When those little ghosts and goblins (or, we're predicting, Michael Jacksons) come collecting on Halloween, make sure you have a full supply of union-made goodies to hand out. No, not our latest flyers on the economic crisis. We mean candies made by union workers.

That includes some of our favorites, such as Jelly Bellies (made in Fairfield), Red Vines, Sunkist Fruit Gel Slices, Sweethearts (those crunchy little hearts with sweet nothings stamped into them), and our guilty favorite -- candy corn! But there's way more than that.

UnionPlus has compiled a list of candy products made by members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM); snack foods by members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW); and fruits and nuts from members of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). Please support our union brothers and sisters when you shop for Halloween treats this year.

Union-made Halloween Treats: unionplus.org/union-made/halloween-treats

With 1.4 million Americans working in its stores, Wal-Mart bears a unique responsibility to its workers and our communities--which is why as Labor Day approaches, SEIU is part of a coalition of labor, environmental, consumer protection, and community groups led by UFCW that are challenging Wal-Mart to start practicing common-sense core American values like workers' rights, corporate responsibility, equal opportunity, quality jobs and environmental stewardship.

No other private, profit-making enterprise in the history of our country has had the economic scope and impact of Wal-Mart. "When a company gets to be as big as Wal-Mart and employs so many workers - more than any other private enterprise in the world - it is no longer a 'private' entity," said Neal Lichtenstein, author of The Retail Revolution: How Walmart Created a Brave New World of Business. "[Wal-Mart] sets the wage and benefit standard for every other mass retailer and influences the business practices of just about every firm in America's huge service sector. So Wal-Mart is part of this country's debate: on health care, wages, equal employment, and the role of trade unionism in our democracy."

Wal-Mart needs to change. Here's a simple breakdown of reasoning behind this campaign to hold Wal-Mart accountable for those challenges, and to the ideals it puts forth in its advertising:

Wal-Mart is America's store.

Wal-Mart is America's workplace.

Wal-Mart is America's town center.

Wal-Mart must reflect America's values.

Hard work should bring pay and benefits that can support families.

Workers have rights that even the largest employer must recognize and respect.

There are two new "Common Sense Economics" TV ads to go along with the launch of the American Values Agenda for Change at Wal-Mart. Watch them here (Ad #1, Ad #2):

SEIU's Walmart Watch recently joined WakeUpWalmart.com to hold America's largest private employer accountable. Learn more about how you can help challenge Wal-Mart to embrace the American Values Agenda for Change at WakeUpWalmart.com.

Read the American Values Agenda for Change here.

Wal-Mart has a longtime record of harassing and intimidating workers who have called for union representation; the giant corporation has even gone so far as to shut down stores where workers voted for a voice on the job. It's bad enough Wal-Mart fights workers' efforts to organize...now they're trying to stifle freedom of speech too?

It appears that way - Wal-Mart has filed an injunction against a website critical of its Canadian business practices, and their "legal basis" will outrage you. Wal-Mart wants to stop WalmartWorkersCanada.ca--a popular website dedicated to helping Wal-Mart 'associates' understand and exercise their rights as workers in Canada--from using the word "Wal-Mart" either "alone or with other words... in a color scheme of blue, white and gold." Even more ridiculous, the company wants to restrict the usage of circular shapes on the group's website! Says UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley:

"This injunction request is an over the top assault on freedom of speech and on our ability to effectively communicate with Wal-Mart workers," "It's a kneejerk response by Wal-Mart to the idea of its employees trying to understand their options as workers, and trying to share experiences with other 'associates'."

Walmart's response to the success of www.walmartworkerscanada.ca is just another outrageous example of how the largest retailer in the history of the world will use its bottomless legal budget to manipulate the collective bargaining process and do just about anything to discourage its 'associates' from joining the union."

You can take a stand against Wal-Mart's censorship threat and stand up for internet Democracy. Tell Walmart to respect free speech: sign UFCW's petition today.

If we let Wal-Mart set the standard for free speech online, there is no telling where the company's absurd demands will end. Can you imagine a world where Wal-Mart has exclusive rights to blue, white, gold, and abstract geometrical shapes? Please take a moment to show your solidarity for the activists at WalmartWorkersCanada.ca.

Help stop Walmart's war against the freedom of expression online.

Labor unions SEIU, AFL-CIO, NEA, USW, CWA, IBT and UFCW are headed to the White House next week. On Monday, the united group of labor leaders--including SEIU's Andy Stern and Anna Burger--will meet with President Obama to discuss joint efforts to build an economy that works for all including passing healthcare reform, economic stimulus and the Employee Free Choice Act.

"Obviously the folks around the table have an acute interest in the economy, and the president wants to hear from them about what basically needs to happen to grow the economy and to stabilize the middle class right now," said Patrick Gaspard, the White House political director and previous executive VP of politics and legislation at 1199SEIU. Read Change to Win's labor unity statement on labor's united efforts. Full NY Times piece on next's week's visit with the President here.

