Portland, Ore. –  Fair Shot for All today released the results of two recent polls demonstrating strong support among likely voters both nationwide and in Oregon for policies that provide real opportunity for working families.

National Results:

The first poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners, found overwhelming support across age, gender and party lines among likely voters for paid sick days, equal pay for equal work and other policies that are necessary for today’s workforce to thrive.

Key findings from the national survey of 800 likely 2016 voters (fielded from January 12-14, 2015) include:

• 88 percent of all voters, 74 percent of Republicans and 96 percent of independents support ensuring all workers earn paid sick days.
• By more than 2:1, voters favor state-level action on work/family policies if the federal government fails to act.

“Last week, the President called in his State of the Union for all workers to earn paid sick days and family leave – and it’s clear the President has the strong support of the American electorate on these issues,” said David Mermin, partner at Lake Research Partners. “Our recent poll reveals American voters’ strong, bipartisan support for equal pay, paid sick days and other policies that support working families.”

Oregon Results:

The second poll, conducted by GBA Strategies, found clear support among Oregon voters for proposals that support working families.

Key findings from the Oregon poll (conducted by phone on December 3-8, 2014 with a statistically representative sample of 1,000 likely Oregon voters) include:

• By a 16-point margin, a majority of Oregonians support raising the minimum wage to $15.
• 67 percent of Oregon voters (including a majority of Republican voters and at least 65 percent of likely voters in every region of the state) support requiring all employers in Oregon to provide 7 paid sick days to their employees.
• 79 percent of likely Oregon voters favor a voluntary retirement system for workers who do not have a pension or other employer-sponsored retirement account.

“Over the last few years, we have seen these same trends in dozens of polls and focus groups in Oregon,” said Michael Bocian, founding partner at GBA Strategies. “It’s clear that Oregonians are looking for leaders to deliver on policies that create opportunities for income growth and economic security.”

Memos summarizing the results of both polls are available for download: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6u7t027mafi2h1z/AAAX9EX2ewA60d1u0CECJ9Eya?dl=0

A campaign to provide opportunity to every Oregonian

Earlier this month, community and labor organizations from across Oregon launched Fair Shot for All, a new coalition that is supporting solutions to create economic opportunity for Oregon’s working families.

The coalition’s priorities include:

• Raising the minimum wage;
• Ensuring all Oregonians earn paid sick days;
• Ending profiling;
• Making saving for retirement easier; and
• Creating opportunities for people with prior convictions and arrests to find work.

“Together, we are mobilizing Oregonians in communities across the state and giving a voice to those who need a fair shot,” said Heather Conroy, Executive Director for coalition member SEIU Local 503. “We are standing up for key policies in the 2015 session, but the fight doesn’t end there—we will continue working on the ground to make sure that lawmakers hear from the strong majority of voters who clearly support these issues.”

Fair Shot for All includes Family Forward Oregon, SEIU, the Urban League of Portland, Oregon AFL-CIO, Center for Intercultural Organizing, Oregon Education Association, CAUSA, Basic Rights Oregon, PCUN, UFCW, Rural Organizing Project, AFSCME, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, Oregon Action, and an ever-growing coalition from across Oregon.

To learn more, visit www.fairshotoregon.org

UFCW Local 555 is currently accepting resumes to create a hiring list for people to hire into the job classification of Membership Coordinator.  This hiring list will be maintained for a period of six months after the completion of the application process.

This entry-level position is primarily responsible for auditing represented worksites, signing up new members to join the union, recruiting members to participate in the Active Ballot Club, and conducting new member and quarterly membership meetings.

Resumes are being accepted for potential positions based out of offices throughout Local 555’s jurisdiction.  Local 555’s headquarter office is in Tigard, OR, with satellite offices in Longview, WA, Vancouver, WA, Salem, OR, Eugene, OR, Bend, OR, Roseburg, OR, Coos Bay, OR, Central Point, OR, and Klamath Falls, OR.

Hired employees must maintain a valid driver’s license, automobile insurance, an operational and reliable automobile, and required auto insurance coverage.  Employees must have the ability to regularly work anywhere in Local 555’s jurisdiction, during any hour of the day, any day of the week.

Qualified applicants will have the ability to communicate well, both orally and in writing; have sound organization skills; knowledge of, or ability to acquire, computer/electronic skills. Bilingual and Spanish speaking skills desired.  Current members of Local 555 are encouraged to apply.

For a complete job description, including responsibilities, job requirements, and qualifications, please contact Sandy Humphrey at 503-598-6354 or at shumphrey@ufcw555.org.

Please send resumes to:

Mike Marshall
c/o Sandy Humphrey
PO Box 23555
Tigard, OR 97281-3555

Resumes will be accepted through February 20, 2015

Local 555 has just been made aware that as Haggen, Inc., a Pacific Northwest grocery chain, has entered into an agreement to acquire 146 stores as from Albertsons and Safeway as part of the divestment process required by the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) review of the Albertsons & Safeway merger.  Of these 146 stores, 20 are within the Local 555 jurisdiction.  Haggen currently has two stores within Local 555’s jurisdiction, and the acquisition would bring the total to 22.

