As seen in the Unity: Summer 2024 – President’s Report. See past copies of the Unity here.

Membership meetings are important!

The next time you’re at work, look to your left and look to your right. You’ll see your coworkers who woke up, got dressed, and showed up to earn an honest day’s living, just like you.

When you see them, you see Local 152. Thousands of others like them make up our union, and together we can continue to achieve great outcomes for working families.

Your union leadership is always interested in hearing about the concerns and aspirations of our membership. This is one reason why we start to prepare for negotiations by surveying members about improvements they’d like to see in their next contracts. Our union representatives routinely visit your workplaces and shop stewards are regularly reporting issues that arise on the job.

Just as important as these daily business functions are your union’s quarterly membership meetings, where the entire membership is invited to attend.

New members, veteran members, retirees, supermarket workers, manufacturing workers, health care workers, cannabis workers — all are welcome to join these meetings to hear updates about your local union.

There may be questions about the status of contract negotiations answered. You’ll receive updates on the finances, health/welfare, and pension funds. We generally have representatives from the benefits funds and legal service provider to answer any questions you may have. We may discuss new groups your union is helping to organize. Many members simply want to chat with union leadership in a relaxed atmosphere both before and after these meetings to share perspectives on the industries we represent. Personally, I appreciate these opportunities to bond and fellowship with our members.

I can’t guarantee there won’t be disagreements at union membership meetings, but I can promise that everyone who attends will be able to speak about union issues that matter to them.

I recognize that it’s not always easy to make time to attend a meeting, especially after a long day of work, but it’s certainly well worth the effort to participate. We try our best to make it as convenient as possible by holding meetings at four locations across our jurisdiction and at two different times, in the morning and evening.

You are part of Local 152, and we want to hear from you. We hope to see you at our final general membership meeting of 2024 on Thursday, November 21.

Daniel Ross, Jr.
President, UFCW Local 152