UFCW Retail Conference

Just last week, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union held its 2016 Spring Retail, Legislative and Political Conferences in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Mirage Hotel.

The Retail Conference was an opportunity to learn about collective bargaining, organizing, and communications techniques. It was also an opportunity to discuss common issues, strategies, and new thinking about how we can raise the standards for retail workers, improve contracts, and organize new workers.

The Retail Conference focused on the issue of unstable scheduling in the retail industry due to the “On Call” status of workers. On-call shifts are used in the retail industry where employee work schedules are based on the intensity of business that day and intentionally unpredictable. Employees assigned to such shifts must call their employer, typically an hour or two before a scheduled shift, to find out if they will be assigned to work that day. The use of on-call shifts leaves little time to make arrangements for family needs, much less find an alternative source of income to compensate for the lost pay on days when employees are not called in to work.

Secretary Hillary Clinton made a guest appearance at the Conference and vowed to address the issue if she becomes President of the United States.