Union Staffers Strike UFCW Over Union Management's Unfair Labor Practices
"Shouldn’t a Union be a model employer?"
By Peter List, Editor | May 23, 2024
Updates below.
On Thursday morning, union employees of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) went on strike for 24 hours over alleged unfair labor practices committed by UFCW management during contract negotiations.
The union employees picketed outside the UFCW’s headquarters in Washington, DC. and were asking supporters to contribute to the union’s strike fund.
The union employees’ prior contract [in PDF] had expired in January and the UFCW and the union representing employees, the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, had been operating on contract extensions until April.
In April, the union terminated the contract extension with the UFCW, stating:
UFCW International Guild members have been working under an expired contract since January 7th and have been bargaining with UFCW since October 26, 2023. At the core of the Guild’s contract priorities are a reasonable telework policy and inflation-beating wages that help combat the yearslong inequalities experienced by UFCW Guild members.
In late April, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge against the UFCW for refusing to furnish information.
“Shouldn’t a Union be a model employer?”
The union announced the strike against the UFCW on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, stating: “Our contract has expired and so has our patience.”
On Thursday, the union was picketing at 8 am, posting on X:
Starting now UFCW Guild members are on the picket line!
We are ready to fight for the contact we deserve and implore @UFCW to use this time to reevaluate what they are bringing, and not bringing, to the bargaining table.
Update: 3:35 p.m
Union strikers are still outside the UFCW headquarters picketing and demanding a fair contract from their union employer.
[This story will be updated throughout the day.]
