Voting and Elections
UFCW voters matter for California.
Safe Prescriptions
UFCW is working to ensure pharmacists have the support to do their most important job: delivering the right medicines, in the right doses and protecting consumers against potentially deadly drug interactions.
Cannabis
The UFCW is the only union representing cannabis workers in California. We are committed to building a successful industry that offers consumers access to safe products and local communities jobs with better wages and benefits.
Sacramento, CA – Today, Assemblymember Mark Stone (D – Monterey Bay) introduced AB 1182 to hold online marketplaces accountable to California’s longstanding product liability laws. This legislation will level the playing field and hold online marketplaces, like Amazon, Etsy and eBay to the same strict product liability standard as traditional brick and mortar businesses when they place dangerous mass-manufactured products in the stream of commerce.
The tragic stories of consumers who suffer losses at the hands of negligent online marketplaces demonstrate the urgent need for a solution. In 2016, the Carpenter family of Santa Rosa, CA, watched in horror as their home burned to the ground from a fire caused by a hoverboard they purchased on Amazon.com for their 12-year-old daughter. The device spontaneously combusted while charging in her bedroom, and within minutes a raging fire ensued that destroyed the Carpenter family home, killed their two dogs and devastated the family. Due to current products liability laws in California, the Carpenters have so far been unsuccessful in their lawsuit against Amazon for damages sustained in the fire.
Online marketplaces have seen a dramatic rise in sales during the past three years and the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the amount of consumers who purchase products online. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 40% of everything bought online went through Amazon, accounting for 5% of all retail sales in the United States. Now, “Amazon said that net sales jumped 26% year over year to $75.5 billion as people flocked to its site.”[1]
“AB 1182 is crucial legislation to protect California’s consumers as more and more people are buying their goods online,” said Doug Saeltzer, Vice President, Consumer Attorneys of California. “Longstanding product liability law ensures that consumers are protected when a dangerous or defective product sold in a physical store injures a consumer, but those laws aren’t the same to products that are sold and distributed online. Californians must be able to rely on their products’ safety regardless of where they bought it. CAOC is proud to support this legislation, so online marketplaces are held to the same standards as other businesses.”
“California’s consumers have been able to rely on the fact that the products they are buying from retail stores won’t kill, poison, or maim themselves or their kids for decades,” said Jim Araby, director of strategic campaigns, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 5. “But customers shopping online don’t know that they don’t receive the same protections when they buy products online. AB 1182 is common-sense legislation to stop the Amazons of the world from shifting the costs of easily preventable injuries to its customers when even the smallest California brick and mortar business competitors would be liable. UFCW members applaud Assemblymember Stone for introducing this legislation to protect California’s consumers.”
AB 1182 updates California law to address the online sale of dangerous and defective goods, clarifying that the same longstanding strict product liability principles that apply to brick-and-mortar retailers and distributors also apply to online marketplaces. By doing so, AB 1182 will protect consumers from dangerous and defective products, and help level the playing field for all types of retailers and distributors.
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[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/15/this-breakdown-of-retail-sales-data-shows-why-amazon-is-leading-the- stock-market.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 18, 2021
Contact: Jenna Thompson, 949.246.1620, [email protected]
Sacramento, CA – The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Western States Council today announced that the Executive Board confirmed Legislative Advocate Jaskiran (Jassy) Grewal as the organization’s new Legislative Director. Jassy joins UFCW Western States Council’s women-led leadership team with Executive Director Amber Baur and President Andrea Zinder in a key role fighting for California’s working families.
“As Legislative Director, I look forward to continuing fighting for workers with California’s legislature and the Administration, ensuring policymakers hear and listen to workers’ voices,” said Grewal. “As an advocate, I want to ensure our members are not overlooked while Sacramento tackles crucial issues like paid sick leave, criminal justice reform, income inequality and workers’ rights. Working people are oftentimes overlooked in policymaking and I’m excited to have a small part ensuring they can have quality jobs that support families and communities.”
Jassy graduated in 2015 from the University of California at Davis with a degree in Political Science-Public Service and Sociology and obtained her Masters in Public Administration from the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy in 2020. She is a first generation punjabi and the first one in her family to go to college in the United States and the first to get a masters degree. Jassy began her career with Teach for America in 2015. She then started working at UFCW Western States Council in 2016, where she started as an intern. She was promoted to Legislative Aide in 2018 and Legislative Advocate in 2019.
“California’s workers need strong voices and a passionate heart fighting for them in the California legislature and with the Administration,” said Amber Baur, executive director, UFCW Western States Council. “I know Jassy will only continue to exceed my expectations in her new role and I look forward to working with her to help our members recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, transform our economy, lift up working families, strengthen our communities, and have thriving futures.”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2, 2021
Contact: Jenna Thompson, 949.246.1620, [email protected]
Sacramento, CA – Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Western States Council applauded the news that President Joe Biden has nominated California Labor and Workforce Development Agency secretary Julie Su as Deputy Labor Secretary. Andrea Zinder, president, UFCW Western States Council and UFCW Local 324 released the following statement:
“Julie Su’s passion and determination for workers is unrivaled. UFCW members have stood shoulder to shoulder with Julie for years to ensure that California is a place where all workers have good jobs and earn enough to support a family and thrive in our state.
“The ruthless and relentless attacks corporations have made on workers during COVID-19 shows exactly why workers need a strong leader with a vision for a strong future for workers in the Administration. We’re sure Julie Su will continue to be a fierce advocate for all workers nationwide with her new role with the Biden Administration and UFCW members will continue to work closely with Julie to strengthen our nation’s labor laws and create good jobs and future opportunities for our children.”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25, 2021
Contact: Jenna Thompson, 949.246.1620, [email protected]