Food Policy, Food-Deserts, Affordable Food

In the last week there has been plenty of media attention on creating access to healthy, affordable food throughout America.  Here's a quick update

Michelle Obama has aligned herself with Walmart (again) in order to create fresh produce and healthy foods throughout lacking areas (food deserts) across the United States.  (Meanwhile the Washington Post found Michelle Obama eating a 1,700 calorie meal Shake Shack last week) 

UFCW International President Joe Hansen released a statement, challenging the White House to demand better jobs from Walmart.

The initiative (we helped start in NYC years ago) has retailers salivating to open in what were once unappealing sites now that Michelle Obama has backed it. [SN]

In New York City, City Harvest has addressed the needs in specific areas.

Chase has offered to fund supermarket improvements in Food-Deserts.

Last week the NLRB held hearings on proposed rule changes, Supermarket News recaps arguments from both sides, labor and management.

FoodWorks New York, and the Good Food, Good Jobs FRESH Celebration

On Monday, Local 1500 co-sponsored an event at the New School regarding the expected passage of F.R.E.S.H. (Food Retail Expansion to Support Health).  Local 1500 President Bruce Both spoke at the event, along with New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (you can read her speech here, or watch it here).

“Unfortunately, while more and more chickens are cage free, many workers are still caged.” Bruce Both, President, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 1500 –

Bluntly opening her speech, Quinn noted some oversight by the council, "Suppose I told you that New York City had the opportunity to create thousands of new jobs – but we just weren’t doing it... Now suppose I went on to say that we’ve actually had that opportunity for years, we just weren’t paying close enough attention..." Her honest point came across clear,  New York City  (and NY State) has ignored the economic potential and the amount of impact a certain sector can have on one's health for what seems like forever.  The sector is of course New York City's Food System.  The facts are all there, as Peggy Shepard from WE ACT pointed out, "The recession leaves us unemployed, obese and diabetic, not only because of individual decisions, but because our environment works against our own being."  The abundance of fast-food stores throughout the Bronx and Harlem strikes anyone who walks through those neighborhoods.  KFC, Burger King, McDonalds, Popeyes and a bodgea, these are the options our youth is left with.   More than half of New York City adults are overweight, and 34% are obese, 58% are either obese or overweight.  In the past 10 years, the number of people with diabetes in NYC has more than doubled. An estimated 530,000 adult New Yorkers know they have diabetes. For every two people who have diabetes, there is another person who has it and doesn't yet know it, suggesting another 265,000 New Yorkers with diabetes. (NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene)

 "What they came up with was the first of its kind in the nation – the use of both zoning and tax incentives to bring more grocery stores to underserved communities. And we should all be incredibly proud and excited that the FRESH zoning initiatives are about to be passed by the full City Council this week."
- Christine Quinn, Speaker, New York City Council.

In what seemed like a too good to be true event, Christine Quinn outlined a well informed five point plan called FoodWorks New York.  Covering everything from manufacturing and transportation to the health of our communities, the broad Good Food, Good Jobs coalition has clearly taken much into consideration regarding the potential of the Food System for New York City by Quinn's blunt admissions on prior oversights, "But the truth is, each step in the food cycle – from the farm all the way to the table – has a major impact on the lives of every New Yorker. And each step has the potential to create jobs, to improve public health, and to preserve our shared environment. Or – if we continue to ignore those opportunities – the potential to cost us jobs, increase obesity, and pollute our air."  

Quinn's FoodWorks NY:

1. Improving City's Food Infrastructure.  Saying, "Too much of that infrastructure is outdated and inefficient, which costs us jobs and damages our
environment. That’s why we need to begin making key, targeted investments – creating better links between the city and upstate producers, and supporting a smarter redevelopment of Hunts Point"

2. Creating new and better jobs in the food industry.  Stressed the need to create better jobs in the Food Industry, "We talk a lot about getting
people food, so they can feed their families. Now let’s use food to get people jobs, so they can afford to feed their families."

3. Keep local food dollars in the local economy -
Outlined that 2% of fruits and vegetables coming from Hunts Point come from New York State.

4. Reduce diet related illnesses like obesity, heart disease, diabetes.
Bring healthier food to low income areas who lack access.

