Worker Wins: When Workers Stand United, They Win and Build a Stronger Future

Our latest roundup of worker wins includes numerous examples of working people organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life.

Over 2,000 ShopRite Workers Approve New Contract: Meat, seafood and deli workers represented by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 152 at more than 60 ShopRite supermarket locations have voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement. The new contract covers members across southern New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. Highlights of the deal include higher starting rates for department managers and classified positions, annual wage increases that reward seniority, protections for employer-funded health benefits, expanded vacation and more. “This win belongs to our members. Their solidarity, strength, and determination allowed our negotiating committee to deliver a historic new contract. When workers are engaged and stand together, they win together,” said UFCW Local 152 President Daniel Ross. “Being on the union negotiating committee was my pleasure. I was honored to be tasked with the responsibility of speaking up for our members,” said shop steward and ShopRite employee Paul Vasapollo.

AGMA and Dallas Black Dance Theatre Announce First Collective Bargaining Agreement: After more than two years of organizing and negotiating, American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) members have announced the ratification of their first collective bargaining agreement with Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT). Highlights of the deal include guaranteed minimum workweeks for the dancers and a minimum number of dancer positions each season, along with a seniority-based wage scale with improved minimum weekly salaries and built-in increases over the life of the contract. AGMA members also won protections for existing health insurance and retirement contribution benefits, stronger leave policies, the creation of a joint labor-management committee and more. “We understand the significance of this moment and the path that brought us here,” the dancers on the AGMA Negotiating Committee said in a press release. “We’re proud to have negotiated a first contract that provides meaningful protections for today’s dancers while strengthening the company for those who will come after us.” “A great deal happened to make this moment possible,” said Griff Braun, AGMA national organizing director. “We have never forgotten the former DBDT dancers who organized their workplace and stood together during an extraordinarily difficult chapter in the company’s history. Their efforts helped make this agreement possible. I have been equally inspired by the commitment, professionalism, and solidarity of the current DBDT dancers, who carried that work forward at the bargaining table. This first contract makes DBDT a safer, more supportive, and more sustainable workplace for artists today and for generations to come.”

Ashland Specialty Chemicals Workers Ratify New Contract; Secure Raises, Other Benefits: The Texas City Metal Trades Council reached a new agreement with Ashland Specialty Chemicals, ending a 42-day unfair labor practice (ULP) strike. “Our Texas City Metal Trades Council members showed up for each other, every single day,” said Lewis Crawford, Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 564 business agent and lead negotiator for the Texas City Metal Trades Council, AFL-CIO. “A strike is never easy. It asks everything of our members and their families, and this one asked more than most. We didn’t win every fight at that table—but we won something no contract can put a price on: trust, unity, and a brotherhood forged on that picket line. We’re not just going back to work. We’re going back stronger, together, than the local that walked out 42 days ago.” The new contract includes: a 9.25% wage increase over three years, 80 hours of paid incidental sick leave, 25 weeks of short-term disability leave, limited incidental craft work, increased vacation days, restored packager bidding rights and restored seniority for bidding on new positions. “We’re proud of the union members who put it all on the line to guarantee safety for themselves and their community,” said Texas AFL-CIO President Leonard Aguilar. “The labor movement joined together to support the Texas City Metal Trades Council. Their new contract sends a powerful message to working people across Texas: when workers stand united, they win and build a stronger future for themselves and their families.”

Over a Thousand Natural Food Workers in Washington Ratify Strong Contracts: Grocery store workers at 16 PCC Community Markets in the greater Seattle area who are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 3000 have ratified powerful collective bargaining agreements. The new contracts covering staff in the grocery and meat departments include better wages and benefits, protections for members who may be targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), increased premiums for night shift roles, increased employer contribution to workers’ training fund, and more. “This victory didn’t come easily,” the PCC bargaining team said in their ratification announcement. “The upshot isn’t just an industry-leading contract we’re proud of. Before this campaign, PCC was in danger of sliding into the corporate void. By standing together, we helped slow that slide and reclaim our co-op for the workers and members who built this place. Our fight doesn’t end here. This win provides a foundation we can use to keep building the democratic, worker-powered co-op that PCC members and workers deserve.”

Houston Mayor Signs Executive Order Raising Wage for Airport Workers: Houston Mayor John Whitmire signed an executive order (EO) last week that will provide major wage increases for thousands of George Bush Intercontinental Airport, William P. Hobby Airport and Ellington Airport workers. Members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) attended the signing of the EO, which compels air carriers, and concessions and airport contractors to immediately raise pay to $20 an hour. Over the next two years, the wage rate will continue to grow, reaching $23 an hour by January 2028. “Today we celebrate a big victory for airport workers who have worked long and hard for a raise,” said Elsa Flores, president of SEIU Texas. “This wage increase is the product of workers coming together as a union and having the unwavering support of pro-labor leaders like Mayor John Whitmire and Council Member Joaquin Martinez.”

Times Square Hotel Workers Secure New Contracts: Members of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council who work at the Fairfield by Marriott New York Manhattan Times Square and the Four Points by Sheraton Midtown have won their first union contract after 47 days on the picket line. Workers at the New York City hotels voted to form a union back in 2022. In the years spent negotiating their first contract, staff have faced numerous unfair labor practices from management, including bad-faith bargaining and discrimination against union supporters. Hotel and Gaming Trades Council members walked off the job at the end of June and encouraged guests to boycott the locations for nearly three weeks in order to secure this victory. “No one who works full time should have to choose between making rent and filling their prescription,” said New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani at a rally in support of the hospitality workers. “No one should spend their days straining to make tourists feel comfortable only to spend their nights in pain from back-breaking workloads.…But above all, no one should forget this very simple truth: New York City is a union town. And we will always stand union strong.”