21/09/2023
My brothers and sisters in union, I am making the difficult decision today to write this statement to condemn the newsletter written by Mark Ramos at UFCW 1428, in which he blatantly waters down information about what happened at this year's international convention, and withheld information about the large amounts of reform amendments that were voted down. Mark knows good and well that if he were to publish information about the amendments his local would get a flood of phone calls asking why the local voted them down. When he wrote on page 4 of his newsletter, that "the convention is democracy in action" yea tell that to Iris Scott, a rank and file member from local 1459 that you interrupted to end debate and call a vote on reform amendments. I felt disgusted and personally insulted, because every single word in this article is misleading.
Let's start out with when Mark wrote "During the convention, delegates approved a change to the constitution that reduced the waiting period to receive benefits in case of a strike". What he doesn't tell his members is that he voted down first day strike pay and it didn't pass. Then he writes "Also, workers who have organized with the UFCW will be eligible for benefits as they negotiate their first contracts". What workers? The UFCW has lost 100,000 members over the past decade, and recent NLRB election petitions have all been from Starbucks workers joining Workers United, UFCW has no plans to even attempt to make a big campaign like Workers United did recently, because this local voted down 20% mandatory organizing from International Union, even though the IU is hoarding $527 Million in total assets. Then comes the icing on the cake, Mark mentions that Int. President Marc Perrone came out to oppose the merger, but he didn't mention how it took 9 months from learning about the merger for him to actually come out and condemn it. In that same time frame, I could of conceived and gave birth to a child. Speaking of Perrone, I'm writing this on September 21st, 2023 which is several months after the delegates passed the creation of a "Healthcare division" and the writing on the wall is saying that International Union is never going to make this. Do I even have time to point out the fact that the "member's first" slate re-elected the international secretary-treasurer Shaun Barclay only for him to immediately retire a few months later, which almost seems like this was done so that Perrone can hand pick his successor through the international board instead of going through an election.
I know that I'm going to be accused of being too adversarial, but our union is shrinking, wages are stagnating, the merger threatens to close down stores, Rite Aid is already closing stores, and we need to have a greater sense of urgency. This newsletter needs to filed in it's proper place, in Shawn Fain's trash can. I'm printing out this newsletter just so I can crumble it up and throw it into my trash can. Because that's where it belongs. The employers, the grocery giants, the retail giants, they WANT us to run and hide and never do a nation wide organizing campaign like Starbucks. The employers don't want us to have a national bargaining committee like the Teamsters have at UPS, they don't want us to have the new UPS contract with starting wages at $21/hour and top rates at over $40/hour. The employer doesn't want us to have first day strike day, or any of these amendments, so ask yourself, what does that tell us when Mark Ramos takes the side of the employer?
UFCW Local 1428 | 2023 International Convention Scoreboard Amendment 51 Member 1 VoteAmendment 16Int. Dues Refund To Fund SPURAmendment 1720% of Int. Budget Is For OrganizingAmendment 7Remove Red T…
