The post California Food Delivery Workers Unionize in Historic First for Imperfect Foods Drivers on Frontlines of COVID-19, Protecting Food Access for Thousands As Pandemic Continues appeared first on The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union.
]]>Union Victory for Food Delivery Workers Comes As Companies Push to Exploit Prop. 22 and Weaken Protections for Essential Frontline Workers
HAYWARD, CA — Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5, which represents 30,000 food and retail workers across the Bay Area, announced a major victory for nearly 100 food delivery workers unionizing at Imperfect Foods, a tech-driven grocery startup based in San Francisco that delivers surplus or “imperfect” produce and other food products directly to consumers in states across the country. Imperfect Foods just announced $110 million in a new funding round, with the company now valued at $700 million after its 2015 launch.
Imperfect Foods workers joining UFCW Local 5 comes after a recent union victory for Bay Area 250 Safeway grocery delivery drivers who became the first food delivery workers at the top grocery chain to unionize. UFCW has been a leading national voice for food delivery and gig economy workers, helping Instacart workers unionize for the first time in company history in February 2020. In the wake of Prop. 22, UFCW is holding gig economy and food delivery companies accountable and continuing the push to protect essential food delivery workers who are serving as a critical lifeline, protecting food access for those who are high-risk or quarantining as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
Imperfect Foods grocery delivery worker Chris Jasinski:
“We organized with UFCW Local 5 because we know companies that profess to do good, like Imperfect Foods, will pursue bottom line profits over the health and safety of their workers unless they are held accountable. For essential workers like us helping families get the food they need during COVID-19, this is a major victory as we continue to speak out to ensure these are good-paying union jobs our community needs.”
UFCW Local 5 Strategic Campaigns Director Jim Araby:
“UFCW Local 5 is organizing the grocery delivery sector because essential workers who deliver our groceries should be able to count on the same benefits and protections as the essential workers in our grocery stores. As technology makes it easier to access groceries during the pandemic, we must ensure that the essential workers in this sector who are on the frontlines are protected and have a voice on the job.”
BACKGROUND:
UFCW Local 5 announced today that more than 80 food delivery workers at Imperfect Foods voted to join the union. The campaign to unionize Imperfect Foods workers began in July 2020, and these workers voted to join UFCW Local 5 to strengthen pay, increase access to healthcare, and improve health and safety protections as they continue to serve as frontline workers and face higher incidences of injuries amid a spike in food delivery demand during the pandemic.
Imperfect Foods attempted to stop workers from unionizing by hiring a union-busting consultant and held daily 2-hour mandatory meetings for two straight weeks in an attempt to intimidate and pressure workers against exercising their right to unionize with UFCW Local 5. Imperfect Foods threatened to outsource the jobs of these workers to contractors and changed people’s shifts to disrupt the campaign. Additionally, the company promised raises and promotions to workers who voted against unionizing.
In January 2021, UFCW Local 5 announced a union victory for 250 Safeway grocery delivery drivers who became the first food delivery workers at the top grocery chain to unionize.
UFCW has been a leading national voice for food delivery and gig economy workers, helping Instacart workers unionize for the first time in company history in February 2020.
In the wake of Prop. 22, UFCW is holding gig economy and food delivery companies accountable and continuing the push to protect essential food delivery workers who are serving as a critical lifeline, protecting food access for those who are high-risk or quarantining as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
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United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 represents a highly diverse group of laborers. We are supermarket stockers, retail clerks, food processers, financial professionals and cannabis cultivators. As members of UFCW5, we speak in a clear, progressive and unified voice—30,000 strong. We take pride in what we do. And we do it all with a human touch. Headquartered in Hayward—with local offices stretching from Salinas to Eureka—UFCW5 advocates for the hard-working men and women of Northern California. We ensure our members receive fair wages, ample benefits and maintain a healthy work-life balance.Learn more about the UFCW at ufcw.org.
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]]>The post Unity Makes the Difference for Americold Workers appeared first on The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union.
]]>Once the election results were posted, Gene Muff was relieved and happy. He knew it was a time to celebrate, because change was coming to his plant.
Muff, a member of UFCW Local 271, works at an Americold Logistics plant in Crete, Nebraska. Last summer, workers at his plant voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first ever union contract, which provides them with solid wages and benefit increases.
