For Immediate Release                                                        

Retail workers at citywide chain win first union contract as result of campaign by Make the Road by Walking and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW 

Nearly 100 workers at Footco/New York Sneakers, the 10-store sneaker and apparel chain, have won a three-year contract as a result of Despierta Bushwick! (Awake Up, Bushwick!), a campaign conducted by Make the Road by Walking, its Workers in Action Project, and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW.  The community-labor partnership spearheading this campaign is an innovative model for organizing drives the RWDSU is conducting throughout the city. 

Footco workers ratified the contract that provides significant wage hikes, health care coverage, a prescription plan, paid vacation and sick days and more on January 22. 

The contract also covers workers at Footco stores in the East New York section of Brooklyn, Jamaica and Jackson Heights in Queens, the South Bronx and mid-town Manhattan.

WHO:

Make the Road by Walking, its Workers in Action Project, and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW, and its Retail Organizing Campaign.

Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez

WHAT:

Press Conference

WHERE:

Make the Road by Walking, 31 Grove Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Take M or L  train to Myrtle/Wyckoff)

WHEN:

Wednesday, February 8, 2006, 11 a.m. 

WHY:

First contract victory for the Despierta Bushwick! campaign at Footco/New York Sneakers stores located in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, and Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx.             

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW  represents workers throughout the U.S. and Canada, including approximately 45,000 workers in New York. . 

EDITOR’S NOTE:  EXCELLENT PHOTO OPPORTUNITY.