RWDSU STATEMENT WEST HEMPSTEAD SHOOTING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 20, 2021
Contact: Chelsea Connor, [email protected], 347-866-6259
(NEW YORK, NY) – Today, in response to the senseless and tragic shooting at Stop & Shop in West Hempstead, New York, where approximately 150 workers are represented by Local 338 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), Stuart Appelbaum issued the following statement:
“What happened today is something no worker should ever have to face, a gunman in their workplace. We are long overdue for critical and sensible gun reform in the United States that ensures no one ever has to endure what our members endured today.
“The local union’s representatives are on the ground ensuring members have the counseling, and every resource necessary right now. They have the full resources of our office as well. What matters right now is that our members are safe, and that as the events of today continue to unfold we are with them.
“No worker should have to worry about whether or not they will go home to their families at night, and tonight sadly, someone won’t be going home. That is unconscionable.
“It will take a long time to heal from today’s tragedy. Our members have been on the frontlines of the pandemic for over a year, they have already endured too much, and we cannot and will not stand for senseless gun violence in their workplaces. We can, and we must ensure workers are safe at work.”
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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.
LOCAL 338 STATEMENT WEST HEMPSTEAD SHOOTING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 20, 2021
Contacts: Chelsea Connor, [email protected], 347-866-6259; Nikki Kateman, [email protected], 347-668-2860
(MINEOLA, NY) – Today, in response to the senseless and tragic shooting at Stop & Shop in West Hempstead, New York, where many workers are represented by Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW, the union’s President John R. Durso issued the following statement:
“We are devastated by the tragic shooting at the Stop & Shop in West Hempstead. Our thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones, and all those, including workers and customers, who witnessed today’s horrifying events. Our priority is and always will be the physical and mental well-being of our members. Representatives of our union are on site at Stop & Shop and will be ensuring that our members have all of the support they need, including access to counseling. We encourage our members to reach out to us for anything they may need during this difficult time.
“The working people at Stop & Shop are essential workers and ensured that all of our communities, including West Hempstead, had what they needed to navigate the pandemic. The last year has been one full of resiliency, but also one of great worry. These workers have been through a tremendous amount and should never have to fear for their safety. We as a society must recognize that gun violence is a workplace safety issue and that as part of this healing, we must make changes to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. We owe it to our essential workers.”
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ESSENTIAL HEALTHCARE HEROES AT ABINGTON MANOR DEMAND SAFE STAFFING AND CONTINUITY OF CARE FOR THEIR PATIENTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 20, 2021
Contact: Chelsea Connor | [email protected] | 347-866-6259
(NEW YORK, NY) – Today, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) demanded that Genesis Healthcare provide safe staffing levels at Abington Manor to allow caregivers to give their residents the quality and continuity of care they deserve. Throughout six months of negotiations, workers have asked for higher staffing levels, an additional 15-minute break in their workday, and access to quality healthcare. At every turn, management has stonewalled the committee, refusing to bargain around improving working conditions that are well below the state and federal standards.
Workers pride themselves on building relationships with their residents in order to provide the most compassionate care possible. Current staffing levels at Abington Manor are egregiously low, with RNs only spending an average of less than 30-minutes per patient per day, compared to the national average of 45-minutes and the Pennsylvania average of 53-minutes. Similarly, nurse aides at Abington Manor only spend an average of 1 hour and 51 minutes per resident per day, compared with the national average of 2 hours and 20 minutes and the Pennsylvania average of 2 hours and 7 minutes. (see below chart.) As a result, caregivers say their relationships with residents suffer, and families become frustrated with a lack of continuity in the personnel caring for their loved ones.
Minutes Per Patient Per Day
Abington Manor Average
National Average
Pennsylvania Average
Registered Nurses
29 Minutes
45 Minutes
53 Minutes
Nurse Aides
1 Hour and 51 Minutes
2 Hours and 20 Minutes
2 Hours and 7 Minutes
While workers have continued to provide care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic at dangerously low staffing levels, Abington Manor’s parent company Genesis Healthcare has received a combined $885,094 in HHS Provider Relief. Workers hoped these cash infusions would improve conditions on the ground through the hiring of more staff to lighten caseloads, but that didn’t happen.
