Last week, 54 workers and organizers from across FCWA membership traveled to Portland for our annual Worker Leaders Retreat!
Every year, FCWA members get together in-person for relationship-building, peer sharing, and strategizing for the year ahead. This year, we were thrilled to be welcomed to Portland by local co-hosts Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU) and New Seasons Labor Union (NSLU). BVWU and NSLU are independent, worker-led unions at the forefront of food worker organizing in their city. Alongside their comrades at the Fried Egg Workers Union (FEWU), they came to the summit to share their organizing stories and provide grounding in the local labor movement.
All three groups are part of Portland’s Coalition of Independent Unions (CIU), and all three are currently in negotiations for a fair contract with their employer. New Seasons Labor Union has just surpassed three years of bargaining for their first contract, and Burgerville Workers Union has surpassed two years of negotiations for their second. Meanwhile, the newer Fried Egg Workers Union (who just won their union vote last year) has already faced two unjust firings of union members as they work toward their first contract.
On Sunday, FCWA members joined a local action for all three unions, marching across the Hawthorne Bridge and rallying outside New Seasons Markets’ new corporate offices. At the rally, worker leaders spoke from all three unions spoke about contract demands and their commitment to reaching a good deal: “We are fighting for the things most important to our members: wages, COLA, PTO, a fair attendance policy, and so much more,” said NSLU member Jimbo. “Our focus has been on that bargaining platform: a better working life for our members. But I’m grateful and proud to say that my union is not just a business union, not just in it for the contract. We are a fighting union and a militant union. We have taken steps to support other unions and other causes, because our fights are connected.”
The disciplined and militant actions of these local groups was an inspiration to fellow FCWA members. After peer-to-peer workshops, group visioning sessions, and our annual membership meeting, we left Portland feeling inspired by each other’s work and ready to fight that much harder for worker justice!
Welcome & Art Making
Action in support of BVWU, NSLU, and FEWU as negotiations for fair contracts drag on. Workers are demanding fair wages, safe conditions, and protections for immigrant workers.
Workshops: Building Power through Policy, Worker Cooperatives, and Unionization; Immigration Rights & Community Defense; Urban & Rural Worker Power; Worker-Led Organizing for Heat Protections; and more.
Thank you to everyone who made the 2025 summit possible: every worker and organizer who traveled to participate, our co-hosts Burgerville Workers Union and New Seasons Labor Union, the FCWA Board of Directors and Growth & Learning Committee; Dr. Bronner’s for always sending the best products for our members, and of course, every FCWA member group represented:
Alianza Agrícola
Brandworkers
Burgerville Workers Union
California Institute for Rural Studies
Community to Community Development
Fair Work Center
Familias Unidas por la Justicia
Farmworker Association of Florida
Laundry Workers Center
Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights
New Seasons Labor Union
ROC-DC
Rural Community Workers Alliance
Trabajadores Unidos por la Justicia
UFCW Local 770
United for Respect
Venceremos
Workers Empowerment Community Network of LA
Warehouse Workers for Justice
Workers’ Center of Central New York
Worker Justice Center of New York