UFCW 1439

Larry Hall

President

UFCW Local 1439

I moved to Illinois in 1978, that’s when I first became a union member. I was a Steelworker and I was astonished at the wages, health and welfare benefits, paid holidays, paid vacations, pension and all the protections that the Unions Contracts provide. Respect and dignity on the job was expected under the language of my first contact. When that contract came up for negotiations the company wanted economic concession’s and mandatory overtime. We ended up voting to strike. We fought the company, International Harvester, at the same time as the UAW who was also on strike against Harvester. “The Longer the Picket Line the Shorter the Strike” was one of our slogans.

I have never been part of any major negotiations where the employer wasn’t after concessions. Many of our retail grocery and meat contracts are up for negotiations. If you listen to the major Grocery employers, you would almost come to believe that they sell groceries as a community service because apparently there isn’t any profit in the business. At least that’s what they would have us believe. Why don’t you get 40 hours anymore? When was the last time you received a decent raise? Isn’t it time for you to be treated with dignity and respect? Anyone looking at the trend over the last 10 to 15 years can see that the major grocery employers want to treat you like Wal-Mart workers.

Let’s go back to the slogan “The Longer the Picket Line the shorter the strike”. Local 1439 is much more likely to use free speech actions than striking but the sentiment is the same. This slogan is trying to tell us that solidarity works. I know you want a good contract if we all work together you have a much better chance of getting that contract. It’s easy to sit around the break room complaining about what other people aren’t doing to get a good contract. It’s time for you to take responsibility and start helping to achieve better and stronger contracts.

Your Union Representative and Shop Stewards should have Store Action Sheets that you can sign to show that you are willing work in solidarity with your fellow members. We will use these Action Sheets to contact you for help when we do store actions, petitions signings, meet with elected officials in your area and a variety of other free speech activities designed to help get better contracts.

Maybe our slogan should be “The More Members Involved the Better the Contract”

In Solidarity,

Larry Hall

Apply for 2012 Scholarship Now!