The goal of the study was to examine and amplify UFCW LGBTQ+ worker experiences through an intersectional lens, taking into consideration the lived oppression of LGBTQ+ people while highlighting the role LGBTQ+ leaders and their allies play in advancing economic, racial, and gender justice within the labor movement. By examining how UFCW union leaders and members understand and engage in LGBTQ+ worker issues, we have developed concrete recommendations to address workers’ needs, develop and expand resources and tools, and highlight the power of union collective bargaining in advancing social justice. Research on the experiences of LGBTQ+ workers and allies within their unions is a relatively under explored field.We believe that this first-ever binational study focused on the experiences of UFCW members offers a significant contribution to the field by providing an analysis of contemporary LGBTQ+ worker issues and identity politics in the Canadian and US labor movements.This report highlights the experiences of LGBTQ+ workers employed in industries represented by the UFCW and its affiliates in the US and Canada. UFCW industries—including retail, groceries, drug, and department stores, food processing and meatpacking plants, and medical cannabis and health care centers—represent more than 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada,greenhouse growing racks including gig and migrant workers. We used a collaborative and participatory approach to research design.
UFCW OUT reach leaders and UCLA Labor Center researchers worked together to survey 1,004 union members and conduct 15 interviews with LGBTQ+ workers in diverse industries and regions across the United States and Canada. Surveys were conducted online in English, Spanish, and French.Among the six industry sectors, the majority of survey respondents and interview participants were employed in the grocery sector, followed by retail, with 17% of survey respondents and 14% of interview participants. Less than 10% worked in industry sectors like packing and processing, health care, hospitality, cannabis, finance, and security. UFCW OUT reach Executive Board members were actively engaged in interviewing survey respondents, whose voices are captured throughout this report. Because of the binational scope of this study, respondents were categorized into eight regions. Survey respondents from Canada represented one-third of the total sample size. A little less than one-fifth of respondents were from the Mid-Atlantic, Northwestern, and Western regions. One-tenth of survey respondents were from the Central and Midwestern regions. The Northeastern and South Central regions captured less than 5% of survey respondents. For the 15 interviewees, almost half were from the Mid-Atlantic region. Participants from the Canadian, Northeast, Midwest, Northwest, and Western regions constituted 10% of interviewees. The first section of this report examines the political participation and leadership of UFCW LGBTQ+ members on LGBTQ+ issues. The second section focuses on creating safe and inclusive workplace environments. The third section describes workers’ experiences with LGBTQ+ discrimination and inclusivity in UFCW industries.
When asked what they would change to improve the union and workplace climate for LGBTQ+ workers, the majority of respondents brought up the need to transform union policies and create a more inclusive union and workplace culture through education, training, and worker to-worker dialogue. We include pathways and priorities for future action within each section.Nearly a quarter of private sector workers in the United States do not have access to health insurance. Prior to the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act , an estimated 34% of low-income LGBTQ+ people were uninsured.Transgender people face particular inequities in access to care, including explicit exclusion of health insurance coverage for gender-affirming care. While the passage of the ACA has been a historic achievement in expanding access to care for low-income people, the Trump administration has actively worked to eradicate protections prohibiting health care discrimination against LGBTQ+ people.Unions play a critical role in fighting for affordable health care for workers and their families. Nine out of 10 union workers have access to affordable union-negotiated health care compared to two-thirds of nonunion workers. Union workers pay lower health insurance premiums—8% less for individual coverage and 15% less for family coverage.UFCW OUT reach has been a strong advocate in the area of transgender inclusion in health care. In Canada, UFCW collaborated on an exploratory landscape analysis in 2014 to determine which provinces provided for publicly funded gender-affirming medical care, and worked with advocacy groups, medical community experts, and grassroots activists to press for ongoing improvements in gender-affirming medical care across the country. While many more improvements need to be made, some publicly funded gender-affirming health care now exists throughout Canada.
