UFCW President Perrone Statement on Adoption of Right to Work in Wisconsin

For Immediate Release: March 9, 2015
Contact Tim Schlittner, 202-262-3570, tschlittner@ufcw.org

http://www.ufcw.org/2015/03/09/ufcw-president-perrone-statement-on-adoption-of-right-to-work-in-wisconsin/

UFCW President Perrone Statement on Adoption of Right to Work in Wisconsin
“By standing against hard-working families, Governor Walker should be ashamed, but we know he is not.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Marc Perrone, International President of the 1.3 million member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), today released the following statement in response to the adoption of right to work in Wisconsin.

“Every elected leader has a sacred responsibility to stand up for America’s hard-working families and to help them achieve a better life. Higher wages, better benefits, equal pay for equal work, protection from discrimination and exploitation; those are the rights that unions offer and which we fight for every single day. These are the true rights that Governor Scott Walker wants to take away from the union men and women who work hard, sacrifice, and help make Wisconsin and America a better place.

The truth is by standing against hard-working families, Governor Scott Walker should be ashamed, but we know he is not. He has chosen to pursue a radical agenda that willingly ignores that this law will devastate countless workers and their families. Make no mistake, this law gives irresponsible corporations, let alone politicians, the right to exploit and mistreat countless men and women all across Wisconsin.

Let me be clear, this fight is not over. We will stand up and fight for the right to protect our hard-working union family and the rights of countless families in Wisconsin and all across America who earn and deserve a better life.”

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Key Facts: Value of Union Membership for Hard-Working Men and Women

Union workers vs non-union workers earn higher wages, receive better benefits, and have more job security than non-union workers. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Union Members – 2014”, January 2015, Table 2. Available at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm
Women are more likely to get equal pay for equal work by being a union member. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Union Members – 2014”, January 2015, Table 2. Available at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm

LGBT workers are less likely to be fired based on their sexual orientation or gender identity as a union member.  Source: Frank, Miriam. “Out in the Union: A Labor History of Queer America”, Temple University Press, 2014.
Immigrant workers have far more protections as a union member. Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research “Unions and Upward Mobility for Immigrant Workers” Available at: http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/unions-immigrants-2010-03.pdf

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.

Top 10 Stories This Week: Americans Aren't Lovin' It, Wage Theft, Right to Work Chicago?!

FEATURED

McDonald's $9 million Super Bowl ad shows customers paying with love...Maybe they should show employees some McLovin'?

In December McDonald's workers took to the streets to protest low wages, dreadful working conditions, and no stability.  The $9m McLovin' ad, isn't fooling anyone in the press, and really don't make sense to employees who have an open civil rights suit against the company . Heck, even Managers are admitting to Wage Theft, it's a bad time to be a clown.

FEATURED IMAGE

Protesters gathered in front of Walmart heiress Alice Walton's Park Avenue apartment in NYC this week, demanding Walmart ends retaliation against its workers.  Follow #walmartstrikers for more photos and info.

WHAT'S NEWS THIS WEEK 1. Fairway sees Improvements in Q3 New CEO is seeing some immediate improvements. 2. U.S. Added 46,000 Retail Jobs in January

3. Governor of Illinois Targets Labor, Seeks a 'Right to Work' State Joining the ranks of Republican governors taking aim at the power of labor unions, the new chief executive of Illinois, Gov. Bruce Rauner, said on Wednesday that the state should ban some political contributions by public employee unions and allow local “right to work” laws.  This is a story we all need to pay close attention to and fight back against.

4. We Built the Middle Class & We Can Re-Build It Most members of Congress today are millionaires. Their wealth has increased 28 percent since 2007, while that of the average American fell 43 percent.  How can they relate to us?

5. Americans: No Longer Lovin' It Is this the downfall of McDonald's?  After airing a Super Bowl ad asking customers to pay with love, employees are asking, where is our love?

6. Haggen begins to re-banner Albertsons The Safeway-Albertsons merge is done, and here's the new banner. Executives are very optimistic, others, not so much.

7. Wegman's tops 'reputation' poll Company tops Costco & Amazon

8. Want to be Happy? Join a Union New study shows belonging to a union leads to a more satisfied life.

9. Target names new CIO from Tesco

10. Walmart's Echinacea has No Echinacea Bottles of Walmart-brand echinacea, an herb said to ward off colds, were found to contain no echinacea at all. The NY Attorney General unveiled a report showing retail chains getting over on their customers with supplements. 11. Report: Hospitals Fails to Protect Nurses from becoming Patients According to surveys by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there are more than 35,000 back and other injuries among nursing employees every year, severe enough that they have to miss work.