The acquisition must still be approved by the FTC, but if approved, will be finalized in the first half of 2015.  Haggen has notified us that, “All Albertson’s LLC and Safeway store employees will have the opportunity to become employees of Haggen as their individual stores are transitioned to the Haggen banner.”

Details of the transition are still forthcoming, but we believe that all union employees in Local 555’s jurisdiction will continue to be represented by Local 555, and covered by a union contract.  As more information is available it will be shared with our membership.

UFCW Local 555 President Dan Clay said of the acquisition, “I’m excited to see an employer like Haggen growing their presence in Oregon & SW Washington.  If the past is any indication of the future, we expect that our members will be treated with dignity and respect in their workplace.”

Below is a list of the stores in the Local 555 jurisdiction listed to be acquired by Haggen:

Albertsons 1120 Campbell Street Baker City OR 97814

Albertsons 8155 S.W. Hall Beaverton OR 97005

Albertsons 16200 S.W. Pacific Hwy. Tigard OR 97224

Albertsons 14300 S W Barrows Rd Tigard OR 97223

Albertsons 1800 N.E. 3rd Street Bend OR 97701

Albertsons 61155 S. Hwy 97 Bend OR 97702

Albertsons 1675 W. 18th Avenue Eugene OR 97402

Albertsons 3075 Hilyard St. Eugene OR 97405

Albertsons 340 N E Beacon Drive Grants Pass OR 97526

Albertsons 1690 Allen Creek Road Grants Pass OR 97527

Albertsons 14800 S E Sunnyside Rd Clackamas OR 97015

Albertsons 16199 Boones Ferry Road Lake Oswego OR 97035

Albertsons 5450 River Rd. N. Keizer OR 97303

Albertsons 16030 S W Tualatin Sherwood Rd Sherwood OR 97140

Albertsons 1855 Blankenship Rd West Linn OR 97068

Albertsons 10830 S.E. Oak Milwaukie OR 97202

Safeway 585 Siskiyou Boulevard Ashland OR 97520

Safeway 2740 S. 6th Klamath Falls OR 97603Safeway 5415 Main Street Springfield OR 97478

Safeway 211 North Eighth Street Klamath Falls OR 97601

CHICAGO, IL—Today, Marc Perrone, a labor leader who has committed four decades to fighting for hard working families, was elected International President of the 1.3 million member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).

As a proud leader and member of the UFCW, Perrone has long fought to organize more members, bargain the best contracts possible, and hold irresponsible corporations accountable. His values as a labor leader have been defined by the belief that every worker has the right to a decent living, a reliable schedule, quality affordable health care, and respect on the job.

“The choice we face today is whether we will stand together and build an economy that lifts up all families, or watch as even more workers fall further behind and struggle to make ends meet,” Perrone said. “Cynics may believe that these divisions and inequities are irreversible. I do not. We, as a union, do not. I strongly believe that by uniting together we can give workers across North America the opportunities they deserve.”

Beginning today, Perrone will spend the coming weeks and months meeting with UFCW members throughout the United States and Canada. As part of this listening tour, Perrone will have one on one conversations, visit worksites, and utilize digital and social media platforms to engage with union members and hear their thoughts and ideas on how the UFCW can grow even stronger.

“The ideas to build a stronger union do not lie within any one individual,” Perrone said. “They lie within all of us. They lie in the collective wisdom and strength of 1.3 million UFCW members who work hard every day to support their families. I want to hear their ideas. I want to hear their vision. I want to hear what we can all do to become an even greater and stronger union for the decades ahead.”

Perrone will be succeeding retiring International President Joe Hansen.

Hansen started as a meatcutter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1962 and used his experience as a rank and file union activist to help lift up UFCW members and all workers. Hansen was elected International President in 2004 and helped steer the UFCW through a Great Recession, the flood of corporate money into politics, the single greatest legislative attack on labor in history, and the rise of income inequality.

“Even in the face of unprecedented challenges, Joe Hansen never lost sight of our members,” Perrone said. “His commitment and dedication to the hard-working men and women we represent will never be forgotten.”

During his tenure, Hansen increased union density in meatpacking and processing, formed important global labor alliances, and helped lead the labor movement’s positions on comprehensive immigration reform.

* For Perrone’s biography, and the announcement of new UFCW officers, please see below:

Biography of International President Marc Perrone:

Marc Perrone joined the Retail Clerks—which later became the UFCW—in 1971 while working as a courtesy clerk at Weingarten’s food store in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  Since that time, he has held various positions within the UFCW, including Region 1-Eastern Director and National Director of Strategic Programs, Collective Bargaining and Organizing. For the last decade, he has served as International Secretary-Treasurer, keeping the UFCW on sound fiscal footing in a challenging climate.

