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Grocery Workers Are Suing to Bring Democracy to Their Union

By
Lisa Xu

This spring, members looking to reform the United Food and Commercial Workers filed a lawsuit against their union, the fifth-largest in the country. The members hope that the case will result in changes that help democratize the UFCW.

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Grocery store workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers hold a boycott rally in front of a Food4Less Supermarket in Los Angeles, California, on May 12, 2021. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)

Members seeking to transform the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) have added a new weapon to their arsenal: legal action.

Grocery workers Kyong Barry (Local 3000 in Washington) and Iris Scott (Local 1459 in Massachusetts) sued the UFCW on April 19 over the undemocratic representation of members at the UFCW convention, which takes place every five years.

There are several charges, but the crux of the lawsuit is that delegates are apportioned across locals in such a way as to deny members an equal voice. A favorable ruling would enable reformers in other unions to sue on the same basis.

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