Join With Me For A New Beginning
A message from Kim Cordova, Local 7 President
I am honored and proud to serve as your president of the new UFCW Local 7. You voted for change and you voted for a new direction for our Union. I intend to meet that challenge and mandate.
Since elected, we have made important reforms. This includes putting an end to nepotism in hiring practices, and implementing strict financial safeguards, and accountability. I am committed to running a democratic Union, with the goal of maximizing the role of our members.
Your Executive Board is now comprised of all Local 7 members and the contracts negotiated with the companies are led by member negotiating committees and require approval by a membership vote.
In the last 11 months, your new leadership team has negotiated 94 contracts. Despite recessionary times, these were not concessionary contracts!
All of these contracts were unanimously recommended and supported by the membership.
When we took office, the grievance machinery was bogged down with 7000 grievances. That’s not good for anyone. At the JBS packinghouse there were more than 5000 grievances unsettled.
That’s not good for anyone—especially our members waiting for justice. In less than 1 year 3457 grievances were resolved fairly, in the best interest of our members.
To meet the needs of our members, we need to get back to trade union basics. We need a revival of worker bargaining power. We need a renewed focus on organizing the unorganized in our core industries. We need to rebuild our relationships with the rest of the labor movement and our allies in the community, and we need to communicate our message more clearly and consistently to our members and the public. We need to do it because it’s the only way to regain some of the ground we’ve lost over the years; to maintain affordable healthcare, and challenge the inequities of two-tier
in some of our workplaces.
I’m also a believer in the wisdom, intelligence and common sense of our members. That’s why since January 2010, I’ve been on a listening
tour—walking stores, plants and workplaces.
Every day that I walk, talk and listen, I am learning more about your needs and concerns.
As members, you play the most important role in Local 7—because nothing happens without you.
- I invite you to join with me and your new leadership team in rebuilding the Union.
- It’s time to stand together.
- We are one Union – one voice!