5. Reduce environmental damage from the consumption, transport and production of food.
Stressed the need to cut out needless transportation of food from other states that is produced here in NY State.  Cut greenhouse gases by using more rail transportation rather than truck.


United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 has been on the forefront advocating for the development of a City-wide food policy. Working with the Mayor, Speaker and Department of City Planning, UFCW Local 1500 and a coalition of community groups have spent almost two years developing F.R.E.S.H and targeting the City’s food deserts for supermarket growth.

Through our innovative Building Blocks Project,  we believe that Good Food, Good Jobs and Good Health are the building blocks of all communities and that New York City's economy benefits when communities are built on this foundation.

FoodWorks New York has been covered by Supermarket News & The NY Times.

Local 1500 Applauds New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on Food Policy Announcement and Expected Passage of F.R.E.S.H. Initiative by the New York City Council

Image via Wikipedia

 Immediate Release: December 7th, 2009

New York State’s Largest Supermarket Union Applauds New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on Food Policy Announcement and Expected Passage of F.R.E.S.H. Initiative by the New York City Council

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, New York State’s largest grocery workers union, commended New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s speech today on a city wide food policy and for her leadership on the expected passage of the F.R.E.S.H. (Food Retail Expansion to Support Health) initiative this coming Wednesday by the New York City Council. Speaker Quinn, at an event today co-sponsored by United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 and the Good Food, Good Jobs Coalition, announced a progressive and comprehensive city wide food policy aimed at the entire food system network. She also touted the expected passage of F.R.E.S.H., an initiative aimed to bring more supermarkets to NYC’s low-income communities.

“Speaker Quinn hit the equivalent of a policy grand slam today and UFCW Local 1500 and its 23,000 members could not be more supportive,” said Bruce W. Both, President of UFCW Local 1500. “Good Food, Good Jobs, and Good Health will be achieved through Good Policy throughout all segments of New York City’s food system is the message I received today from the Speaker. Through the soon to pass F.R.E.S.H initiative and Speaker Quinn’s stated vision for moving forward, I believe all invested partners including labor, community groups and food policy experts left today’s event feeling that their collective voices have been heard and that Speaker Christine Quinn will be the champion of this very important issue, “ Both concluded.

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 has been on the forefront advocating for the development of a City-wide food policy. Working with the Mayor, Speaker and Department of City Planning, UFCW Local 1500 and a coalition of community groups have spent almost two years developing F.R.E.S.H and targeting the City’s food deserts for supermarket growth. Through its innovative Building Blocks Project, UFCW Local 1500 believes that Good Food, Good Jobs and Good Health are the building blocks’ of all communities and that New York City's economy benefits when communities are built on this foundation.

##

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, based out of Queens Village, represents over 23,000 grocery workers in New York City, Long Island, Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess Counties and New Jersey. Members of Local 1500 are employed by Pathmark, King Kullen, Stop and Shop, Gristedes, Fairway, D’agastinos, Key Food and Shop Rite.

Local 1500 Slams City Planning Dept. on Flaws in Supermarket Initiative...

Press Release: September 24, 2009

Grocery Store Union Slams City Planning over Supermarket Initiative, Will Seek City Council Support to Correct Major Flaws and

Tax-Free Gifts to Irresponsible Employers

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New York City’s largest Union representing supermarket workers, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union Local 1500, announced that it will launch a major initiative to correct what they see as “major flaws” in a new supermarket initiative that was approved by the New York City Department of City Planning yesterday. They also expressed outrage over the idea that the initiative would provide tax-payer giveaways to irresponsible employers like Whole Foods.

“It is disgraceful to think that New York City, in these difficult economic times, would approve a plan to provide tax free gifts and zoning favors to a company like Whole Foods,” stated Patrick Purcell Jr., Director of Special Projects for UFCW Local 1500. “Never in the dozens of meetings between our Union and the City was it suggested that this was the goal of the FRESH initiative.

Whole Foods does hundreds of million in sales, aggressively opposes healthcare reform that will benefit millions of New Yorkers and sells what its own CEO John Mackey called “junk” at very high prices. Whole Foods needs and deserves tax subsidies from New York City about as much New York City residents need and deserve another subway fare increase,” Purcell claimed.

