Big grocers take aim at the UFCW

[IndianaGreen]

Big grocers take aim at the UFCW

Darrin Hoop, a member of UFCW Local 21 in Seattle, asks whether his union is prepared to draw the line against concession demands from the big grocery chains.

August 31, 2010

THE UNITED Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) is in the midst of an 18-month period in which it is negotiating contracts for more than 400,000 of its 1.3 million members.

Will the union move forward or backward? So far, there are several grocery contracts that have been settled throughout the country. Most recently, on July 8, over 16,000 members of UFCW Local 1500 in the New York City area settled with Stop & Shop, Pathmark and King Kullen.

Prior to that, the 5,800 members of UFCW Local 23 ratified a contract that covered 36 Giant Eagle stores in Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia. Members of the Madison Heights, Mich.-based UCFW Local 876 unanimously ratified a three-year contract for about 12,000 workers at 118 Kroger stores in Michigan.

Unfortunately, both the UFCW local union and International Web sites--and, not surprisingly, the mainstream media--have very few details of these settlements. Due to the history of concessionary contracts negotiated by the UFCW, the silence is troubling.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/08/31/big-grocers-take-aim-at-ufcw