After nearly six months of bargaining backed up by union member solidarity and store-site actions that included a three-day unfair labor practice strike at seven stores in Los Angeles and Orange County, California UFCW members have overwhelmingly approved a new contract with CVS.

When Bob Prola graduated from college, he thought he had to get a job in the business world, he says, so he got into the insurance business. He quickly discovered that it wasn’t for him and that he had to find a career that made a positive impact and wasn’t “soul sucking”.

When Will Smith first joined IBEW Local 332 as an apprentice inside wireman in 1999, he recalls that his uncle, a Sheet Metal Local 104 member, told him “Work hard, learn your trade, listen to the journeyman, give back to your union and maybe, one day you will be a union rep.”

When the Jones family purchased Pacific Printing in 2003, the company employed three workers and enjoyed modest success in the San Jose area. Today, it is the largest union printing shop in the Bay Area with 28 employees who are represented by the GCIU and Allied Trades and UFCW Local 5.

UNITE HERE Local 19 members working at Levi’s Stadium have overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement. 

Yvette has worked for the Santa Clara County VTA for nearly 17 years. Her job in the vault room
includes processing the revenue collected on the system’s trains and busses in addition to other
accounting duties. While much of her job revolves around paperwork, it includes lifting 50-
pound bags of coins.

Labor Council delegates and community supporters joined with UFCW Local 5 members
working at CVS in San Jose last month as part of a state-wide campaign to win a fair contract for
thousands of workers at one of the most profitable health care companies in the United States.

Labor Council affiliates from CNA and WPUSA joined with elected officials and local community officials to host rallies and a town hall to demand East Side San Jose's Regional Medical Center be protected.