“Whole Foods doesn’t believe tax dollars should be used to help with our nation’s healthcare crisis but would happily accept tax subsidies to build more of its own stores.”

The Union announced it will initiate an aggressive campaign to educate and inform City Council members about “both the major flaws in the FRESH initiative and the misleading objectives that were presented to our Union over the past several months by City officials,” according to Purcell. “We negotiated in good faith for months so a fair and reasonable initiative could move forward that would bring New York City communities equal access to fresh, healthy and affordable food and what they got today was an expensive rotten apple.”

The Union will also reach out to the City’s other Unions, community groups and faith-based organizations.  “The 23,000 members of UFCW Local 1500 have an outstanding reputation of being strong partners with our elected officials and communities as we all seek ways to bring good food, good jobs and good health to our underserved communities. In fact, it was UFCW Local 1500 that brought this issue to the forefront with elected officials over two years ago when the issue was receiving little attention.  However, support for the FRESH initiative in the form it was sent to the New York City Council today is unacceptable to all New Yorkers,” Purcell concluded.

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, based out of Queens Village, represents over 23,000 grocery workers in New York City, Long Island, Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess Counties. Members of Local 1500 are employed by Pathmark, King Kullen, Stop and Shop, Gristedes, Fairway, D’agastinos, Key Food and Shop Rite.    

For more information contact: Pat Purcell,  joinus1500@aol.com Or head to www.buildingblocksproject.org 



-UFCW Local 1500,

Local 1500 is on Facebook and Twitter, Friend us, Follow us! 
You can find all our archived news on the 1500 Blog.

Queens gets a Fairway

Image by 1hr photo via Flickr

Queens gets a Fairway

Fairway Markets have announced they will be opening a new store in Douglaston, Queens, a supermarket starved area.

Fairway Markets announced they will be opening a store in Douglaston, Queens, an area salivating for a new supermarket, good food and good jobs:

"Area residents — short on supermarket options — are cheering a Board of Standards and Appeals decision allowing a Fairway Market to open in the Douglaston Plaza Shopping Center.
“We are so happy. The owner is very community minded; he’s a lovely man,” said Rosemary Guidice...

The community-minded Howie Glickberg will not only bring union jobs to the community but also healthy affordable food. Glickberg dispelled the common myth associated with Fairway as a 'upscale store', "Glickberg indicated his store’s prices are 15 to 25 percent cheaper than Waldbaum’s, with a greater selection of items for the public..." [The Queens Tribune has more on Fairway in Douglaston]

Fairway Market operates stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island and New Jersey, providing communities with union jobs and healthy, affordable food for over 50 years.

Monday Morning One Liners

Morning Read

A farm worker connected to Trader Joe's 'Two-Buck Chuck' wine has died.

Grocery store operator Kroger Co. announced that it has reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with its Nashville-based union

Wal-Mart Stores here will unveil a new corporate logo this week, according to a report in the Memphis Business Journal.
Read more of this story

Super 88, a six-unit chain of Asian supermarkets here, last week agreed to pay $175,000 in back pay to current and former employees after the state accused the company of failing to pay overtime and violating minimum-wage rules, according to reports. The company also agreed to pay the state $25,000.
Read more of this story

A&P here yesterday said it would convert eight SuperFresh stores in the Philadelphia market to its new Pathmark Save-A-Center banner, and would also convert the 16 Pathmarks it operates in the area to the price-impact format.
Read more of this story

The Huffington Post asks if "Locally grown food has gone Corporate?"

A plastic bag recycling law set to take effect in New York City next month may be relegated to the trash pile. Proponents of the legislation, which was introduced and approved by the City Council, say it will be gutted by another recycling bill that was approved by Albany lawmakers earlier this week, much to the surprise of council members.

Anheuser-Busch has agreed to stop producing caffeinated Tilt and Bud Extra, and cease selling all alcoholic energy drinks nationwide, after an investigation revealed the company was illegally marketing these drinks to young people, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced here yesterday.
Read more of this story

Citizens Financial Group Inc. plans to add 57 new in-store branches in Stop & Shop supermarkets in New York through next year.