New UFCW Officers Elected:

Under the UFCW International Constitution, the International Executive Board is charged with electing a replacement for a vacancy in the office of International President. The UFCW Executive Board consists of 50 International Vice Presidents, primarily local union leaders, and 5 Executive Committee members.

The UFCW International Executive Board also elected former Executive Vice President Pat O’Neill as International Secretary-Treasurer, Esther Lopez as Executive Vice President, and Stuart Appelbaum as Executive Vice President. Paul Meinema currently serves as Executive Vice President and National President of UFCW Canada. Executive Vice President Bill McDonough retired on October 31.

By DON McINTOSH, Associate Editor

Oregon’s largest private sector union has worked to build up its political muscle in recent years, after years of punching below its weight. The union, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555, represents 19,000 workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington, most at chain grocery stores like Fred Meyer, Safeway, Albertsons, and QFC.

Secretary-treasurer Jeff Anderson says Local 555 used to stick to negotiating and enforcing collective bargaining agreements, and didn’t see politics as central to its mission. But after his 2008 election to union leadership — on a slate with president Dan Clay — Local 555 worked to increase political engagement in order to win through legislation what it had trouble gaining in contract bargaining.

Member donations to the Active Ballot Club (ABC) — UFCW’s political action committee — totaled $329 a month when Anderson and Clay took office. Today, Anderson says Local 555 members contribute over $30,000 a month, all of it in voluntary contributions of as little as a $1 a week from roughly 6,800 members. That’s on top of a 50-cent per member per month assessment that pays for political education efforts among union members. The surge won recognition from Local 555’s parent union as Local 555 became one of its top five most politically active locals. Cash and in-kind contributions by Local 555 to Oregon political campaigns totaled close to $380,000 this year.

Local 555 has put its war chest to work in distinctive ways, and has had a string of successes.

It was the only union to back marijuana legalization in a big way, contributing $75,000 to the successful campaign to pass Oregon’s Ballot Measure 91. That’s in sync with UFCW’s national policy of support for opening up (and unionizing) new hemp and cannabis industries.

Though Local 555 isn’t affiliated with the Oregon AFL-CIO, it’s active in local AFL-CIO affiliated central labor councils, and it’s big supporter of a union-led minor political party, the Oregon Working Families Party. The Working Families Party’s door-to-door canvass is a key part of Local 555’s political effort. In two hard-fought but successful paid sick leave campaigns, the canvass, backed by funds from Local 555, helped mobilize public support.

For years, Local 555 had tried to negotiate “first day” sick leave into its grocery contracts — which offer paid sick leave only after workers have been out for two days. But it was unable to wrest that concession from giant corporations like Kroger — in a low-profit-margin industry with low-cost nonunion competition like Walmart. So when an August 2012 poll commissioned by Local 555 showed strong support among Portland voters for paid sick leave, union leaders sensed it was possible that a community coalition could win politically — for all workers — what Local 555’s employers had refused. Local 555 backed Charlie Hales for mayor, and Amanda Fritz for commissioner. Both won election in November 2012. The following March, the Fritz-sponsored ordinance passed unanimously, making Portland the fourth local jurisdiction in the United States to require paid sick leave. Eugene passed a similar ordinance in July 2014.

And in the February 2014 short session of Oregon Legislature, Local 555 won another reform important to its members: After many years of trying, it got a law passed that ended criminal penalties against cashiers for mistakenly selling alcohol to minors, replacing it with civil fines instead.

Local 555 has pursued unconventional electoral approaches, like backing long-shot candidates in areas of the state not traditionally favorable for pro-union candidates. It’s a strategy suited to Local 555’s geographically diverse rank-and-file: About half of its 17,000 Oregon members are in less populous areas of the state.

This election cycle, Local 555 went after the two most iconic tea party candidates for Oregon Legislature.

When conservative talk radio host Bill Post ran for the House District 25 (Newberg/Keizer) seat vacated by Kim Thatcher, Local 555 gave heavy support to Independent candidate Chuck Lee. The Working Families Party canvassed over 17,000 doors in the district, and Local 555 contributed $50,000 in cash and close to $30,000 in-kind contributions. In the end, Post won with nearly 55 percent of the vote.

In House District 23 (Dallas), Local 555 defended incumbent Republican Jim Thompson against a primary challenge from far-right conservative Mike Nearman. After Thompson lost, Local 555 backed Democrat Wanda Davis to the tune of $15,000. Nearman won with close to 52 percent to 37 percent for Davis.

“We wrestled with the tail of the tiger,” Anderson said. “They won, but strategically, we won, because all this money that would have gone elsewhere came in to defend the two Tea Party candidates.”

Anderson said taking the fight to new territory led anti-union funders to spend heavily to clinch the two races. Over $230,000 was spent to elect Post, and just under $200,000 to elect Nearman.

“We believe that taking our message to the red counties, in a populist environment, can win.”