Change to Win

Our United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is a member of the Change to Win Federation. Change to Win was formed at the time of the 2005 AFL-CIO Convention. On the eve of the convention the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Teamsters (IBT), after seeing many years of diminishing union influence in the affairs of America’s workers, announced that they were leaving the AFL-CIO. One week later UFCW, also concerned with bringing the values of union membership to more workers, disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO.

On September 27, 2005 Change to Win held its founding convention in St. Louis and dedicated its primary goal to organizing more workers. By stripping away much of the old bureaucracy common in the AFL-CIO, Change to Win demonstrated its determination to re-focus the skills and resources of its member unions on the workers they represented and new workers who badly needed the protections and benefits that union membership delivers. For example, the total compensation of a union worker is dramatically higher than that of a non-union worker.

In addition to UFCW, Change to Win is comprised of the following affiliated unions:

• International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
• Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA)
• Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
• United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC)
• United Farm Workers of America (UFW)
• UNITE HERE (formerly the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union)

Change to Win has set an agenda that emphasizes:

• A paycheck that supports a family – Today’s worker earns 83 cents compared to a dollar earned by a worker in 1972
• Quality, affordable health care for all – The fastest rising expense for all workers
• A secure and dignified retirement – Too many companies no longer provide workers with a retirement security plan
• The freedom to join together in unions – The Employees Free Choice Act (EFCA) must be passed by congress to improve the standard of living for working families

What you can do to move the Change to Win agenda forward:

• Tell every non-union worker you meet about the benefits of union membership
• Call and write your local, state and national representatives. Tell them you want a decent wage for all workers, pensions and pension protections, affordable comprehensive healthcare, and enactment of EFCA.

For a sample letter you can use and the names and contact information of your government representatives click Political Action.