Politics

Acorn, Pratt target Coney Island plan The affordable housing group NY Acorn is teaming up with the Pratt Center for Community Development to demand that the Bloomberg administration alter its redevelopment plans for Coney Island, to include more affordable housing and add measures to prevent gentrification

City Is Pushing for H.I.V. Tests for All in Bronx The New York City health department plans to announce on Thursday an ambitious three-year effort to give an H.I.V. test to every adult living in the Bronx, which has a far higher death rate from AIDS than any other borough.

New York state ranked 10th worst in the nation by the percentage of women living in poverty, according to a Thursday report from the Institute for Women's Policy Research. The report concluded that women in New York state are now worse off economically than they were in 1989, according to a new report issued Thursday.

The Colorado Supreme Court rejected the legal challenges against the titles of a pair of ballot measures proposed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7.

Community Board 7 has threatened to nix Mayor Bloomberg's Willets Point redevelopment plan Monday night unless the city consents to giving the Queens Borough Board a binding vote on the proposal.

The only members of Congress from New York that disclosed what local projects they’re trying to fund were Peter King and Vito Fossella.

Thursday Morning One Liners...

Ikea opens in Red Hook [Post] and [Brooklyn Eagle] and [Brooklyn Paper]

Mark McEwan, a noted restaurateur and television chef, is planning to open a gourmet grocery store in Toronto next year Read more of this story

City health officials here yesterday confirmed six new cases of salmonella linked to contaminated tomatoes.
Read more of this story

Waldbaums pharmacists represented by Local 338 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union here on Wednesday said they have filed a claim against A&P with the National Labor Relations Board, charging the retailer with engaging in unfair labor practices during negotiations for a new contract.
Read more of this story

Walter D’Agostino signed on with the rival supermarket chain to revitalize its ailing stores, six years after walking away from the family business.

Kroger reaches tentative contract with Indianapolis-area workers
MSN Money - USA
Kroger Co. said it has a tentative deal on a new contract with the United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 700 in Indianapolis. ...

City health officials on Wednesday confirmed six new cases of salmonella linked to a nationwide outbreak of infected tomatoes, bringing the total number of New York City cases to seven.

Albor Ruiz writes on the looming threat of Hunger in NYC.

New York City is set to start fining chain restaurants that don't post calorie counts on their menus by next month.

Judge Approves Deal to Settle Suit Over Wage Violations

A federal judge on Wednesday provisionally approved the first part of proposed settlements totaling $3.9 million in two closely watched wage-violation lawsuits brought against one of Manhattan's leading restaurant owners. The judge, Paul A. Crotty, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, approved a $588,000 settlement in a lawsuit against the Redeye Grill, a Midtown restaurant, and indicated that he would soon approve a second settlement of more than $3 million against other restaurants owned by the Fireman Hospitality Group, which owns Redeye. Those restaurants are Cafe Fiorello, Bond 45, Brooklyn Diner, Shelly's and Trattoria Dell'Arte. Waiters and other workers charged that Fireman's restaurants often violated wage and hour laws by erasing hours from employees' time cards, not paying the minimum wage and overtime, giving managers part of the tips and docking employees' paychecks if their customers walked out without paying. Five workers are also threatening to bring a new lawsuit charging sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

Save our Supermarkets!! Press Event at City Hall tomorrow!

Save our Supermarkets!

** Reminder! **

Important Press Conference at City Hall tomorrow…

S.T.A.R.T. Members will receive 200 points for attending!

Join Community activists, health advocates and labor leaders in developing a healthy food policy in New York City by providing better access to nutritious foods at full service supermarkets!

The rising cost of food and the disappearance of neighborhood supermarkets are creating a crisis situation in our City!

In order to address the situation UFCW Local 1500 is joining with community based organizations and elected leaders to begin to address this important issue. Come stand with this coalition so that we can generate as much media attention as possible to create awareness on this crisis.

When: Tomorrow- May 28, 2008
@ 1:00 pm

Where: Front steps of NY City Hall

Good Food…
Good Jobs…
Good Health.

For more information simply hit reply on this email.