The workers at Abington Manor are essential healthcare heroes, and RWDSU demands that Genesis treat them as such. The union calls on Genesis Healthcare to do right by its workforce and its customers by safely staffing the facility. The RWDSU demands that Genesis Healthcare provide their caregivers the break times and quality healthcare that will allow workers to provide the high-quality continuity of care families expect from Abington Manor.
“Resident care is not being properly managed and it's due to the lack of staff to care for the residents. Management continues giving open shifts to agency CNAs and LPNs, before giving them to regular in-house staff. We deserve what is right for staff and residents and would like to receive the proper help to care for the residents by giving quality and continuity of care,” said Colleen Mowery, CNA at Abington Manor.
“If I am on the floor for eight-hours and I divide that time equally between my residents, I am able to only spend 17-minutes with each of them. The amount of pressure the nurses feel to give complete, compassionate care while staying within those time constraints is immense. I have worked many shifts where the CNAs are stressed by the amount of work they need to complete too, and often are forced to cut corners or to not build relationships with the residents in order to do so. If your family was in a long-term facility, would you want them to not only receive competent care, but also feel like they have family in the building, so they do not feel alone? Working in such a way prevents us from achieving this. During negotiations, when we asked for an extra fifteen-minute break, Genesis management said it would cause a loss in productivity. What about the concern for loss of morale? Taking care of other people’s family to the point where they become family is taxing, physically and emotionally. We get sad, frustrated, and tired, and we need to be able to take a breath. Not being able to take care of ourselves hinders our ability to care for our residents. I love working at Abington Manor, not because of the culture but because of my fellow LPNs, CNAs, and the residents. I am hoping that by discussing the issues that are hidden from outsiders, that we can improve conditions and morale and feel like a family again,” said Kacey Walsh, LPN at Abington Manor.
“RWDSU members at Abington Manor are putting their lives on the line every day to care for other people’s loved ones. They are essential workers who care deeply about their residents, working around the clock to provide care throughout the pandemic. Not only do these caregivers deserve quality and affordable healthcare, but adequate break times and safe staffing levels. Our members’ working conditions are their residents’ living conditions. Abington Manor caregivers want only to give their residents the quality and continuity of care they deserve,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.
RWDSU FILES NLRB ELECTION OBJECTIONS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 19, 2021
Contact: Chelsea Connor | [email protected] | 347-866-6259
RWDSU FILES NLRB ELECTION OBJECTIONS
Union Holds Amazon Accountable for Illegal Conduct, Demands Full Review
(NEW YORK, NY) – Late Friday, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) filed Objections to the conduct of Amazon during the union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charging that Amazon interfered with the right of its Bessemer, Alabama employees to vote in a free and fair election; a right protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.
The RWDSU has requested that the NLRB Regional Director schedule a hearing on its Objections to determine if the results of the election should be set aside because conduct by the employer created an atmosphere of confusion, coercion and/or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees' freedom of choice.
The RWDSU filed 23 Objections, which the union believes both separately and cumulatively constitute grounds to set the election aside.
The Objections constitute conduct which prevented a free and uncoerced exercise of choice by the employees, undermining the Board’s efforts to provide “a laboratory in which an experiment may be conducted, under conditions as nearly as ideal as possible, to determine the uninhibited desires of the employees.” In re Jensen Enterprises, 339 NLRB 877 (2003) (citing General Shoe Corp., 77 NLRB 124 (1948)).
Some Objections include:
Collection Box Installation: The appearance that Amazon and not the NLRB controls the mechanics of the election:
Surveillance: Security cameras monitoring the collection box in the Amazon parking lot.
Electioneering: Messaging on the collection box in the Amazon parking lot.
Coercion and Ballot Harvesting: The company’s pressure campaign to get workers to bring their ballots to work and use the collection box the employer had installed.
Threatening Workplace Layoffs and Facility Closure: The company sent multiple messages to workers unlawfully threatening loss of business at the facility if workers voted for the union, which would incur significant layoffs or full facility closure.
Loss of Pay and Benefits: The company threatened workers with losing their pay rate, health insurance, time off and retirement benefits if the union was voted in.
Intimidation: the company identified and removed workers from mandatory captive-audience trainings who supported the union.
These are some of the Objections the union has filed. Click here for the full list and details.
Workers fighting for a voice and fair treatment in the workplace will await the results of the hearings on the objections to determine the final outcome of their union vote. After enduring an intensive anti-union campaign designed by Amazon to intimidate and manipulate, workers are seeking the chance to finally have a right to fair representation, a seat at the table and a real chance to fix the litany of issues that workers at Amazon have faced for far too long.
