As seen in the Unity: Spring 2025 – President’s Report. See past copies of the Unity here.

It’s not completely uncommon that new members of our union arrive with uninformed notions of the Labor Movement as a whole.

These preconceived notions — often brought upon by a lifetime of biased media reports — may not be the result of actual first-hand experiences, but rather due to an overall lack of union education and awareness.

The public opinion of unions has evolved in a positive direction over the past decade, and at an especially fast pace since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. The result has been a good thing — young members in 2025 often seek out their jobs because they were unionized and arrive to Local 152 energized about the Labor Movement and working under a union contract.

But just because public opinion is headed in the right direction doesn’t mean we can’t do better. We don’t have to wait for the public opinion of unions to ebb and flow in our favor.

We can shape the narrative on unions by sharing our own union experiences, our story.

Your voice, your power

Young workers today have an open mind and they are ready to receive the message about unions from actual union members. Young people have watched the surge in unionization that has taken place in the past five years and wondered why so many workers are interested in joining unions — and why certain companies are so opposed to this.

Our veteran members and retirees have a lifetime of union experiences to share with young members, and the simple act of sharing them can make a lasting impression. When you share a story about how the union helped you or a fellow member out of an unfair or unsafe situation on the job, new workers start to see the union as the tangible asset that it is.

Sharing your union experience with a new member might seem like an insignificant event in the grand scheme of things. But when that simple conversation is multiplied by all our workplaces across four states, that creates the reputation that defines Local 152.

And when you think about it, sharing knowledge with someone is hardly insignificant. Each of us can remember a few times in our lives when someone told us something that we still remember years and decades later. Someone inspired us to do something. It may have even changed the course of our lives.

It is up to us to educate our young members and make them aware of the value of being a union member. If we share our union experiences with each other there’s no limit to what we can achieve together. Knowledge is power!

Are you interested in sharing a testimonial about UFCW Local 152?

Daniel Ross, Jr.
President, UFCW Local 152