President’s Message
Shawn Haggerty
Standing Up to Make a Difference In 2018, our Union welcomed more than 1,760 working people to the membership. Workers who choose to start an organizing drive have recognized the need and realize the benefits of being Union. They’ve connected the dots and have decided to take action. Helping workers win these victories time after time proves that Unions continue to be relevant and vital for working people who want and deserve equality and fairness. In January, I spoke at an event in New York City to address a proposed new Amazon facility. Initially, NYC and New York State had offered $3 billion in subsidies to get Amazon to build in the borough of Queen’s. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is worth more than $130 billion and Amazon is a trillion-dollar company. Why do they need a $3 billion incentive to establish a new facility? These subsidies come from taxpayers’ money, not unlike the bailout given to GM, with no strings attached. No promise of investment in its own employees through living wages, good benefits, and guaranteed pensions. No promise to honour their employees’ rights to organize a Union. And, definitely no promise to ensure those employees receive generous severance and transition assistance if the facility closes. The citizens of New York State, the UFCW Retail Workers Department
Store Union (RWDSU) and Teamsters all took a stand against Amazon and, as a result, the company decided not to build in Queen’s. Amazon employees – from warehouse to delivery – are not treated very well. Our own Organizing team has worked with delivery drivers contracted out by Amazon at three separate locations in the Toronto area and have heard their stories firsthand about constant tracking of workers’ movements, breakneck paces, and long shifts. Plus, these workers have nowhere to go when they have a concern; told by their employer to contact Amazon, and told by Amazon to contact their employer. Amazon had promised about 25,000 jobs with the new facility, but employment is too complicated to boil down to just the number of jobs alone. Good employment considers wages and benefits, a healthy work atmosphere, and a balance of what’s best for all the players involved. That includes consideration of the skills of the available workforce, the desire for full or part-time jobs, as well as things like housing costs, sustainable transit, and more. Profit driven economies do not prevent safe and healthy workplaces. Successful businesses do not have to come at the expense of the people doing the work. Capitalism itself isn’t mutually exclusive to valuing labour and protecting people until greed and short-sightedness get in the way.
This isn’t about being anti-technology. There is room for technology and humans to work side by side. Even at Amazon, there’s room for that company to provide employees with a good, living wage in an environment that respects the workers. There is opportunity to build a stronger ethic when it comes to how we treat working people and their labour. Technology plays a major role in our world. But we must all require employers and corporations, and our governments, to ensure the human aspect is not lost in the pursuit of bigger, faster, and cheaper. With proper planning and consideration of the human factor, technology doesn’t have to mean the inevitable displacement and unemployment of people. As I mentioned at the start, we welcomed more than 1,760 new members last year who made the choice to go Union. You can read more about some of the workers who have celebrated organizing victories recently on page 6. Workers continue to organize because it’s clear that, left unchecked, corporate greed and disdain for working people continue to flourish. By organizing, and by being active in your Union, you’re standing up against bully corporations and taking your future back into your own hands. In Solidarity, Shawn Haggerty president@ufcw175.com Spring 2019
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