Hale & Hearty Workers Vote in Union

WESTBURY, NY (10/21/2016)(readMedia)-- In a huge victory for working men and women in New York City, workers at Hale & Hearty's commissary in Brooklyn, N.Y. banded together and voted last night to unionize. The 56 workers overwhelmingly chose to be represented by New York's largest food workers union, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1500.

Donald Torres, who has worked at the Hale & Hearty factory for 2 years said, "We all feel that we deserved better. We want to have a voice and to build a better life working here."

Tony Speelman, President of the over 20,000 member UFCW Local 1500, said "I want to congratulate the hard working men and women at Hale & Hearty for joining us at Local 1500. Our entire union is proud of them and admires their courage. We look forward to building a relationship with Hale & Hearty, and working together to find ways to benefit workers and the company together."

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 represents over 20,000 men and women throughout New York State. Key goals for the union will be working with the company to enhance the lives of their newest members, provide them job security and secure a better level of benefits.

"By working together we will improve their lives and make Hale & Hearty into better and more successful company. This cannot be done alone, it will be a joint labor-management effort and we look forward to beginning that relationship. I think New Yorkers will be excited to know Hale & Hearty's delicious soups are now going to be union-made." Speelman concluded.

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We are over 22,000 workers standing together to build an economy that every hard-working family in New York deserves. Join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1500 at ufcw1500.org and follow us @ufcw1500.