Track the Major UFCW Grocery Contract Fights of 2026
In 2025, over 100,000 UFCW grocery workers stood side by side in solidarity to take on the bosses, from California to Indiana. In 2026, still more UFCW grocery contracts are set to expire nationwide as workers continue to push for fair wages and adequate staffing. Read more in Essential Voice.
Essential Voice: News for Essential Workers - Issue #5, Winter 2026
Essential Voice, Issue #5 - Winter 2026
Essential Voice is EW4D’s print newsletter, designed to be shared with your coworkers to start conversations about issues at work and what you can do to fix them together. This is our fifth issue.
Kroger Spends $2 Billion on Stock Buyback While Workers Go Hungry
Kroger has approved an additional $2 billion in stock buybacks to enrich its already wealthy shareholders.
WATCH: Advanced Stewards’ Training
Watch the recording of EW4D’s Advanced Stewards’ Training to learn skills to unite your coworkers and take on the boss.
In Winnipeg, Maple Leaf Meatpackers Stand Up to Intimidation
After months of stalled negotiations, UFCW Local 832 members at Winnipeg‘s Maple Leaf meat packing facility voted overwhelmingly last month to authorize a strike at the bacon production plant. The November 15 strike vote marks the first time a strike has been authorized at the plant since it was purchased by Maple Leaf over twenty years ago. Originally published in The North Star, an independent newsroom covering labor and people's struggles in Canada.
SNAP Axe Could Fall on Grocery Shoppers and Workers Alike [Labor Notes]
Beginning November 1, 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as “food stamps,” are set to go without benefits. Among them are union members in underpaid industries like grocery and retail. Originally published in Labor Notes.
WATCH: Understaffed & Overworked? Fight Back by Enforcing the Contract!
Understaffing might seem like a chronic problem in grocery, but union members can organize to fight back. Learn organizing skills to enforce your contract and fight understaffing. Click here to watch the recording of our organizing training webinar, “Understaffed & Overworked: Fight Back by Enforcing the Contract.”
Introducing: the UFCW Grocery Contract Comparison Tool
Click here to check out EW4D’s first-of-its-kind web tool for comparing union grocery contracts across UFCW locals and employers. See how your contract stacks up!
Reflections on the 2025 Contract Campaign: Washington
Kevin Flynn has worked as a meat cutter at Albertsons in Marysville, Wash., for the last 18 years. He is a shop steward and was a member of the 2025 Bargaining Committee for UFCW Local 3000. In Essential Voice, Kevin writes about what went right — and what could be done differently in the future.