Hudson News: Grocery Workers Support Minimum Wage Hike.

Long Island Press: "Raise Minimum Wage" Grocery Workers Union.