Supermarket News.

King Kullen calls union demands "Unrealistic"

Workers at seven Long Island King Kullen stores walked off the job Sunday in four-hour shifts before returning to work as negotiations stalled between the supermarket chain's management and union leaders.

One hundred workers who make Bakers Pride ovens, broilers and ranges are on strike in their quest for a new contract to replace one that was due to expire two months ago. The workers, members of Local 888 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, want 4 percent raises, said Eric Cunningham, a union representative who led about 30 workers yesterday on a picket line in front of the company's sprawling brick building on Pine Street. The company has offered raises of 2.5 percent, he said.

Supermarket News covered the UFCW endorsement of Obama.

Workers in the meat and seafood departments of six King Kullen supermarkets on Staten Island will walk off the job Sunday night unless a contract deal is reached between their union and the chain's management. A union representative said today that negotiations between United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 342 and King Kullen Grocery Inc. are not going well and a strike is "pretty likely" at all 51 King Kullen stores on Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.

About 17,000 home-based child care providers will join the Civil Service Employees Association as a result of a lopsided pro-union vote, state officials said Friday.Officials with the State Employment Relations Board said that 3,723 child care providers had voted to unionize, while 161 had voted against. National union leaders applauded the move. “Today, 17,000 day care workers in New York added their voice to the national cry for change,” said John J. Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. “They said the best way for working families to bring change is to form unions.”

Local 1500 Member Services Online

I'd like to write about some of the services Local 1500 has made available online. UFCW Local 1500 has made enormous steps allowing members to do many things at the convenience from any computer.

• Members can download pension forms here
• Members can download a change of address form here
• You can learn your Wiengarten rights here.
• Members can request a Contract here.
  

The website also allows you to sign up for email alerts and updates. You may sign up for updates for the following by simply heading over to the sign up page.

Joining the Womens Network
Joining Young Workers
Receiving Political Updates
Wal-Mart Free NYC
Grocery Workers Justice Project
Organizing a Union

And the most promptly you can email any questions you may have by using our contact form which is located here. Though I must note, Under no circumstances should you file a grievance online.

If all else fails you can always call the Union office at 1-800-522-0456 for information. I encourage all of you to take advantage of these features that Local 1500 has made available to all members.

Membership Involvment

By: Staten Island Representative Joe Castelli.

Union Membership is everyones responsibility, not just the representatives. Today, more than ever it's important for all of us to get involved and stay involved. If you go to work everyday and wonder what the union is doing, then you are missing the key point of union membership...
What are you doing? What are you doing to make the union stronger or healthier? Are you taking your 15 minute breaks? Are you making sure you're getting Sundays? We pass out contracts, read them. If you're full-time you should be getting 8 hours on holidays... Request a contract by clicking this link right here.

Don't be coerced by your store manager or DM to give up your contractual rights....The Contract is a 2 way street, there are things that work for the company and for you, the member. Don't give your rights away, because once the next negotiations begin the company will want those rights back...Ask your union rep how you can get involved, there many programs and activities that the union continues to look for members to get involved in....The S.T.A.R.T. Program, Political volunteering, Organizing (sign up by clicking here for these programs).

The dumbest question is the question that is not asked, if you have a question please call your representative (to find your reps phone number click here) or just simply email our web master Joe Fedele here. Demand the rights and protection your contract gives you, don't give these away because your manager needs help making labor, that isn't your problem, that's their problem. And remember it's not a grievance until the company has denied you your rights under the collective bargaining agreement.