Last week, Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) issued the following statement on the objections and related charges the union is filing:
“Amazon has left no stone unturned in its efforts to gaslight its own employees. We won’t let Amazon’s lies, deception and illegal activities go unchallenged, which is why we are formally filing charges against all of the egregious and blatantly illegal actions taken by Amazon during the union vote today. Amazon knew full well that unless they did everything they possibly could, even illegal activity, their workers would have continued supporting the union. That’s why they required all their employees to attend lecture after lecture, filled with mistruths and lies, where workers had to listen to the company demand they oppose the union. That’s why they flooded the internet, the airwaves and social media with ads spreading misinformation. That’s why they brought in dozens of outsiders and union-busters to walk the floor of the warehouse. That’s why they bombarded people with signs throughout the facility and with text messages and calls at home. And that’s why they have been lying about union dues in a right to work state. Amazon’s conduct has been despicable.
"Worst yet, even though the NLRB definitively denied Amazon's request for a drop box on the warehouse property, Amazon felt it was above the law and worked with the postal service anyway to install one. They did this because it provided a clear ability to intimidate workers.
“We demand a comprehensive investigation over Amazon's behavior in corrupting this election.
“Working people deserve better than the way Amazon has conducted itself during this campaign. This campaign has proven that the best way for working people to protect themselves and their families is to join together in a union. However, Amazon’s behavior during the election cannot be ignored and our union will seek remedy to each and every improper action Amazon took. We won’t rest until workers' voices are heard fairly under the law. When they are, we believe they will be victorious in this historic and critical fight to unionize the first Amazon warehouse in the United States.”
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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.
Click to read the full objections filing with the NLRB.
UNION CANNABIS WORKERS AT SUNNYSIDE* RATIFY FIRST CONTRACT
Workers at New York Dispensaries Win Significant Wage Increases and Benefits
(NEW YORK, NY) – Late yesterday, Local 338 Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union (RWDSU)/United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), announced that workers at Sunnyside* (operated by Cresco Labs) have ratified their first union contract, which comes just weeks after the passage of the Marijuana Taxation & Regulation Act. The bargaining unit covers approximately forty workers who work across New York at the company’s four retail dispensaries.
“I’ve worked for Sunnyside* for about a year and a half and joining Local 338 is an exciting opportunity for me and my coworkers because it means having access to quality health coverage at no cost to us. However, being a union member means more to me than just the benefits our contract provides. I see it as giving me the opportunity to grow personally and professionally, granting me a long-term career path in the cannabis industry,” said Tyler Curtis, Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW member and Wellness Advisor working at Sunnyside*.
“Our members are dedicated to the patients they serve and provide a significant service to the company they work for. With strong starting salaries for new hires, wage increases for current workers, and no-cost health benefits for workers and their families, this first contract sets a standard for not just careers at Sunnyside*, but also what workers in New York’s cannabis industry deserve and should expect as the industry continues to develop.” said Joseph Fontano, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW.
The Sunnyside* (Cresco Labs) contract was ratified by the members of Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW after months of negotiations. The contract will be in effect for three years and includes critical provisions such as:
Annual wage increases or bonuses over the term of the contract. The hourly rate of pay for members will increase an average of 4.15% per year (based on workers’ job classification) over the term of the 3-year agreement.
The union secured language in the contract that increases the minimum starting rate for all new hires.
Workers will receive paid time off, as well as additional paid holidays, including Juneteenth.
The company will provide workers and their dependents with full medical coverage through the Union’s medical fund at no cost to the workers through the term of the contract.
Sunnyside* joins five other medical cannabis companies with collective bargaining agreements already in effect in New York State and Local 338 RWSDU/UFCW represents approximately 500 workers at these companies who are employed across the industry’s supply chain.
CEO JEFF BEZOS ADMITS AMAZON HAS BEEN MISTREATING WORKERS STATEMENT FROM RWDSU PRESIDENT STUART APPELBAUM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 15, 2021
Contact: Chelsea Connor | [email protected] | 347-866-6259
CEO JEFF BEZOS ADMITS AMAZON HAS BEEN MISTREATING WORKERS
STATEMENT FROM RWDSU PRESIDENT STUART APPELBAUM
(NEW YORK, NY) – Today, in response to a letter to shareholders from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which is conducting the unionization drive for the workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, issued the following statement:
“The impact on Amazon’s reputation by this campaign has been devastating, regardless of the vote result. We have initiated a global debate about the way Amazon treats its employees. Bezos’s admission today demonstrates that what we have been saying about workplace conditions is correct. But his admission won’t change anything, workers need a union – not just another Amazon public relations effort in damage control.”
