Last week, the UFCW submitted comments about a recent EPA action against 23 Tyson plants that use hazardous chemicals. The EPA recently fined Tyson close to $4 million and required the company to take extra steps to improve their ammonia refrigeration safety programs.

While the EPA’s action is a step in the right direction, the comments pointed out that the settlement agreement failed to include the people who are closest to the problem – the workers who operate and maintain the refrigeration systems.

Workers at John Morrell pork plants in S.D. and Ill. voted to ratify new contracts.

Recently, workers at John Morrell meatpacking plants from UFCW Local 304-A in Sioux Falls, S.D., and UFCW Local 1546 in St. Charles, Ill., voted to ratify new contracts. Local unions and members worked together and stayed in close contact during the negotiating process to raise the bar for workers at both local unions, ensuring workers at both locations made equitable gains.

Local 1000 members preparing and packing boxes of food for tornado victims

Survivors of the Tazreen factory fire pointing out clothing at Walmart made by workers in Bangladesh

Last week, UFCW Local 455 Kroger clerks and meat cutters ratified a new three-year contract that improves healthcare benefits, increases wages, and preserves pensions. The new contract covers more than 13,000 Kroger clerk and meat workers, including part-time workers, in the Houston area.

Kroger workers from UFCW Local 455 attend a meeting regarding their new contract that raises wages, improves benefits, and
preserves pensions.

Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement issued by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) President Joseph Hansen regarding the decision of H&M and other retailers to sign a legally binding agreement to improve workplace safety in Bangladesh: