UFCW 400 Mobilizing Members Early for '12 Contract Talks

(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.