The good life of working for the UFCW

The United Food & Commercial Workers union is a politically active organization--its most visible arm is the group WakeUpWal-Mart. Once led by two Democratic political operatives, WakeUpWalMart regularly takes Wal-Mart to task for its perceived bad, read that, non-union ways.

In the second part of a series on the growing pay gap between union leaders and the people they represent--in a time where union membership in the private sector continues to plummet, the Detroit News places its gaze on the the United Food & Commercial Workers.

Tough times are nothing new for the cashiers, stockers and butchers of UFCW Local 951, the largest local in the state. Membership at the local, which primarily represents workers at Meijer, has dropped from about 40,000 in 2000 to 28,000 today. Some stores have closed, and those that remain employ fewer workers. Eliminating baggers from checkout lines cost 6,000 union jobs, according to Potter. Technological advances, such as self-serve check-out lines, have eliminated many more.

About the only place not losing jobs is the union hall. While the union local was losing 30 percent of its workers in six years, the number of union officers and employees dropped by four -- from 103 to 99. Most of those who remained continued to receive raises.

Current Local 951 President Marv Russow argues that it's the wrong time to cut union hall staff. The union has dedicated more employees to recruitment in an attempt to curb its membership decline. Those members who remain often are facing more economic struggles and need additional services from the union.

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But as membership (and the corresponding dues) plummeted, the local has spent a higher and higher percentage of its $11.5 million budget on salaries. In 2000, Local 951 members paid $78 a year toward union hall salaries; by 2006, that figure had jumped to $91.32.

Part one of the Detroit News story was tough on the union it focused on yesterday, the United Autoworkers. However, the paper points out that the pay gap between Michigan assembly line workers, and the union members working at the grocery stores they shop at, is greater. And the pay gap between the UFCW brass and its rank-and-file is also larger.

Related posts:

Union leaders don't share their members pain

Wake Up Wal-Mart has two empty bunks

John Edwards wakes up to Wal-Mart nightmare

Technorati tags: politics detroit Wal-Mart Michigan Unions business UFCW organized labor UAWlabor Wake Up Wal-Mart