Congratulations 2023 Essential Workers Organizing Academy Graduates!

In April 2023, we began our first Essential Workers Organizing Academy (EWOA) cohort, hiring eight full-time and one-half time “apprentice organizers.” Candidates were drawn from UFCW 3000 members in healthcare and grocery, as well as from external organizing campaigns and a general applicant pool.​

The program was broken up into three distinct phases: training, internal organizing, and external organizing/preparing for strikes. ​Training included exercises and readings about how to conduct organizing conversations and campaigns, learning about the history of unionization and organizing workers, presentations from guest speakers, and visits to both union and non-union worksites. Apprentice organizers supported on campaigns that included Macy’s, Bartell Drugs, Fred Meyer(s), PCC, Providence-Everett, as well as political and community projects. ​

Congratulations to the EWOA class of 2023!

Post-EWOA, our goal is to help every apprentice organizer who wants to continue in the labor movement to find a job either with this union or another movement organization. 

UFCW 3000 Press Release: Essential Workers Organizing Academy

UFCW 3000 Launches Essential Workers Organizing Academy:

Inaugural Class Already Enrolled

Des Moines, WA -- At large corporations like Starbucks and Amazon and smaller companies like Crossroads Trading Co. and Storyville Coffee, a new labor movement is being born in front of our eyes, frequently led by young workers and people of color. Its inclusive vision has space for all essential workers—anyone with the courage to stand up and say: “I am essential.” 

To meet this historic organizing moment, UFCW 3000 is excited to announce the creation of the Essential Workers Organizing Academy, a new initiative to develop the next generation of worker-leaders in our communities. UFCW 3000 will dedicate resources to train new worker-organizers, assist in organizing their workplaces, and collaboratively develop innovative new organizing campaigns that blaze a trail for essential workers everywhere. 

“Participating in the Essential Workers Organizing Academy has already been a transformative experience for me,” says Louis Garcia, a former barista at Storyville. “I am gaining invaluable insights into the power behind organized labor and collective action.”

For too long, the labor movement has not adequately invested in successful strategies to organize workers who want a union but do not yet have one. Record lows are being set for national union membership, yet Gallup polling shows 71 percent of Americans approve of unions, the highest approval numbers since 1965. The labor movement on a national level has an existential choice at hand: either make a massive investment in the working class to build a new movement or remain stagnant and watch this historical moment pass us by. UFCW 3000 and the Essential Workers Organizing Academy are firmly on the side of investing in the working class to rebuild the labor movement into a force for economic and political democracy. 

“I never learned about unions or the labor movement in school, so working with UFCW 3000 has been eye-opening,” says Chloe Galer, a former retail worker who now attends the Essential Worker Organizing Academy. “The brilliant and passionate workers and organizers I’ve met through this experience and their unique stories have made it that much more impactful."  

Participants of the Essential Workers Organizing Academy will adopt an apprenticeship-style learning model and collaborate regularly with workplace leaders and veterans of organizing campaigns. The program will combine formal training, readings, and instruction with hands-on organizing experience to help build the next generation of the labor movement. 

"As an elected member of our Executive Board, and as an essential grocery store worker for many years, I believe it is both crucial and compassionate to invest in new worker organizing. And the only way we'll get that done is to train more people to be organizers at places like the Essential Workers Organizing Academy," said Kyong Barry, a long-time grocery store worker at Albertsons and workplace leader of UFCW 3000.

UFCW 3000 calls on all unions and workers’ organizations to rise up and meet this moment with every resource at their disposal. That is why we are proud to launch the Essential Workers Organizing Academy. We hope you will join us. 

UFCW 3000 Member Story: Dawn Harris

Dawn Harris, grocery store worker at safeway fairwood & proud ufcw 3000 member

It’s #WorkerWednesday, and today we are spotlighting Dawn Harris, a grocery store worker at Safeway #519 in Fairwood! Dawn is a strong workplace leader and is currently being trained as a shop steward for her store.

Dawn recently attended the 2022 Safety Summit with a cohort of coworkers from her store and is excited to continue to grow as an effective advocate for her & her coworkers’ rights on the job. Dawn is passionate about the arts and sports (biggest Seahawks fan around!) and loves spending time with her family.

Dawn, thanks for all your hard work on behalf of your community, coworkers, and fellow union members. If you shop at Safeway in Fairwood, be sure to say hi!

UFCW 3000 Member Story: Nurses at PRMCE Step Up

This #WorkerWednesday, we want to especially recognize three amazing UFCW 3000 members at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, WA.

Heidi, Kristen, and Trevor are all nurses who work at PRMCE. As frontline healthcare workers, they have seen first-hand the impacts of the staffing crisis on their work. Because of their dedication to providing the best possible care to their patients and their community, these amazing worker-leaders have been stepping up to advocate for safe staffing!

Outside of the workplace, Kristen, Trevor, and Heidi have helped raise community awareness on the staffing crisis by appearing in the local papers & media. They’ve also organized coworkers & fellow union members to testify at city council meetings, sharing the perspective of essential workers with lawmakers.

Trevor, Heidi, Kristen…thank you for the work that you do to advocate for your coworkers while working hard to keep your patients and our communities safe & healthy!