On Jan. 15 we observed the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., who continues to serve as a model in the struggle for equality and justice for all people. Labor unions will continue to perform a crucial role in that struggle.

Dr. King’s "I Have a Dream" speech was an inspiration throughout this nation. I also have a dream, as does every member of this great union.

We dream of a day when rich corporations stop trying to reap their profits at the expense of their employees. We dream of a day when workers earn equal pay for equal work under fair and equitable contracts.

We are in negotiations with the major supermarket employers to attain that dream for tens of thousands of our members in Southern California’s retail food industry. In preparation, our members have been demonstrating their solidarity and support for our bargaining objectives.
 

Unity Equals Success
 

The key to our success at the bargaining table is our unity at the workplace. The employers will respect our goals only when they respect our willingness to stand as one to fight for those goals.

As we sit down at the bargaining table with your employers, we will have the strength of the entire nation with us. Sharing in our sense of purpose and adding to our strength are more than 400,000 grocery workers across the continent.

From October to December, UFCW members from San Diego to New Brunswick wore more than 1.5 million unity-themed stickers to demonstrate their solidarity and to invite customers into conversations about issues that matter to grocery workers.

Southern California’s workers continue to stand at the forefront of the collective-bargaining cycle for all of these workers. Our sisters and brothers in Northern California are right behind us as their contracts expire just a couple of months after ours. Their bargaining power is enhanced by recent mergers that have combined 10 local unions into four larger and stronger unions.

As the year progresses, negotiations involving other local unions will determine the wages, benefits and working conditions of UFCW members throughout the United States and Canada.

From coast to coast, from north to south, UFCW members speak as one union with one voice. That voice calls out for good wages, benefits and working conditions.
 

:::SIDEBAR:::

Communication Key to Success

 

Some of our employers fear our union’s solidarity. During the next few months they will try to divide us and weaken us through carefully-composed propaganda. We will counter this propaganda with the truth.

For accurate and current information, you can look to your union reps, store coordinators, shop stewards, our newspaper and our website. In addition, you can get the facts at union meetings, where your union leaders will answer your questions directly.

We can achieve our dreams when we stand united and stay focused on our goals.