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<\/p>\nIn recent years, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324 members have rallied outside of grocery stores, Kaiser Permanente hospitals and Disneyland in contract fights.<\/p>\n
But following the unexpected, tragic death of former union president Andrea Zinder from a heart attack last year, a march and rally assembled outside of the local\u2019s own Buena Park office over its future leadership.<\/p>\n
On Feb. 4, the union\u2019s executive board elected Jose Perez, who began his career as a Ralphs courtesy clerk, to a three-year term as president.<\/p>\n
Concerned about the vote and the direction the union has headed since, dozens of members protested in Buena Park on Wednesday afternoon before a general membership meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cBackroom negotiations took place and that\u2019s when things began to change,\u201d said Matt Walters, a shop steward at a Pavilions grocery store in Irvine and an e-board member. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to get an election. That\u2019s the only fair way to have the future of our union and our leaders selected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walters and Rachel Rosen, a fellow e-board member, issued a public statement after the election and reported that the e-board voted 8-7 in favor of Perez, with one voting member absent. <\/p>\n
A petition circulated at the protest and called for a general election among the union\u2019s 22,000 members to determine president and officer posts.<\/p>\n
\u201cUFCW 324 conducted the presidential election pursuant to our local union\u2019s bylaws and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union stands behind the election and Jose Perez as president,\u201d read an official statement from the union. \u201cWe know Jose Perez will fight firmly, passionately, and relentlessly for every single one of our members.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Workers protesting UFCW 329\u2019s new president encountered a counter-protest by his supporters.<\/p>\n
(James Carbone)<\/p>\n
After Zinder\u2019s death, the executive board originally voted to have Secretary-Treasurer Matt Bell finish her term as president. <\/p>\n
But after Perez became president for the current term, Walters and Rosen\u2019s statement claimed that Perez said he was going to turn the local \u201cupside down\u201d while firing reps and staff. <\/p>\n
Since the vote, Walters said Bell was suspended. <\/p>\n
The union also parted ways with political director Derek Smith, whose position was eliminated, and Sylvia Salda\u00f1a, a union representative.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a lot of concerns because Salda\u00f1a was a fantastic rep,\u201d said Rosen, who is also a shop steward at a Stater Bros. in Garden Grove. \u201cWe\u2019ve never taken a strike vote, but in this last contract, we did. The company fired 65 courtesy clerks and she organized the first rally we ever had at one of our stores.\u201d<\/p>\n
As workers marched and chanted \u201cone member, one vote,\u201d Perez supporters launched a counter protest.<\/p>\n
Merlin Ascencio, a Ralphs grocery worker in Whittier, held a banner in support of Perez.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to fight for our rights,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s very honest and humble. We have known him for years. He\u2019s the right person to run the union. Many things need change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pro-Perez supporters chanted \u201cS\u00ed, se puede\u201d along with his name while noisily ringing cow bells.<\/p>\n
The dueling protests continued until it was time to file into the general membership meeting, which was not open to the public or press. <\/p>\n
![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773433448_753_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
President Jose Perez\u2019s supporters organized a smaller demonstration<\/p>\n
(James Carbone)<\/p>\n
According to people in attendance, Perez walked back the cancellation of a labor studies class offered at the union hall and promised it would resume next semester. <\/p>\n
He also confirmed a change in how the union runs its political program, including candidate endorsements, a move that could have ramifications across Southern California in an election year. <\/p>\n
With Smith\u2019s position eliminated, the program would run through the Los Angeles County Labor Federation, the Orange County Labor Federation and the UFCW Western States Council.<\/p>\n
In the past, Walters said that any rank-and-file member interested could interview candidates and vote on endorsements. The union has no plans to change that part of the political committee\u2019s process.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, members upset with how the union elects its own leaders are pushing for general election reform. <\/p>\n
\u201cMembers did not have the opportunity to get to decide who they wanted to lead,\u201d Walters argued. \u201cEveryone should have a voice, not just people that get to be on the e-board.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In recent years, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324 members have rallied outside of grocery stores, Kaiser…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,204,2623,100155,100156,2324,100161,100160,6283,2058,100157,7585,100158,2328,100159,4486],"class_list":["post-218576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-election","tag-grocery-store","tag-jose-perez","tag-matt-walters","tag-member","tag-new-union-president","tag-own-buena-park-office","tag-president","tag-protest","tag-rachel-rosen","tag-term","tag-ufcw-local","tag-union","tag-united-food","tag-vote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}