Tis the Season to Stand Up for Workers

November 2013

For Veterans Day 2013, union members all over Southern California took part in service projects in our communities. UNAC/UHCP members volunteered alongside hundreds of other union members to give thanks and pay tribute to our veterans. Thousands of union members turned out to celebrate with our nation's veterans in Orange County on Veterans Day. Highlights are available in this video. UNAC/UHCP members also joined other community and veterans groups at the Riverside National Cemetery, where for the first time ever they were able to place a flag on all of the approximately 200,000 graves of those who gave their lives for our country.

As we head into the holiday season, our thoughts are with the many workers who don't have the benefit of a union and a collective voice on the job. On Black Friday, a day when many of us join the crowds to kick off our holiday shopping, workers are organizing for something bigger. The dark underbelly to the busiest shopping day of the year is the workers who are asked to give up their holidays to work for poverty wages to staff stores. We all know about being away from our families during the holidays. But when a health care professional gives up a holiday to spend it at work, we do it for our patients. And thanks to our UNAC/UHCP contracts, we're well compensated for the work we do.

Many of those who staff the stores on Black Friday are doing so because they must provide for their families. But at what cost? On Monday, the "Cleveland Plain Dealer" reported that a Walmart in Canton, Ohio was running a holiday food drive-for its own employees. Last week, Walmart announced it would join other retailers in opening its doors at 6 pm on Thanksgiving, meaning many associates will miss Thanksgiving altogether-for wages that can only be described as poverty-level.

Now is the time we must all stand together. Join UNAC/UHCP on Black Friday as we stand with Walmart workers and call for an end to retaliation against those who bravely speak out and push for a real, living wage. We will stand with workers at the Walmart in Crenshaw at 11:30 am.

Walmart 2960
November 29, 2013 • 11:30 AM
4101 Crenshaw Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90008

RSVP to info@unacuhcp.org to join us unless you are at one of the following affiliates:

St. Francis Members-RSVP to Marilen at mcastanon90640@yahoo.com
Downey Members-RSVP to Pam at calliethecat@sbcglobal.net
South Bay Members-RSVP from South Bay here: http://vols.pt/dSCm6L