12. NYC Construction Workers March Against Junk Jobs

13. World's Email Encryption Software Depends on One Guy, Who is Going Bankrupt

The man who built the free email encryption software used by whistleblower Edward Snowden, as well as hundreds of thousands of journalists, dissidents and security-minded people around the world, is running out of money to keep his project alive.

14. Unions Re-Powering Civil Rights  Movement & Protests: Black History Month

During the recent wave of protests around the nation over the killing of unarmed blacks by police, an old ally has reemerged to march in step with African-Americans seeking justice — organized labor.

Elsewhere NYC News:

LSSA 280 is on Strike. On January 30th,  MFY union members voted to reject the unreasonable contract offered by MFY management, and are now on strike. Please join our MFY members on the picket line: The union will be picketing MFY, 299 Broadway in lower Manhattan, Monday through Thursday from 8:30am-10am.

Thank You:

It's often a thankless job, so we'd like to say, thank you. And thank you for being a subscriber. 

Week's Top News: We Can't Survive on $7.25

On Twitter: Walmart works with #unions abroad, but not at home in U.S.ow.ly/fUtTs #wmtfail #labor #1u via @washingtonpost@ArchiveDigger

Last night hundreds of workers swarmed NYC's Time Square demanding justice, better working conditions and fair wages.  Workers are fed up!  We can't survive on $7.25!

The demonstration came on the heels of last week'sFast-Food Forward protest -- where employees at different fast-food establishments across the city walked off of the job in order to demand higher wages, benefits and the right to unionize.
Fast-food strikers joined forces yesterday with other fed-up workers -- in health-care, construction, security, service industries and other marginalized sectors -- in order to let the rest of the city know that their plight will no longer be ignored.

Michigan's GOP quickly approved Right-To-Work legislation, just hours before it was introduced, spurring protests across the state.  Read more and find out what you can do to help here.

President Obama has spoken out against "Right to Work" legislation in Michigan:

"President Obama has long opposed so-called ‘right to work’ laws and he continues to oppose them now," said White House spokesperson Matt Lehrich. "The President believes our economy is stronger when workers get good wages and good benefits, and he opposes attempts to roll back their rights. Michigan – and its workers' role in the revival of the US automobile industry – is a prime example of how unions have helped build a strong middle class and a strong American economy."

We rarely get to say this, Yahoo! Finance has an awesome spot, "Why We Need Unions After All..."  Watch the short video or read the article, Yahoo!'s economists say, "The pendulum has swung too far..."

The discount private label retailer, Aldi, is rolling out a Premium Brand in the U.S..

Albertsons and Save-A-Lot are rumored to be up for sale.

Previously Cerberus, which owns the Albertsons LLC stores — now transitioning to Albertsons Market — was reported to have been in talks to acquire all of Supervalu, but was unable to secure financing. 

The Brit Corporation, Tesco, said they're reviewing their controversial chain, Fresh and Easy.  Speculation has risen that the chain will shut down its' 13 Bay Area stores.  Check out the inside scoop at Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Food Lion announced they have a new President.

#ShockerAlert: Walmart was added to yet another lawsuit surrounding wage and hour violations.

Washington Post has a great article: Walmart works with unions abroad, but not at home...

Its employees are not unionized in the United States, where the retailer has become infamous for its staunch opposition to labor groups. Even in Canada, it closed a store after workers there organized. But in the United Kingdom, Wal-Mart touts a growing roster of union employees and has negotiated contracts with entrenched labor groups in Brazil and Argentina for decades. 

“We recognize those rights,” said John Peter “J.P.” Suarez , senior vice president of international business development at Wal-Mart. “In that market, that’s what the associates want, and that’s the prevailing practice.”

Documents now show Walmart said 'No' to paying for fire safety at a factory in Bangladesh, where a fire broke out last month, and over 100 workers were killed.   More at the New York Times.

CNN looks behind the Walmart walkouts and Fast Food strikes, asking, "What gives? Workers are fed up!"  


Supermarket News looks at what could be the 2013 Food Trends.

Are you a UFCW / RWDSU member affected by Hurricane Sandy? Apply for assistance from your union now by clicking here.
 
And finally check out the Nation of Change's coverage of Walmart protests and walkouts.