UFCW 1473- Our Members

Our members work in grocery stores, food processing and meat packing facilities, nursing facilities, banks, insurance companies, vision clinics, tanneries, canneries, and food manufacturing plants across WI and the U.P of Michigan. 

Our members work in many different settings, but regardless of where they work, UFCW members are essential workers performing vital services to their communities. Throughout the pandemic, they have kept food on America’s tables and provided healthcare services to our society’s most vulnerable. 

The greed of large corporate monopolies and food industry giants harms everyone in the food chain, from the farmers, to the workers who are employed by these companies, to the consumers. Unchecked corporate greed is the number one cause of the struggles our members face on the job, and in their communities. Next, I would say the inefficiency of our state government and the inability of Wisconsin to get things done when the people need it most- that hurts all of us. 

One misconception about the food industry in general, is that the work is not skilled. We hear this particularly from people who oppose higher wages for food industry workers. The reality is that meat cutting, cake decorating, baking, are all skilled professions within the grocery industry, and jobs like meat cutting and forklift operating in our production facilities require skill and specialized training. People should know that union jobs within the food industry are good-paying, family-sustaining, skilled jobs. Thousands of Wisconsinites represented by our Local have made their careers working in this industry, whether it be at a grocery store or in our plants. And as the pandemic has shown, these jobs are essential to feeding Wisconsin’s families and keeping society functioning. Folks who work in the food industry are rightly very proud of the work they do. 

Come back on Friday to learn about the Future of UFCW 1473.