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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.
AMAZON ILLEGALLY INTERFERED IN UNION VOTE – RWDSU TO FILE OBJECTIONS AND RELATED ULP CHARGES TO HOLD AMAZON ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 9, 2021
Contact: Chelsea Connor | [email protected] | 347-866-6259
AMAZON ILLEGALLY INTERFERED IN UNION VOTE – RWDSU TO FILE OBJECTIONS AND RELATED ULP CHARGES TO HOLD AMAZON ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS
Union to File Objections and Unfair Labor Practice Charges Implicating Amazon
(NEW YORK, NY) – Today, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced it is filing Objections to the conduct of the Election and related Unfair Labor Practice charges (ULPs) with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charging that Amazon interfered with the right of its Bessemer, Alabama employees to vote in a free and fair election; a right protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. The RWDSU will request that the NLRB Regional Director schedule a hearing on its objections to determine if the results of the election should be set aside because conduct by the employer created an atmosphere of confusion, coercion and/or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees' freedom of choice. The RWDSU will also present evidence to the Regional Director supporting the issuance of a ULP complaint against Amazon for unlawfully interfering with the protected right of employees to engage in union activity. Workers fighting for a voice and fair treatment in the workplace will now await the results of these hearings on the objections to determine the final outcome of their union vote. After enduring an intensive anti-union campaign designed by Amazon to intimidate and manipulate, workers are seeking the chance to finally have a right to fair representation, a seat at the table and a real chance to fix the litany of issues that workers at Amazon have faced for far too long.
Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) issued the following statement on the objections and related charges the union is filing:
“Amazon has left no stone unturned in its efforts to gaslight its own employees. We won’t let Amazon’s lies, deception and illegal activities go unchallenged, which is why we are formally filing charges against all of the egregious and blatantly illegal actions taken by Amazon during the union vote. Amazon knew full well that unless they did everything they possibly could, even illegal activity, their workers would have continued supporting the union. That’s why they required all their employees to attend lecture after lecture, filled with mistruths and lies, where workers had to listen to the company demand they oppose the union. That’s why they flooded the internet, the airwaves and social media with ads spreading misinformation. That’s why they brought in dozens of outsiders and union-busters to walk the floor of the warehouse. That’s why they bombarded people with signs throughout the facility and with text messages and calls at home. And that’s why they have been lying about union dues in a right to work state. Amazon’s conduct has been despicable.
"Worst yet, even though the NLRB definitively denied Amazon's request for a drop box on the warehouse property, Amazon felt it was above the law and worked with the postal service anyway to install one. They did this because it provided a clear ability to intimidate workers.
“We demand a comprehensive investigation over Amazon's behavior in corrupting this election.
“Working people deserve better than the way Amazon has conducted itself during this campaign. This campaign has proven that the best way for working people to protect themselves and their families is to join together in a union. However, Amazon’s behavior during the election cannot be ignored and our union will seek remedy to each and every improper action Amazon took. We won’t rest until workers' voices are heard fairly under the law. When they are, we believe they will be victorious in this historic and critical fight to unionize the first Amazon warehouse in the United States.”
# # #
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.
New Contract for Indiana City Workers
City employees in Connersville, Indiana, have ratified new four-year contracts.
Street, park, and sanitation department workers won a new paid holiday, Juneteenth, commemorating June 19, 1865, when the last slaves in the U.S. were freed. Members will see a 3 percent wage increase in the first year of the contract, and there will be wage re-openers in each of the remaining years of the agreement. The new agreement also includes a 25 cent per hour increase for employees with a CDL, and improvements in seniority, holidays, and vacation language, and it protects the employees’ union health insurance coverage for the life of the pact. The Local 512 members maintain the city’s streets and parks, and pick up trash in the Connersville. The Union's Bargaining Committee was Christopher Geise, Melody Steele and Peter Shonfeld. They were assisted by Indiana Joint Board President Eric Schwartz.
