UFCW Local 555 represents about 20,000 workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
UFCW Local 555 is continually looking for ways to improve our communications with the membership. Check the Publications tab under News for previous official publications.
United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 555 is committed to "Providing Leadership, Representation, and Education to better the lives of all working people."
The Portland Area collective bargaining agreements covering Grocery, Meat, and CCK workers have been extended to allow time for negotiations. Check back for more information or visit www.groceryworkersunited555.org for more information.
At the Pension Trust meeting on March 9, 2009 Union Trustees made a motion to “go green” which ended in a deadlock. “Going green” would have kept the Trust from having to cut pension benefits before; 1- the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA06) rules are written, 2- the market has a chance to rebound, and 3- politicians have a chance to fix the law.
On June 29, 2009, the Union Trustee’s filed paperwork to “go green” and arbitrate the deadlock. The Union Leadership is committed to working for you.
If you want to learn more about the Pension issue:
Just like their characters from The West Wing, Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, and Richard Schiff care deeply about the struggles of working families. That's why they came to Washington, DC to help kick off our "Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act" campaign and recorded this video. Check it out!
The video is part of a huge grassroots push to remind lawmakers what's at stake for the middle class. We're pulling out all the stops, with huge banners on buildings in Washington, billboard trucks driving around legislators' home state offices, phone calls to members of Congress, lobby visits, advertising, and more.
230 Economists Voice Support for Employee Free Choice
The Employee Free Choice Act is absolutely necessary to help workers rebuild the economy, according to a statement signed by 230 economists.
In the statement, many of America’s top economists, including Nobel Prize laureates, explain why the new law to protect workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain is more than desirable—it’s essential. Released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the statement builds on a February call for the legislation that has gathered growing support among economists.
The 230 economists, coming from top institutions in 33 states, point to the erosion of working family incomes as a key factor in our economic crisis—and the need for the freedom of workers to bargain collectively, without fear of management abuses, as key to recovery. The signers say:
As economists, we believe this is a critically important step in rebuilding our economy and strengthening our democracy by enhancing the voice of working people in the workplace.
This week Oregon may be joining New Jeresy in providing workers a voice in the workplace. On Friday, June 19, 2009 lawmakers passed Senate Bill 519 - Worker Freedom Act - which would allow employees the ability to "opt out" of anti-union meetings.
Every 30 seconds, a hard-working American declares bankruptcy because he or she can't pay medical bills. More than 75 percent of the time, that person has health insurance.
It's no surprise that the majority of all bankruptcies in America today are due to health care costs. Health insurance premiums have risen more than 1,000 percent since the insurance industry promised they would take care of us after they killed health care reform in 1993. Our wages, meanwhile, have only risen a small fraction of that, putting an impossible squeeze on working families everywhere.
Business has been feeling the pinch, as well. Health care costs threaten to overwhelm profits, and as a result, some businesses have decided to drop or scale back health care benefits, leaving employees at the mercy of insurance companies on the individual market. Health care benefits have become key sticking points in negotiations between unions and business.
