Planned Parenthood in Kalamazoo Votes to Unionize with UFCW 951

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 951 announced today workers at Planned Parenthood – Kalamazoo Health Center in Kalamazoo, MI recently voted in favor of UFCW 951 representation.

“The workers at Planned Parenthood – Kalamazoo Health Center made their voices heard with this vote, and we are very happy to welcome them as members of UFCW 951,” John Cakmakci, UFCW 951 president, said. “We look forward to bargaining a contract that will give them the guarantees and protections in the workplace they desire and deserve.”

Workers at the health center see UFCW 951 union representation as a step in the right direction when it comes to a lasting career in an industry. All the workers at the health center signed up to join the union and a committee will soon start to bargain their first contract.

“I was happy to have a hand in organizing our clinic and to put my ‘yes’ vote in the ballot box for representation with the UFCW,” Deedee Rounds, medical assistant at Kalamazoo Planned Parenthood, said. “My personal motivation was to strengthen the position of working-class people in my workplace. Without working people, the crops don’t grow, the trains don’t run, and in this instance, the clinics don’t open.”

Planned Parenthood – Kalamazoo Health Center is the first Planned Parenthood site in West Michigan to authorize union representation.

UFCW 951 is a progressive labor union representing nearly 30,000 workers across Michigan in a variety of industries including grocery, retail, food processing, pharmacy, and cannabis, who are employed at a variety of companies including Meijer, Kroger, Rite Aid, JBS, JLL, Sunberry Beverages, Polly’s, Harding’s, and Grandville Roasting & Packaging Plant. The UFCW is the largest private sector union in the United States representing over 1.3 million UFCW members nationwide and UFCW 951 is the largest private sector union in Michigan.

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