Muff has been involved with the UFCW since the beginning of the organizing campaign.
“I told my coworkers we needed to join the union so we would get better treatment at the plant. That when we are united we are stronger, so that way they couldn’t bully us around anymore,” he said.
After workers voted in favor of having union representation, Muff joined the bargaining committee. With the help of the UFCW, workers at the plant fought to get the best possible contract.
“During our contract negotiations, safety was a big issue, hours were a big issue,” Muff said. “We had to bargain for better wages and benefits.”
Muff explained that negotiations were difficult since “the company was very hardheaded throughout the first year. Afterwards, the company realized we weren’t going to give up. Then, they got down to business.”
With unity, strength and fortitude, workers at Americold negotiated a good first contract.
“When we ratified the contract my coworkers were very happy,” said Muff.
“When they saw the final contract for the first time, they realized that the entire wait was worth it. It was worth standing together and standing up to the company, because we made our lives much better.”
Now workers at Americold are part of the more than 250,000 workers in the poultry and meatpacking industries nationwide who have a union contract with the UFCW.
“This contract gives us wages that protect full-time, family-supporting jobs in our community,” Muff said.
The new Americold contract includes:
- Average wage increases of $1.44/hr for the first year and an additional 30 cents per hour for the next four years;
- A formal system to resolve workplace issues;
- Time and a half pay for holiday work;
- Night shift premium wages;
- Affordable family health coverage;
- Job advancement opportunities based on seniority; and,
- Funeral leave and paid vacation benefits.
“We got lower costs for health care. We got guaranteed wage increases. Now we’re able to stand up as one, and have a strong voice when we need to talk to management,” he said.
Muff said they owe this contract to the support they received from all the UFCW members across the country.
“I believe everyone in our local and in the UFCW was behind me and my fellow workers the whole time,” he said. “When we stand together we can make a very big difference.”
He added that workers at Americold support workers at other plants who are at the bargaining table. He had some advice for them:
“I would like to tell other workers who are trying to get their first contract that they should stick with it. The more you stand together the stronger you are and the better it is going to be in the long run. Your company might try to pull all different kinds of tactics on you, to make you feel like you made a bad decision in joining the union, but it’s worth it, because it can only make your life better.”
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]]>The post UFCW Steward Aims to Strengthen Membership in America’s Heartland appeared first on The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union.
]]>Luis Rosiles, a Tyson Foods worker and steward for Local 1546, has found his calling as an organizer in training for the UFCW’s Heartland Campaign. Rosiles is part of a coordinated effort to target thousands of non-union packing and processing workers in the Midwest who need a voice on the job. The new campaign is serving as a training ground for organizers like Rosiles, and the UFCW hopes to use the Heartland Campaign as a model for other UFCW organizers across the country.
Rosiles is on leave from his job as a worker at the Tyson Foods plant in Joslin, Illinois, where he served as a steward for Local 1546. As a steward, Rosiles served as a significant link and conduit of information between union leadership and the workers at the Tyson Foods plant in Joslin, and had the advantage of knowing many of his fellow workers. His new role as an organizer in the state of Nebraska presents the challenge of meeting and connecting with workers he has never met before and who may not be familiar with the benefits of joining a union.
“Some have a little bit of knowledge, some don’t,” said Rosiles. “That’s what drives me—winning campaigns and helping people be united at work.
The changing demographics of the packing and processing industries have also posed a challenge for Rosiles, and many of the plants that he is working with in Nebraska have attracted immigrant workers from around the world. Many of the immigrant workers he has approached are afraid of losing their jobs or unsure of their rights as workers in the U.S. To counter that fear and uncertainty, Rosiles and other organizers have made a point to connect with workers outside of the workplace by visiting their places of worship and even their homes to show that the union is part of the larger community.
Rosiles believes that his experience as a steward has helped him hone his skills as an organizer, and encourages other UFCW stewards to get involved with organizing campaigns such as the Heartland Campaign in the Midwest.
“We need more leadership and people getting involved in plants,” said Rosiles. “That’s what makes a union strong.”
For more information about the UFCW’s effort to provide workers with better wages and benefits in America’s Heartland and around the country, visit www.fairnessforfoodworkers.org.
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