UFCW 400 Mobilizing Members Early for '12 Contract Talks
Thursday, October 6, 2011
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Giant
and Safeway shop stewards, members of UFCW Local 400, attended their
second seminar Tuesday, September 27 to discuss the upcoming round of
bargaining in the spring of 2012. There, 248 stewards pledged to mobilize
members by joining Local 400’s new Activist Contract Team (ACT!). “With our
Activist Contract Teams as our front line troops, we’ll be going on the
attack,” said Local 400 President Tom McNutt. “We’ll be staging powerful
actions in advance to set the terms of the debate, to get the public and
opinion leaders behind us and put management on the defensive.” ACT will work
with Local 400 shop stewards in support of the upcoming negotiations, and ACT
volunteers will serve as communication links with co-workers, help organize
members for solidarity actions, take on special direct action assignments and
transform into strike captains if a work stoppage becomes necessary. “We must
get off the defensive and take the offensive,” said McNutt. “We will not be
dictated to by management.” Click
here for a longer version of this story – and video – on Local 400’s
website.