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<\/a><\/div>\nThe League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa has been assisting the disgruntled union members with information about civil and worker rights. LULAC National Vice President of the Midwest Joe Enriquez Henry has met with hundreds in the past two months to assess incidents at JBS and has provided a report on the workers’ rights violations to the UFCW in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Work glove policy and more<\/strong><\/p>\n Getting ahold of a pair of work gloves turned into something much bigger for Maria Sanchez, a JBS employee, and union member.<\/p>\n Sanchez has been with JBS for 20 years, and as a union member gets a say in policies affecting workers. JBS sends policy ideas and drafts to UFCW representatives elected by the rank and file.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem my mom started when she needed a pair of work gloves, but a new policy didn\u2019t allow her to get gloves provided by JBS,\u201d said Bernice Sanchez, health services specialist at Mid-Iowa Community Action in Marshalltown and Maria\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n The policy in question was sent to UFCW members, but many union members did not see or get a say in the changes in policy, they claimed. This included the ability of workers to switch old work gloves for new ones provided by JBS.<\/p>\n Maria could not get new gloves because she had no old ones to trade in.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMaria went to Kail, the union president, for help,\u201d Bernice Sanchez claims. \u201cKail said he couldn\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n Realizing she hadn\u2019t been able to see the contract with the new glove policy, Maria decided to collect signatures and pressure Kail, Luis Rosales and Mike Graves to show the contract to the union members.\u00a0<\/p>\n Maria said normally the UFCw shows members new contracts, policies and plans sent by JBS in order for the workers and administrators to come to an agreement on policy. She said that didn\u2019t happen with the most recent contract.<\/p>\n Collecting signatures of union workers wanting to know more about the new contract was easy, Bernice said.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce the rumor spread that she was looking for signatures, Maria got over 200 people to sign,\u201d Bernice said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In response, the union representatives brought in Rosales from Illinois to talk her out of fighting the union,\u201d said Maria.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said: \u2018Quit spreading your venom.\u2019 His job was to calm the movement down.\u201d<\/p>\n After speaking to Rosales, Maria and approximately 200 union members held a meeting with Rosales at Palm Beach Grill.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the meeting, we could see Rosales was moved by the stories of the workers,\u201d Bernice said. \u201cStill, we don\u2019t think he helped the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n UFCW leaders not listening?<\/strong><\/p>\n The main complaints of union workers is the UFCW is not taking reported complaints seriously, in a timely manner or were not addressed at all, Bernice said.<\/p>\n Henry, attended the meetings, and LULAC also provided union members with access to lawyers.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of the problems I have heard are about miscommunication,\u201d Henry said. \u201cSome workers feel the union isn\u2019t listening to them well.\u201d<\/p>\n In September, UFCW members voted to choose representatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kail, Rosales and Graves retained their positions.<\/p>\n \u201cMany people Maria knew were not happy with the outcome,\u201d Bernice said. \u201cThey claimed they weren\u2019t allowed see the vote count, and many alleged they were not allowed to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n Bernice said the flyers with voting information omitted information stating members needed a photo ID to vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is normal for union members to show a photo ID before voting for representatives. Bernice said<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n Contact Mike Donahey at 641-753-6611 or mdonahey@timesrepublican.com<\/p>\n Photo by Mike Donahey courtesy of Times-Republican<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n