Workers Ask for and Receive Assistance from UFCW Local 400
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 Secretary Treasurer Mark Federici. “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,” Federici 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.