In the United States, many UFCW health funds that are jointly administered with management trustees have eliminated the exclusion of gender-affirming health care. From California to Pennsylvania and many places in between, health plans have been made more inclusive. In 2015, UFCW OUT reach provided testimony to the Department of Health and Human Services to include regulations in the ACA to ensure protections for transgender and gender-nonconforming people. As these protections continue to face attacks especially in the United States, UFCW International passed its own resolution to safeguard health care for the union’s members. In 2018, Resolution 11 made a public commitment to eradicate these forms of targeted health care exclusions and to defend the health rights of transgender and gender-nonconforming people. This past year,vertical hydroponic garden when the Trump Administration announced the proposed elimination of transgender inclusion in Section 1557 of the ACA, OUT reach once again provided testimony opposing such action. Union leadership on issues of health and health care is a priority for many LGBTQ+ workers. One Canadian grocery worker emphasized that it is crucial for the union to address “intersecting points [when] figuring out how to protect workers.” As a trans woman with a physical disability, she went on to describe some of the intersections for LGBTQ+ and disability rights: “We’ve got actually quite a few people with mental health issues. We’ve got a few people with physical disabilities—none as major as mine, but if you’re trying to deal with a shoulder that gives you problems, that’s still a big thing in a grocery store. I’d love to see the union start looking at those intersections.” Union-led educational campaigns can help ensure that LGBTQ+ people and benefits departments understand their legal and contractual rights and can access additional information. As one transmasculine worker in the Mid-Atlantic shared, “If I wanted to transition in the workplace, how would I go about doing that? Are there any resources that I can look to, to see what my protections are? Where there aren’t protections even? Because there’s a lot of state, federal, county, and city level stuff that changes a lot, and a lot of people aren’t protected in a lot of ways. So what are the protections by the law? What are the protections in the contract?…. It’s just sort of a blank.” A trans man in California explained how the union benefits department had been helpful when looking for a gender-affirming health care provider: “For me, being transgender, I am grateful for the support, and I’m grateful that they gave me resources. And the health department showed me places where I could go that would be LGBT friendly.” Eliminating barriers so that all members are informed about their protections and benefits is important for the well-being of LGBTQ+ people and their families. LGBTQ+ workers have been historically excluded from family-related health benefits, including health insurance benefits for family members and family medical leave that have been designed for legally recognized family structures. The majority of LGBTQINB+ participants said they had not accessed health insurance for a family member or benefited from family medical leave. Fewer LGBTQINB+ participants had applied for these benefits than those who were not-LGBTQINB+.
The findings related to family medical leave were particularly striking: One in two non-LGBTQ+ participants had applied for and received family medical leave, compared to only 1 in 5 LGBTQINB+ people. Understanding if and why LGBTQ+ people do not equitably benefit from these forms of compensation may be an important area for further research and action.Even when nondiscrimination policies are in place, workers need tools and effective pathways to respond to bias and seek remedies without retaliation. Only 41% who had observed anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes, harassment, or discrimination in the workplace in the past five years had reported it to management, about 29% had talked to their union representative, 8% had filed a formal grievance, and 7% reported it to the company ethics hotline. While hotlines and formal grievance processes are crucial resources, many workers may not know the problems are actionable or if these resources are safe for addressing LGBTQ+ mistreatment.Coworker solidarity and allyship can play an important role in the process of changing attitudes, intervening in harassment, and formulating responses to discrimination. Sixty-six percent of those we surveyed said they had talked to their coworkers about observing or experiencing LGBTQ+ mistreatment. Training and education can help members, and especially shop stewards and union staff, to identify when anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination happens and respond appropriately. LGBTQ+ members had used a range of strategies to directly address discrimination or harassment in the workplace. A grocery worker in the Northwest shared that she let her manager know when his comments about her physical appearance were making her uncomfortable. She also went to his manager to discuss the problem which solved the problem: “He hasn’t really said two words to me since!” A Mid-Atlantic deli worker and shop steward said when she saw bias or discrimination, she took it up with the department managers, human resource staff, and even the store director to “squash the issue.” While these workers addressed these issues themselves, being able to rely on the union to step in and take action provides protection against backlash or retaliation.Most people have not had the opportunity to learn about the history of LGBTQ+ activism and its intersections with the contemporary labor movement. It was clear from our survey that some members do not understand or significantly underestimate the need for the union to pursue LGBTQ+ equity efforts and demonstrate political solidarity. UFCW OUT reach has developed and championed workplace training programs to address gaps in awareness about LGBTQ+ social justice struggles and reduce workplace discrimination and harassment. About a third of survey participants had received training in their current workplace that included LGBTQ+ content. Most training was provided by the union or the employer, with some by an outside organization.Union-led workplace training can help ensure that workers understand existing LGBTQ+ protections included in their CBAs and options for engaging the union in response to anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and harassment. Training can also shift values and attitudes about protecting LGBTQ+ rights. Survey participants who had received training were more informed about LGBTQ+ protections in their CBAs and supportive of using CBAs to secure those protections. Those participants also demonstrated greater awareness and responsiveness to anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in the workplace and were more likely to talk with their union representatives when they saw or experienced antiLGBTQ+ discrimination.LGBTQ+ workers highlighted the need for training and education as a priority, and some provided examples of how training recommendations were incorporated at their workplaces and union meetings. For example, one Canadian retail worker shared that they had seen the following practices incorporated at their worksite: “Pronouns included on name tags and in email signatures; gender-neutral restrooms; a diversity training for all staff; and signage alerting customers and staff to use gender-neutral language if they are unsure of someone’s identity.” A Canadian health care worker spoke to the power of union-sponsored LGBTQ+ training, saying that it had been one of the single most important factors in creating a shift in culture and ensuring everyone understood that there are “consequences to your actions.” Not only did she witness a shift in culture, but she expressed feeling “thankful and grateful that they have taken up this cause,” allowing her to be more vocal about LGBTQ+ issues at work.Survey respondents and interviewees voiced their support for workplace training as a strategy to improve the workplace environment. However, LGBTQ+ workers emphasized that the content and how it was delivered should be an important consideration.