Bay Ridge

Supermarket workers union endorses Recchia

May 13, 2014 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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Domenic Recchia has another endorsement in the bag.

Recchia, a former councilman trying to unseat embattled U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, has been endorsed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 1500, New York State’s largest grocery workers union.

Union leaders were singing Recchia’s praises. “As a New York City Council Member, Domenic Recchia had distinguished himself as a vocal and aggressive advocate for working families,” said UFCW Local 1500 President Bruce W. Both.

“We know that Domenic will fight alongside our thousands of union members, and bring respect for the working class back to the 11th District,” said Anthony Speelman, secretary-treasurer of UFCW Local 1500. “Our members will be out in force to make sure Staten Island and South Brooklyn communities get the representation they deserve.”

UFCW 1500 promotes progressive policies such as demanding Wal-Mart be held accountable for its business practices and supporting the expansion of supermarkets into underserved communities.

Other Issues of importance to Local 1500 members include demanding labor standards be attached to corporate subsidies and raising the federal minimum wage.

The local union represents over 23,000 members in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties and is based out of Westbury. Members of Local 1500 are employed by Pathmark, King Kullen, Stop and Shop, Gristedes, Fairway, D’Agostinos, Key Food and Shoprite.

Recchia, a Democrat, is attempting to unseat Grimm, a two-term Republican congressman who represents the 11th Congressional District, covering Staten Island, Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. The district also includes parts of Bensonhurst and Gravesend.

Grimm, a former FBI agent, was recently indicted for tax evasion, mail fraud and other charges stemming from alleged wrongdoing in a health food restaurant he owned on the Upper East Side before he ran for congress in 2010. The indictment charges that among other things, Grimm paid his workers in cash and did not report more than $1 million in revenue to the Internal Revenue Service.

Last week, Grimm appeared on Geraldo Rivera’s radio show, according to a report in the Staten Island Advance, vowed not only to fight the charges, but to win re-election in November.

 

 

 

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