Lisa Xu

United Food and Commercial Workers President Marc Perrone announced his retirement May 13. The same day, the union announced his successor, chosen in a special meeting of the international executive board: Milton Jones, previously international secretary-treasurer.

UFCW President Steps Down, Successor Appointed

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Workers in yellow shirts and rain parkas picket in front of a grocery store with a ‘stop the layoffs’ signs visible

Ten thousand members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 are on strike all across Colorado. They work for King Soopers grocery stores, owned by Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the U.S.

When their contracts expired January 16, they voted by 96 percent to authorize a two-week-long unfair labor practice strike, including high-traffic Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day weekends.

First Skirmish: Ten Thousand Grocery Workers Strike Kroger

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Eight workers hold white and orange strike signs--some have fists in the air and are smiling

Rolling Strikes at CVS Halted as Company Gave In

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Blog
Author(s): 
Sarah Hughes
Lisa Xu

This fall, workers at hundreds of CVS stores in California announced a rolling wave of strikes that seemed to take management by surprise.

Eight United Food and Commercial Workers locals bargaining together in California subsequently ratified a new contract in November with CVS, one of the largest health care retail conglomerates in the country. The units cover 7,000 workers, including pharmacists, pharmacy techs, store associates, and inventory staff.

In a victory for labor—and in particular, for a coalition of United Food and Commercial Workers local unions—judges in Oregon and Washington state have separately ruled against the proposed mega-merger of Kroger and Albertsons, effectively blocking it and leading Albertsons to terminate the merger agreement.

UFCW Locals Block Kroger-Albertsons Mega-Merger

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A crowd of people, mostly women, racially varied, in yellow T-shirts (some say UFCW, some say LIBRE) stand outside a grocery store, holding printed red-and-white signs, shouting together. There is a podium. Printed signs have UFCW Local 324 logo and such messages as "Stop the merger," "Say no to higher prices, fewer choices, store closures," and "Protect workers, protect customers, protect community."

Members seeking to transform the United Food and Commercial Workers have added a new weapon to their arsenal: legal action.

Grocery workers Kyong Barry (Local 3000 in Washington) and Iris Scott (Local 1459 in Massachusetts) sued the UFCW April 19 over the undemocratic representation of members at the UFCW Convention, which takes place every five years.

Grocery Workers File Union Democracy Lawsuit

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A group of serious-faced people stands indoors. Some are wearing matching red EW4D T-shirts, including Iris Scott, a white woman speaking from notes while others listen and someone in front of them holds up a phone camera to livestream the event. Some in the group wear other union shirts. Handwritten signs on the table in front of the group say "We need true reprsentation," "Vote for worker power," and "UFCW 3000, UAW, TDU" [with hand-drawn logos].

Fans of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade may have noticed one glaring omission in its cast of charismatic balloons and floats: Scabby the Rat, who for some reason, has never been invited.

But what employer wouldn’t want a reminder from Scabby—“an imposing 12-foot inflatable rat, replete with red eyes, fangs, and claws,” as the National Labor Relations Board puts it—to stay on its best behavior?

Strikes and a Boycott Win a Better Deal from Macy’s

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A line of children and adults push baby carriages with inflatable animals wearing signs saying ‘Macy’s Workers on ULP Strike’

It wasn’t such a merry Christmas for grocery store management in central Minnesota. Five hundred grocery workers in the Brainerd Lakes area walked out on an unfair labor practice strike, deserting five stores between December 22 and 25.

Management tried to keep the stores running, but workers said they turned into disaster zones.

Grocery Workers Make Waves in the Land of Lakes

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A group of 20 workers in winter clothes gather with yellow UFCW signs around a SuperOne Foods sign

VIDEO Ceasefire Now: Workplace Organizing for Palestine

Blog: 
Blog
Author(s): 
Lisa Xu



On November 15, Labor Notes hosted a Zoom call to hear reports from workers who are organizing to stop an escalating genocide in Palestine. Many are also fighting against the repression of workers who are speaking up for a ceasefire and against Israel’s occupation. We heard speakers from unions in education, health care, construction, and others who have organized their co-workers into action.

Speakers:

After supporting screenwriters and actors through a months-long double strike, film and television crew workers are finally stepping into the spotlight themselves.

Dissatisfied with their union’s leadership and direction, a group of members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) is launching a reform caucus called CREW, or the Caucus of Rank-and-File Entertainment Workers.

IATSE Members Launch Reform Caucus as Hollywood Strikes Wrap

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A large, upbeat crowd of picketers poses on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk, many kneeling. Some picket signs say "SAG-AFTRA on strike" and others say "IATSE supports workers' rights" or "IATSE Local 52 supporters workers' rights."

Today 6,800 Auto Workers (UAW) struck the most profitable Stellantis plant in the world.

At 10 a.m. workers streamed out of the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP), near Detroit, where they build the Ram 1500 pickup.

“It’s just real now,” said Crystal Pasarcik, the sergeant-at-arms at Local 1700, which represents the plant.

Auto Workers Halt Stellantis’s Biggest Moneymaker

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A Black man in sunglasses with an exuberant expression exits a factory turnstile with his right arm raised.

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