screenshot of the UFCW International's mobile app for iPhone and Droid.

The New UFCW App for your iPhone or Droid smartphone! Inside you’ll find updates from union members and ordinary people across the US and Canada, breaking news and ways to take action, plus great videos, photos and more. The best part? You can locate and get directions to your nearest union grocery store, no matter where you are! Download it free in the iTunes App store here. Or the Droid store, Google Play here.

If you don’t have an iPhone or Droid you can access the same content via mobileweb at http://ufcwaction.org/mobile.

Joe Hansen, UFCW International President

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), today released the following statement commending the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) for returning $50,000 in Walmart gift cards.
“I commend the DNCC for doing the right thing. The allegations of bribery and corruption against Walmart are serious and there is no way to know whether these contributions are tainted. Furthermore, Walmart has a long track record of mistreating their workers, discriminating on the basis of gender, trampling on the right to organize, and fostering a race to the bottom in the retail industry that is bad for the middle class and our entire nation. Walmart is also a flagship member of the controversial right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has been linked to laws busting unions and weakening voting rights. Simply put, this is a company whose conduct flies in the face of the values we stand for as Democrats. I hope the DNCC’s decision to return these gift cards signals the beginning of the end of the Democratic Party’s relationship with Walmart.”

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org <http://www.ufcw.org> , or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational <http://www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational> and www.twitter.com/ufcw <http://www.twitter.com/ufcw> .

LANDOVER, Md., May 8 — After working for as long as six weeks without being paid, workers at Evergreen Supermarket in Hillcrest Heights, Md., finally received their back wages after enlisting the help of United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 and threatening to walk out.

Though workers at the store are not organized, they were aided by UFCW Local 400. “We are the union for all retail workers,” said Local 400 President Tom McNutt, “and we are the one place where all grocery workers can unite for fair treatment, dignity on the job, and an opportunity to join the middle class. While I’m pleased we were able to help the Evergreen workers, they deserve all the credit. It was their courage in standing up to management that got them the pay they were due.”

“We didn’t know where to turn or what to do,” said Evergreen worker Jonathan Trejo “We learned that by sticking together we can demand what is right. We are thankful to Local 400 for their help. ”

“I hope that retail workers everywhere in Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia and West Virginia let us know whenever their employers mistreat them, deny them their rights, or engage in unethical or unlawful behavior,” McNutt said. “We stand ready to do whatever it takes to lift up not only our own members, but all workers in our industry.”

UFCW Local 400 represents 40,000 members working in the retail food, health care, retail department store, food processing, service and other industries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

LANDOVER, Md., May 8 — After working for as long as six weeks without being paid, workers at Evergreen Supermarket in Hillcrest Heights, Md., finally received their back wages after enlisting the help of United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 and threatening to walk out.

Though workers at the store are not organized, they were aided by UFCW Local 400. “We are the union for all retail workers,” said Local 400 President Tom McNutt, “and we are the one place where all grocery workers can unite for fair treatment, dignity on the job, and an opportunity to join the middle class. While I’m pleased we were able to help the Evergreen workers, they deserve all the credit. It was their courage in standing up to management that got them the pay they were due.”

“We didn’t know where to turn or what to do,” said Evergreen worker Jonathan Trejo “We learned that by sticking together we can demand what is right. We are thankful to Local 400 for their help. ”

“I hope that retail workers everywhere in Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia and West Virginia let us know whenever their employers mistreat them, deny them their rights, or engage in unethical or unlawful behavior,” McNutt said. “We stand ready to do whatever it takes to lift up not only our own members, but all workers in our industry.”

UFCW Local 400 represents 40,000 members working in the retail food, health care, retail department store, food processing, service and other industries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

“In our great country, no one — and no corporation — is above the law. Yet Walmart’s entire business plan seems to be premised on the notion that it’s an exception; that it is entitled to play by its own set of rules regardless of whatever laws and regulations are in place in the countries and communities in which it operates.

“It’s not just the Department of Labor’s back pay order, which, coming on the heels of a 2007 $34 million back pay order , demonstrates that Walmart is a serial violator of wage and hour laws. It’s also the current bribery and cover-up scandal surrounding its efforts to enter the Mexican market, and its efforts, documented in The Washington Post, to weaken the very law Walmart allegedly violated, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Not to mention the numerous promises it made to cities like Chicago that it subsequently broke.

“With Washington, DC, officials facing their own corruption and ethical scandals, the last thing they should be doing is rolling out the red carpet for a company that stands ready to bend or break the law and even its own promises in pursuit of its ‘growth-at-any-cost’ strategy. They need to subject to company to legally binding conditions of entry, ensuring that Walmart will follow the spirit and letter of the law in its treatment of its workers and our communities — or they need to ‘just say no’ to Walmart.”

Call for your application now! 703-931-5500.

The Martin E. Gerel Memorial Scholarship
2012
The law firm of Ashcraft & Gerel, LLP has always valued their connection with Washington, DC unions movement. In recognition of this special relationship, the firm established a Union Scholarship Program more than 30 years ago.

The law firm of Ashcraft & Gerel, LLP offers this scholarship to the Washington, DC metropolitan union members and their families to help with the high cost of education. Each year we award a one-time grant of $5,000 to an eligible student for education expenses.

Requirements: If you, your spouse or child, plan to pursue education or training full-time, you can apply now. Applicants must be enrolled for their post-high school education or training by Fall of 2011 to be eligible.

Review Process: A committee of union volunteers screen the applications and a finalist is chosen by an independent party. No one at Ashcraft & Gerel, LLP participates in the selection process. This is an equal opportunity program, conducted without regard to race, gender, religion, age or disability.
To obtain your scholarship application, call your Business Agent or Ashcraft & Gerel, LLP (703) 931-5500. The deadline to submit an application has been extended to May 14, 2012. APPLY TODAY!

Chef Jeff Henderson (right) with MAPAC President Alvin Vincent (left) and Local 400 President Tom McNutt (center). Photo by Kaveh Sardari.

Mid-Atlantic Political Action Committee (MAPAC) is proud to honor Chef Jeff Henderson as its 2012 Person of the Year. Jeff overcame enormous challenges to become the first African-American executive chef at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. He is also a Food Network host, an inspirational speaker, and author of several books, including the New York Times best-selling memoir Cooked.

In January, Jeff spoke to Local 400’s Giant and Safeway shop stewards about the preservation of the American Dream and how the fight for their new contracts was one worth having.

“If I can come here uneducated, prison background, welfare background, could barely speak proper English at one time in my life and I was able to achieve the American Dream, so can you,” said Jeff.

For the past few years, Jeff has been working with UFCW’s Feeding the Hungry program

Chef Jeff Henderson speaking at the January Giant/Safeway Shop Steward Seminar. Photo by Kaveh Sardari.

as well as visiting several plants and factories along the way.

Read more about Chef Jeff Henderson’s story on his website: http://www.chefjefflive.com/

The Mid-Atlantic Political Action Committee provides a voice for working Americans at the state and local levels of government in N.J., Del., Pa., Md., D.C., Va., and W.Va. Its agenda is to make the government work for working people by seeking out and supporting those candidates who are responsive to the needs of working families.

Today marks the 126th anniversary of May Day.

This year other groups, like the Occupy Movement, are getting involved in the actions taking place. You can join too. Visit this calendar to find an action near you!