The Connersville paramedics and EMTs unit’s new agreement includes language improvements in the areas of seniority, staffing, funeral Leave, holidays, and sick days, and it maintains the employees’ union health insurance coverage for the life of the pact. There is a first-year annual salary increase of almost $1,000 dollars for E.M.T.s. and a $2,400 increase for paramedics, with a wage reopener in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year. The new contract also includes more money for certain certifications. Serving on the negotiating committee were Larry Swhier, Scott Brown and Misha Gibson. They were assisted by Indiana Joint Board President Eric Schwartz.
NEW POLL: 77% of Americans Support Amazon Union Drive
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AFL-CIO CONTACT: John Weber, 202-637-5018 or [email protected]
RWDSU CONTACT: Chelsea Connor, 347-866-6259 or [email protected]
(Washington, D.C., April 5, 2021)—Today, the AFL-CIO and GBAO released a nationwide poll of registered voters that found more than three-quarters of Americans support workers’ efforts to organize a union at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.
The findings come days after voting closed in the organizing drive and demonstrate a significant rise in public support. In February, Data for Progress found that 69% of likely voters supported the unionization effort.
“In every corner of the country, working people are crying out for change,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “We aren’t just bearing the brunt of this pandemic. For decades, we’ve been bled dry by a rigged, corporate-first economy. Amazon workers in Bessemer are tearing down that system, and America is standing with them.”
“This is what solidarity looks like,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). “America is standing shoulder to shoulder with Amazon workers in Bessemer. People across the country and of all backgrounds recognize the systematic injustice that Amazon is inflicting on its own workers. This fight is universal—it’s a struggle for the fundamental rights and dignities that all working people deserve.”
The nationwide poll surveyed 600 registered voters from March 28–30. The survey carries a margin of error of +/-4.0 percentage points. Results are available below.
Q: As you may know, some workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama are proposing to form a union to negotiate with the company on working conditions. Do you support or oppose these Amazon workers forming a union to negotiate on working conditions?
Overall
Party ID
SUPPORT: 77%
DEM SUPPORT: 96%
OPPOSE: 16%
IND SUPPORT: 79%
REP SUPPORT: 55%
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HISTORIC CANNABIS LEGALIZATION VOTE PASSES NY LEGISLATURE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 30, 2021
RWDSU Contact: Chelsea Connor, [email protected], 347-866-6259
Local 338 RWDSU Contact: Nikki Kateman, [email protected], 347-668-2860
HISTORIC CANNABIS LEGALIZATION VOTE PASSES NY LEGISLATURE
Will Provide Opportunity for Working People
(NEW YORK, NY) – Today, the New York legislature passed the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), which would legalize adult-use cannabis in New York. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents workers in the medical cannabis industry across New York State. Stuart Appelbaum, President of the RWDSU and John Durso, President of Local 338 RWDSU issued the following statements:
Stuart Appelbaum, President of RWDSU, said: “Today, in passing the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, the New York State legislature took enormous strides toward ending the decades-long war on drugs and its discriminatory impact on people of color. The legislature listened to calls by workers and advocates to create an industry centered on equity. From the creation of a social equity fund, to requiring labor peace for cannabis license holders, this places New York on the forefront of social equity nationally. We thank the legislature for prioritizing the needs of workers and the community and look forward to swift signature into law.”
John R. Durso, President of Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW, said: “Local 338, New York’s cannabis union, has organized almost 500 workers in the medical cannabis industry in New York, setting standards across the industry that benefit workers and their families. Our contracts in the medical cannabis industry have established full-time careers with family-sustaining wages, affordable and quality health care, workplace health and safety standards, funding for retirement and more. It is our priority that the 30,000-60,000 jobs created in our State’s adult use industry meet the same standard as those in the medical cannabis industry. The MRTA, will help to do just that, by ensuring access to opportunity at every level of this brand-new industry, including for the thousands of New Yorkers who will be entering it as workers. We commend the work of the New York Senate and Assembly on passage of this critical bill today and look forward to it being signed by Governor Cuomo.”
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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW proudly represents approximately 13,000 working men and women employed in a variety of different industries across New York State including, food retail, pharmaceutical retail, health care and human services, transportation, and medical cannabis. For more information, please visit our websites at www.rwdsu.org or www.local338.org Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW or /Local338 Twitter:@RWDSU or @Local338