AFL-CIO Daily Briefs: Shuler & Redmond; UFCW; SMART; NLRB; NALC and New Jersey

Message from President Liz Shuler and Secretary-Treasurer/Executive Vice President Fred Redmond

• The entire labor movement is appalled by the killing of 10 people and wounding of three by a man with racist beliefs who targeted Black people.
• While there's no way to make sense of yet another racially motivated, hate-inspired attack on innocent people because of the color of their skin, it's clear these types of mass shootings are perpetrated by those radicalized online, and we must take action.
• Our deepest condolences are with the family, friends, UFCW members and an entire community who are once again dealing with unfathomable pain due to one person's racist beliefs.

'When Are We Going to Wake Up as a Society?': UFCW Local 1 Demands Answers After Mass Shooting at Buffalo Grocery Store

Ten people were killed and three were injured at a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday in what police described as "a racially motivated hate crime." The mass shooting took place in a predominantly Black neighborhood where four Tops workers were among the victims. United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1 represents dozens of employees at the store. The union is collaborating with Tops management to ensure all of its members receive the support they need.

Local 1 President Frank DeRiso quickly responded to news of the worst mass shooting in Buffalo history. "It's just terrible," he told The Buffalo News. "And then, you know, you're a customer, you go there to shop on a Saturday afternoon, never expecting that you're not going to come home. It's just senseless, it's stupid. And something's got to be done about it." UFCW International President Marc Perrone issued this statement on Saturday.

SMART Local 565 on Strike Against Mandatory Overtime

More than 100 members of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 565 voted to strike on May 6-taking a collective stand for their rights to a fair contract that gives them well-earned time to spend with their families and loved ones. The union members at Trachte Building Systems in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, are united in their goal to end management's egregious mandatory overtime rules. Trachte is seeking the right to impose unlimited mandatory overtime over the next three years.

"There's been lots of mandatory overtime put on the workers through the pandemic, [and] the company is looking for additional mandatory overtime language [in the next contract]," Local 565 Business Manager Jesse Buell said in an interview with Labor Radio in Madison. "The people just want more family time."

NLRB Slaps Down Company's Interference in IBB Organizing Drive

n March, a panel from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in favor of Boilermakers (IBB) members at Aggregate Industries in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The board affirmed a judge's decision that the company illegally interfered with workers' rights to form a union with IBB and discriminatorily terminated three employees. The company is being ordered to offer full reinstatement to the workers it fired and post a notice to all workers that states: "The National Labor Relations Board has found that we violated federal labor law and has ordered us to post and obey this notice."

"The NLRB's affirmation of the administrative judge's ruling is an important victory," said Tyler Brown, executive director of IBB's Industrial Sector Operations. "Not just for our members but for future workers that look to organize with the Boilermakers union. This win sets a precedent that our union will fight for its members' rights to unionize without company interference."

30th Annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive a Triumph for NALC Members Helping Families in Need

The National Association of Letter Carriers' (NALC's) annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive was a huge success for the NALC members who made it happen and for millions of families across the country who are in need. On Saturday, letter carriers picked up bags of nonperishable food items from postal customers along their delivery routes and brought them to local food banks. The traditional food drive was not held the past two years because of the pandemic. "Simply being able to return to delivering food to food banks and pantries has made this year's drive a monumental success," NALC Assistant to the President for Community Services Christina Vela Davidson said.

National partners of the NALC's Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive are the UFCW, the AFL-CIO, the United Way, the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, the U.S. Postal Service, CVS Health, Valpak, Valassis and Kellogg Company.

New Jersey State AFL-CIO Labor Candidates Program Wins Award for Best Use of Digital Display Communications

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO proudly announced today that it has received a prestigious Reed Award for best use of digital display advertising from Campaigns & Elections trade magazine. The award was given in recognition of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO Labor Candidates Program's pioneering approach to targeted internet ads, which were viewed more than 6 million times in the final weeks of the 2021 election campaign. Since its inception in 1997, the Labor Candidates Program has elected 1,186 union members to office at all levels of government in New Jersey.

New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech (IUOE, pictured above right) and New Jersey State AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan (Workers United, left) spoke about the state federation's political program and thanked its Committee on Political Education staff and union affiliates, as well as the central labor councils, building trade councils and community partners who continue to support and contribute to its success.

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