In recent Wal-Mart news, a really disturbing precedent: A Canadian court overturned the UFCW certification granted to Wal-Mart workers in December 2008, keeping alive a five-year-old battle between Wal-Mart and the union.

Workers in Saskatchewan, Canada first voted for union representation over four years ago, and Wal-Mart stalled and threw up every road block they could to keep the workers from getting a fair deal. And now, a Canadian judge has essentially ruled that because labor laws have changed since the Weyburn Wal-Mart workers legally won union representation, these workers are no longer represented by a union. According to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, the UFCW applied for union certification in 2004 after a majority of workers in the proposed bargaining unit signed union cards. A vote by secret ballot was not required under labor laws in effect at that time. Changes to provincial labor law implemented in May 2008 now require a vote by secret ballot to certify a union--and Justice Peter Foley ruled this past week that the labor relations board erred in certifying the union at the Wayburn Wal-Mart.

Kevin Groh, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Canada, said workers now employed at the store "cheered" when they were told of the latest court ruling. This seems like an odd reaction, since Wal-Mart is not exactly known for offering generous salaries. Business Week reported in April, 2008, that Wal-Mart workers earn an average of $22,500 annually. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the threshold of poverty in 2006 for a family of four was $21,200.

In this dismal economy, low-wage workers are struggling more than ever to make ends meet. If they had a union, these Wal-Mart employees would be able to negotiate better health benefits, working conditions, and wages above the poverty line. This issue also speaks to the greater problem of the long and arduous process workers are forced to endure to gain union representation and a first contract. Our current labor system for workers trying to form a union has proven its inability to defend workers' rights in a timely manner time and time again. Sadly enough, the 4+ years these Wal-Mart workers endured in their fight for a union is not uncommon. Two years after first voting to form a union, a whopping 37 percent of workers still have no contract.

What do you think of this ruling? Was the Canadian court's decision to overturn the UFCW certification justified?

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that more and more Wal-Mart employees want a union. The distorted "big bad Union vs. Company" image of organized labor depicted in the story is typical of the bias that is promoted by mainstream media. But it is not the real story--the real story is the workers on the ground who are desperate for change.

A new documentary by UFCW that tells the story of Wal-Mart's war on their own workers. In the video, ten workers from coast-to-coast detail the company's response to their organizing efforts (hint: it's not exactly warm and fuzzy).

After watching this video, doesn't Wal-Mart's slogan of 'Save Money, Live Better' seems particularly accurate? These workers need your support to affect real change at Wal-Mart.

Spread the word about Wal-Mart employees' collective struggle for dignity at work - tell your friends about Wal-Mart's anti-worker policies and add your signature to the growing list of activists who support rights in the workplace for hardworking Wal-Mart employees.

It took nearly four years, but unionized workers at a Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec Wal-Mart store have finally won their first collective agreement. Although Wal-Mart has 1.4 million employees, the workers at this store are the only Wal-Mart employees in North America to be represented by a union.

The employees first voted to certify the union in 2005, only to encounter years of resistance in the form of legal challenges, negotiations, and mediation.

"It's time for Wal-Mart to start walking the talk. It describes itself as a socially responsible company committed to environmental sustainability and helping people to 'live better'. Those are important things, but so are workers' rights," said Wayne Hanley, national president of UFCW Canada. "The St-Hyacinthe contract challenges Wal-Mart to truly demonstrate that it's serious about being a community partner and a positive force in Canada and the world."

Today, the Change to Win federation and AFL-CIO unions unveiled a unified framework for comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

The proposal endorses legalizing the status of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S., and opposes the adoption of employers' incentive to hire undocumented workers rather than U.S. workers. The accord recognizes that if these immigrants are not given adequate incentive to "come out of the shadows" to adjust their status, our country will continue to have a large pool of unauthorized workers--allowing employers to continue to live above the law and exploit workers in order to drive down wages and working conditions, to the detriment of all workers.

The joint announcement and proposal is a critical sign of support for the Administration and Congress to address immigration reform and to ensure that it remains a priority on the legislative calendar. It is also an important sign that immigration reform is a comprehensive part of economic recovery. In a statement, Eliseo Medina spoke on the need to overhaul our broken immigration system:

As we face the most serious recession since the Great Depression--as healthcare costs skyrocket, income disparity grows, and the middle class continues to shrink--the American public wants fundamental reform of economic and social policies that have benefited the few at the expense of the working majority. Immigration reform is no exception. Today's unified agreement is a major step forward that will, combined with the continued leadership of President Obama, Vice President Biden and bipartisan leadership in Congress, profoundly improve the future of all workers and build a stronger American economy for our children and grandchildren.

