Farm Bill Fails to Deliver Relief for Working Families and Lacks Protections for Food Workers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents 1.2 million essential workers across North America, released a statement in response to the passage of the Farm Bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

UFCW International President Milton Jones said:

"With the passage of the Farm Bill, members of Congress solidified the slashing of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), greenlit handouts to powerful agricultural interests, and failed to address critical issues facing workers. As the UFCW warned, this legislation falls woefully short during a time of high grocery prices and upheaval in the food supply chain.

"As the Trump Administration considers raising line speeds at meatpacking plants to dangerous levels and continues to fight federal workers' collective bargaining rights, not a single provision in this Farm Bill will improve standards or safety for food workers. Food affordability for consumers continues to be ignored as well, with SNAP cuts left in place and no measures to protect families from predatory pricing tactics.

"Food workers, including hundreds of thousands of UFCW members, deserve better than this Farm Bill. Congress has an array of bills worth considering to improve the lives of workers and consumers, like the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act. This Farm Bill is not one of them."

BACKGROUND

• As the House Agriculture Committee considered the Farm Bill, the UFCW vocally opposed it and urged committee members to vote 'No' during the committee's markup of the bill.

• Members of Congress interested in lowering food costs for families and supporting food workers should instead support the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act, which would ban surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels in grocery stores, and the Food Secure Strikes Act, which would allow striking workers and their households to receive SNAP benefits. Lawmakers should also consider the Grocery, Farm, and Food Worker Stabilization Grant Program Act, which would create a grant program to provide stabilization payments to food workers in the case of a natural or other disaster.

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The UFCW International is the largest private sector union in the United States, representing 1.2 million workers and their families in cannabis, grocery, meatpacking, food processing, healthcare, retail and other essential industries in all 50 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The UFCW is committed to organizing and supporting cannabis workers across the industry, from seed to sale. Learn more about the UFCW at ufcw.org.

CONTACT: Finn Storer [email protected]