When bus drivers at Academy Express in New Jersey joined RWDSU Local 108 in 2004, the workers there suffered from low pay, virtually no benefits, and they had nobody to look out for them on the job. That’s all changed since they won a union voice, and the Academy bus drivers continue to make progress with the ratification of their latest contract.

The new three-year pact improves wages and protects the workers’ health care coverage while containing costs.

The 600 workers at the Tyson poultry processing plant in Buena Vista, Georgia, have ratified a new three-year contract. The new contract comes despite fierce attempts by management to severely undermine the union contract.

The over 300 members of RWDSU Local 220 have voted to authorize a strike if no agreement can be reached with Mott’s for workers at the company’s Williamson, New York, facility.  The vote, which was 250-5, gives authorization for the union to call a strike if the company continues to engage in unfair labor practices and refuses to bargain.

“We may have no choice,” said RWDSU Local 220 President Mike Leberth. “All we want is a fair contract but the company refuses to even talk to us.”

Local 108 members Luis Delgado and Sandra Novas work at Supremo.

RWDSU Northern Joint Council members passed a resolution at their convention in Cornwall, Ontario, this  past weekend supporting RWDSU Local 220 Mott's workers who are fighting for a fair contract in Williamson, New York.

The RWDSU Northern Joint Council members pledged to "stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of RWDSU Local 220, and to support them and their families in their struggle against Motts/Dr. Pepper/Snapple."

Something disturbing is happening in upstate New York. For the past several weeks the members of RWDSU-UFCW Local 220 in Williamson, NY, have been trying to negotiate a contract with Mott's, a subsidiary of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.

The Spring 2010 issue of the RWDSU features an in-depth examination of the hardships working people are facing during the economic downturn, and labor's proposed response, along with RWDSU news from throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Read the issue here

If you’ve enjoyed Vlasic products lately like pickles, relish, and pickle spears or chips, there’s a good chance they were produced by RWDSU Local 87 members in Imlay City, Michigan. On March 11, the workers at the plant ratified a new four-year agreement.

A new three-year agreement has been ratified by the RWDSU Local 593 members employed at Reed & Barton Silversmiths, a silver goods distribution center in Taunton, Massachusetts.