Who we are
Essential Workers for Democracy is a pro-union, grassroots movement to revitalize and reform the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). We organize across the U.S. and Canada with rank and file grocery workers, meatpackers, retail workers, and more.
We help workers build power on the shop floor and build a transparent, democratic union from the bottom up.
Worker Power is built on 4 pillars
Union Democracy:
Workers controlling their own unions
Commitment to Organizing:
Big resources for organizing union and non-union workers.
Coordinated Bargaining:
Meeting giant corporations with coordinated power together.
Strike Readiness:
Robust strike pay, no obstacles to striking.
Originally published in Labor Notes by Caitlyn Clark
Ouano Tante worked the afternoon shift at the Tyson beef plant in Joslin, Illinois, for five years. But when she and hundreds of her co-workers arrived at work on August 14, they found the plant closed.
Nate Mann works in the sanitation department at JBS in Greeley, Colorado, one of the largest meatpacking plants in the country. Earlier this year, Nate went on strike with 3,800 of his coworkers for three weeks. Read Nate’s reflections on attending his first Labor Notes Conference with EW4D.
After more than 6 months, members of UFCW Local 700 in Indiana have reached a victory in the fight against Kroger’s use of non-union subcontractors. Members organized to enforce the contract, file grievances, and educate their coworkers. Then, in August, Kroger announced it would be ending the Retail Odyssey DSD program entirely.
Read the interview with Andrea Reynolds and Kristen Jackson, two shop stewards in Kokomo and Zionsville, about how they did it.
Each year, EW4D compiles a nonpartisan report on UFCW finances to bring greater transparency to our union.
So, you just became a steward...now what? Sign up for EW4D’s Stewards’ Summer School training series this August to learn skills for shop stewards and union activists.
24-year Giant Eagle worker Marc Mancini of UFCW Local 1776KS and Kroger worker Amy Reynolds of UFCW Local 700 share how the merger might impact workers, and what to do about it.
Shop steward and EW4D International Organizing Committee member Kathleen Scott and Teamsters for a Democratic Union leader Frank Halstead write for The Checkout by Errol Schweizer.
UFCW International leads court to say: “Rank-and-file UFCW members have no voting rights at all.”