The framework for comprehensive reform and a national commission to regulate future immigration was developed with the guidance of former Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Key components of the proposal call for:

• An independent commission to assess and manage the flow of future immigration workers, based on labor market shortages that are determined on the basis of actual need
  
• A secure and effective worker authorization mechanism
  
• Rational operational control of the border
  
• Adjustment of status for the current undocumented population; and
  
• Improvement, not expansion, of temporary worker programs, limited to temporary or seasonal, not permanent, jobs.

"This framework is a roadmap toward real reform--reform that addresses the needs of our nation's workers, families and communities," said Change to Win's Hansen. "We are a nation that respects hard work, family and the pursuit of the American Dream. Our immigration system must hold true to these principles."

Read the AFL-CIO and Change to Win's "Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform."

In an incredible piece of news that's been a long time coming....workers at Smithfield Tar Heel in North Carolina, the world's largest meatpacking plant, voted for union representation on Thursday with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

Take a look:

While Smithfield has repeatedly engaged in typical unionbusting activities during the organizing effort, one startling event stands out: Violence erupted immediately after the 1997 union election. At the Tar Heel plant, Smithfield operates its own armed police force with the authority to arrest and detain workers on its property. Although federal labor law says workers have the right to participate in a union election free from fear, coercion, and intimidation, this company police force--heavily armed and dressed in riot gear--surrounded the plant on the day of the election. After the vote count, union supporters were physically assaulted and falsely arrested by the Bladen County Sheriff's Deputies, who were called in by the company to supplement its own private police force.

Even as Smithfield workers won this election, it's taken 15 years to get to this point after unprecedented intimidation - and they still have to negotiate a contract. With the Employee Free Choice Act, the workers' choice would've been recognized as early as 1994, and they'd have a contract for better wages and benefits.

Congratulations to Smithfield workers who persisted in seeking a voice at work in the face of unbelievable opposition from management. With the Employee Free Choice Act, more workers like them can enjoy better wages benefits and job securities.

Read AP's coverage of the victory here. Local NC paper The News & Observer's news coverage here.

Sometimes symbols appear unexpectedly.

In 2007 a respected human rights watchdog group, Human Rights Watch, released a report critical of Wal-Mart's union-busting policies and practices in the United States. According to the report, "while many American companies use weak U.S. laws to stop workers from organizing, the retail giant stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus." Wal-Mart's opposition to its workers exercising their legal right to organize has even extended to terminating entire departments and closing entire stores.

For example, in February 2000, ten employees of the Wal-Mart meat department in a Jacksonville, Texas, store elected United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) as their union. Wal-Mart immediately scrapped their entire network of in-store butcher departments nationwide. And in Jonquière, Quebec, after the birth of a certified UFCW Local at a Wal-Mart store and a decision by the Minister of Labor for Quebec to grant the union's request for contract arbitration, Wal-Mart announced that it would close the Jonquière store.

The result of this behavior is that workers are denied a seat at the table to contribute to setting standards that protect them on the job. In the absence of such contributions, management is free to set whatever standards it deems appropriate and workers are obligated to go along if they wish to keep their jobs. To make matters worse, Wal-Mart store management's compensation is based on bonus systems that encourage cutting labor costs, resulting in more temporary workers. Temporary workers like Damour are particularly vulnerable in that environment because they have neither the context nor the influence to express reservations when asked to perform certain duties.

Without a union it is entirely up to Wal-Mart's management to determine whether or not they took legitimate precautions to prevent this incident. In the absence of union representation, let me suggest if it is not already obvious from the events that unfolded, that Wal-Mart failed on at least a few levels to protect its employees and its customers.

First, it appears there was a shortage of adequate security at the doors. Wal-Mart has still not released how many guards were present at the time to control the rushing crowd of 2000 people. Second, the company used at least some temporary workers including Mr. Damour who were not familiar with what to expect on Black Friday. Third, as some news reports have pointed out, unlike other retailers Wal-Mart did not provide tickets for store entry or offer rain-checks for any items that were sold out. All of these choices contributed to the tragic events of that day and the workers who were on the line that morning had no say in making any of them.

More low-wage workers need a voice in their workplace. The current system of certifying a union has failed because employers have found ways to thwart the process, and the federal government has failed to prevent that interference or to protect workers right to organize in any meaningful way. It is time for a change.

Next year, by passing the Employee Free Choice Act, Congress can provide that change. No one will force workers to organize a union, but they will be freer to do so if they choose. I believe that many of them will seek a union for all the reasons that people have wanted unions in the past including workplace safety. Sadly and unexpectedly, Jdimytai Damour will be a symbol for that fight and a powerful reminder of how workers are taken advantage of every day.

(Cross-posted by permission from Huffington Post)

Related News

In case you missed it........Wal-Mart Watch announced in late Nov. that it would be joining efforts to pass the Employee Free Choice Act so that Wal-Mart's employees and other workers around the country will have the choice to form a union to advocate for better wages and benefits. To martial all available resources toward this effort, Wal-Mart Watch has merged its operations into SEIU to share knowledge and expertise and best serve the efforts to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

Read the joint statement here.

>> Learn more about Employee Free Choice