Fall 2026 Meeting Recap

The Joint Labor Management Committee of the Retail Food industry (JLMC) held our fall Trustee and General Membership Meetings on October 14th and 15th in Phoenix, AZ.

At our meetings, we bring our Trustees and members together with industry experts to discuss issues in the retail grocery industry and benefit issues in multiemployer trust funds that we are all concerned about. Our goal is to provide a forum for the discussion of these important issues.

At the fall meeting, members heard from recognized experts on a variety of topics, including:

• A panel discussion on news and trends in the prescription drug benefits market moderated by JLMC Trustee and UFCW International Vice President and National Bargaining Director Bryan Wynn that featured Eileen Pincay and Nathan Matthews from Segal.
• A discussion about federal legislation and regulatory oversight of employee benefits from the JLMC’s legal counsel, Paul Esposito of Slevin & Hart.
• An overview of the latest trends and best practices in benefits communications from Josh Meyer of Segal.
• A discussion on ways to improve outcomes when dealing with the independent dispute resolution process established through the No Surprises Act by Matt Davis of Green Light.
• An analysis of what benefit funds can expect from the National Labor Relations Board under its current leadership by Ryan Funk of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath.
• An update on the state of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) from Javier Ramirez of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and Beth Schindler from the FMCS.

In addition to these discussions, the Trustees received an update on the Tuition Award Program.

The JLMC holds two meetings each year over the course of two days for each meeting—one in the spring and one in the fall.

See photos from our fall meeting in Phoenix below.