Bill Bumpus an injury to one is an injury to all

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), made the following statement regarding changes at Whole Foods in the year since they were acquired by Amazon.

“Slowly but surely, Amazon is making Whole Foods a much worse place to work and shop. 

“This is unsurprising. Amazon’s retail vision replaces good jobs and talented employees with automation. 

“Political leaders must realize now, before it’s too late, that the massive job loss this business model leads to could cripple our entire economy. 

“The dedicated men and women who work at Whole Foods have earned and deserve better than the treatment they are receiving from Amazon.”

Today politics is part of our mainstream discourse. But did you know that tens of thousands of union members in Massachusetts are not registered to vote?

We want our union members to make their voices heard and vote in their own best interests. Registering is as quick and easy as it has ever been!

List of winners

The Massachusetts AFL-CIO is proud to endorse 11 union members running for the State Legislature this Fall. Each of these endorsed candidates has a history of fighting for working people and we look forward to hitting the streets in support of their campaigns. Please make every effort to support each of labor’s endorsed candidates and do your part to bring labor’s voice to the state house! 

• John Drinkwater (OPEIU), candidate for State Senate in the 1st Middlesex District
• Mike Armano (IAFF), candidate for State Senate in the 2nd Essex and Middlesex District
• Darrin Howell (SEIU), candidate for State Rep. in the 5th Suffolk District
• Pete Capano (IUE/CWA), candidate for State Rep. in the 11th Essex District
• Tram Nguyen (UAW), candidate for State Rep. in the 18th Essex District
• John Mahoney (IUEC), candidate for State Rep. in the 1st Plymouth District
• Tom Merolli (LIUNA), candidate for State Senate in the Worcester and Norfolk District
• Christina Eckert (WGAE), candidate for State Rep. in the 2nd Essex District
• Rep. Tackey Chan (SAG), running for re-election in the 2nd Norfolk District
• Rep. Jim Hawkins (MTA), running for re-election in the 2nd Bristol District
• Senator Paul Feeney (IBEW), running for re-election in the Bristol and Norfolk District

 

With summer almost here and temperatures rising, many workers face additional heat-related risks. If you are one of these many hard working men and women, you deserve to know you’ll be safe when you go to work.

Local 718 President Rich Paris addresses the attendees at today’s 125th Firefighters Memorial Sunday at Forest Hills Cemetery. It was a beautiful sunny day for such a solemn event. The Orator of the day was Boston News 25 Blair Miller.

Boston Firefighters Local 718 along with the IAFF hosted the U.S Mayors Conference for Fire Ops 101 in Copley Square Friday June 8th. Boston Firefighters Local 718 President Richard Paris along with 30 U.S. Mayors participated in the series of intense and authentic firefighting and rescue drills.

 

Right now Senators and Representatives at the Massachusetts State House are considering changing or eliminating the time and one half pay retail and grocery workers receive on Sundays and Holidays.  The Senate President and Speaker of the House need to hear from you!  Please make two quick phone calls to help protect time and one half pay.

Call the two numbers below and ask to leave this message both for Senate President Harriette Chandler and Speaker of the House Robert Deleo.  If you receive and answering machine, please leave a message, and if it is busy try back in a few minutes.  You can leave a message after business hours as well.  It is important that they hear from you!  Thank you!

Senate President Harriette Chandler   617 – 722 – 1500
Speaker of the House Robert Deleo   617 – 722 – 2500

Hello,

I would like to leave a message for the (Senate President / Speaker).  My name is (First and Last) and I am a retail worker who lives in (City or Town), Massachusetts.  I want to urge leadership not to change or eliminate time and a half pay on Sundays and Holidays for current and future retail and grocery workers.  This pay is vital to all of us who work in this industry. Thank you.

On top of the great benefits you get as a UFCW member, did you know you can now also save money on anything from child care to medical devices to household appliances? One of the ways you can save is on your wireless bill. For more savings, visit myufcw.org. 

Sometime in the next few weeks, the Supreme Court will decide a case called Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, that threatens to undermine the freedom of working people to join together and negotiate for better wages and working conditions. Corporate CEOs and their allies know that working people have a much stronger voice when we speak together, so they are pulling out all the stops to silence our voices. 

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE RESULTS OF BOSTON FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 718 ANNUAL ELECTIONS For the Office of President of Local 718 – RICH PARIS For the Office of VP – BOB PETITTI For the Office of Treasurer – JOHN SARRO

Mike Watts lives with his family in Kentucky, where he has been a Kroger employee for over 30 years. When his son was born with special needs, Mike’s union health insurance allowed him to provide the high quality care his son needed when he was born.

Marc Perrone, international president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), released the following statement regarding the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R. 2), also known as the Farm Bill, failing to pass the U.S. House of Representatives.

“This Farm Bill was flawed and deserved to be defeated.

“The most common jobs in our country are retail jobs where work schedules are uncertain and vary widely from week to week. If this bill had become law, someone who works hard could have lost access to food simply because their employer cut their hours.

“We urge members of Congress to go back to the drawing board, and work together to craft a Farm Bill that doesn’t punish hard-working families, protects jobs, and actually makes life better in the communities we call home.”

This week, UFCW members around the country joined allies to mark the kick off of The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.

Founded by Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Rev. Liz Theoharis, the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary, and hundreds of local and national grassroots groups, The Poor People’s Campaign is uniting tens of thousands of people across the country to challenge systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation, and the nation’s distorted morality.

Marc Perrone, international president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), released the following statement regarding news that Amazon Go stores, which replace cashiers with technology, would be opening in Chicago and San Francisco.

“This isn’t about technology or convenience, this is about Amazon’s and Jeff Bezos’ greed.

“Amazon’s unchecked expansion of this job-killing store concept should be of great concern to everyone who lives and works in America.

“It is time for elected leaders to stop being fooled by Amazon’s HQ2 search and see this company for what it really is – a monopoly that threatens millions of American jobs and hard-working families.”

From stocking shelves to providing late-night medical care, when the rest of the world goes to sleep, many UFCW members’ work days are just getting started.

Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), released the following statement regarding the White House bringing major U.S. companies together for a summit about artificial intelligence (AI).

For the 26th year in a row, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will be conducting its "Stamp Out Hunger" Food Drive. Every year on the second Saturday in May, postal carriers, in addition to their regular workload, collect food from people in more than 10,000 cities across the country. Each year, it is the largest one-day food drive in the world.