Childcare Grant Open House

Need help paying for quality childcare and day camp? The Child Care Facilitated Enrollment Project helps working and moderate-income families in New York City’s five boroughs qualify for subsidized child care and day camp for children up to age 13. Families must live or work in New York City and each parent in the household must work at least 20 hours per week.

Come to Local 3’s open house with questions or to apply: February 26 & March 6 | 11 AM - 5:30 P @Bloomingdale’s, 10th Floor. More info on the flyer below!

Local 3 Celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

This month, Americans everywhere salute the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), Dr. King's legacy has special meaning. We take special pride that, in 1968, the RWDSU was the first union anywhere to negotiate a contract guaranteeing Dr. King's birthday as a paid holiday.

Dr. King saw the Civil Rights struggle and the labor movement as closely linked.  He was a constant ally of union activists and most have forgotten that Dr. King was in Tennessee to support a Living Wage for Sanitation Strikers on that terrible April day in 1968 when he was slain at the age of 39.

"Our needs are identical with Labor's needs: decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, and health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community. That is why negroes support Labor's demands and fight laws which curb Labor. That is why the Labor-hater and the Labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature spewing anti-negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth," Dr. King said in a speech in 1961.

In reflecting on the life and work of Dr. King, the RWDSU recognizes the fight he began is not over until equality for all is a reality, and it is up to our generation of RWDSU members to complete his mission.

Local 3 Office Is Moving!

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

On July 11th, the Local 3 Union office will be relocating to the RWDSU offices at 370 7th Avenue, 14th floor. Please be aware that Union business will be interrupted from Thursday, July 11th to Friday, July 12th. We will resume normal operation on Monday, July 15th, 2024. 

Fraternally, 

Shaun Kavanagh, President

James Eisenberg, Secretary-Treasurer

TAKE ACTION: Urge Governor Hochul to Sign the Retail Worker Safety Act Into Law

Our safety has no price tag! The Retail Worker Safety Act passed the New York state legislature this session, and now Governor Hochul has the chance to enact common-sense safety protections for retail workers and the customers we serve. This urgently needed law would mandate preventative safety provisions, by requiring corporate retail employers to adopt a violence prevention plan, train workers in de-escalation and active shooters procedures, and install life-saving panic buttons throughout workplaces for those large employers meeting the threshold.

Email Governor Hochul TODAY and urge her to sign the Retail Worker Safety Act into law: https://bit.ly/RWSAFETY

Local 3 Celebrates Juneteenth

Every year on June 19, we celebrate the end of slavery here in the U.S. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when the last group of people enslaved in the southern U.S. were informed of their freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation. Local 3 wishes all our members a Happy Juneteenth and reconfirms our commitment to fighting for racial justice on the job!

Local 3 Celebrates Pride Month

This June, RWDSU Local 3 is proud to celebrate Pride Month. In a time when LGBTQIA+ rights are under attack, we reaffirm our union’s commitment to fighting for queer rights. We take seriously the labor movement saying that “an injury to one is an injury to all.” We hope all the LGBTQIA+ members of our RWDSU Local 3 union family have a happy and safe Pride celebration this month!