UFCW Weekender 

UFCW Scholarship Now Available Each year the UFCW awards several scholarships of up to $8,000 each to UFCW members or their unmarried dependents. This year's scholarship application is now available. For deadline information and further details, go to: http://www.ufcw.org/scholarship/

Following is a brief roundup of important articles and information for your weekend reading:

• Union membership jumped significantly in 2008
  
  The percentage of American workers belonging to a union jumped in 2008, according to a recent article in the Washington Post.
  

• President Obama Signs Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
  
  President Obama signed equal pay into law on Thursday, making the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act the first bill to receive the new President’s signature.

• Southern unions hold steady amidst economic turmoil
  
  

  Union membership in Southern states held steady in 2008 amidst rising unemployment and a troubled economy, according to an analysis of government statistics released this week.

• President backs unions as path to middle-class prosperity 
  
  President Barack Obama signed a series of executive orders Friday that he said should "level the playing field" for labor unions in their struggles with management. Obama also used the occasion at the White House to announce formally a new White House task force on the problems of middle-class Americans. He named Vice President Joe Biden as its chairman. Read the UFCW's response at http://www.ufcw.org/press_room/index.cfm?pressReleaseID=417
  
  
  Make sure to leave your comments on the full story at Forbes.com.

• Bailout recipients host call against Employee Free Choice
  
  "Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority," according to the Huffington Post.
  
  Click to listen to the call.

This Week's Video
Click to listen to Joe Biden's address about the newly formed Middle Class Task Force:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/strongmiddleclass/

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"We need to level the playing field for workers and the unions that represent their interests, because we know that you cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement.  We know that strong, vibrant, growing unions can exist side by side with strong, vibrant and growing businesses.  This isn't a either/or proposition between the interests of workers and the interests of shareholders.  That's the old argument.  The new argument is that the American economy is not and has never been a zero-sum game.  When workers are prospering, they buy products that make businesses prosper.  We can be competitive and lean and mean and still create a situation where workers are thriving in this country."

-President Obama, January 30, 2008