Unions share strengths and ideas at Food & Drug Council convention

  Delegates at the Food & Drug Council convention express their solidarity as California supermarket negotiations approach.

Sprinkler Fitters and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers.

In her report, FDC Director Ellen Anreder noted that the FDC reflects the labor movement’s increasingly unified response to concentrated corporate power.

“Our growth demonstrates the willingness of labor organizations to reach across old institutional, industrial and regional boundaries to build solidarity, organize more workers and win better contracts than they could accomplish on their own,” Anreder said.

“The more affiliates we gain, the stronger we get.” As she welcomed the delegates, UFCW Local 711 President Roberta West provided a sobering description of the unemployment that still grips many cities. Nevertheless, she drew encouragement from the FDC’s support for her Union.

West said the FDC’s assistance in picketing Fresh & Easy markets

helped prompt the non-Union chain to close six stores in her city. Doug Dority, the UFCW’s former international president and the current president of America’s Agenda: Health Care for All, described aspects of health care reform legislation that disappointed him.

Nevertheless, he said, activists have the power to de - fine future developments in health care. “We can make positive changes,” Dority said.

“It’s just a matter of getting started.” Dority also praised the concept of Union benefit trust funds forming coops to consolidate their strengths and become eligible for government funds.

In addition to guest speakers addressing a variety of topics, Union leaders from across the country delivered “field reports,” sharing information about their respective challenges and successes.