Richard Olson
United Food & Commercial Workers Intl
Silver Spring, Maryland
R. Dennis Olson works for the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, advising the director of the meatpacking division on food, agriculture and trade policies.
He represents UFCW on the National Campaign Committee for the Center for Good Food Purchasing, and supports local coalitions working to implement GFPP.
He represented International Food Workers Union (IUF) through the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) of the United Nation’s Committee for Food Security (CFS). He advocated for measures to protect the human rights of migrant workers; address threats posed to food workers by antibiotic resistant bacteria; curtail buyer power abuse in global food supply chains; and reduce agricultural commodity price volatility.
Olson led UFCW engagement in the historic 2010 USDA-Justice Department investigation into whether more antitrust enforcement was needed in agricultural markets. He co-authored a UFCW report, Ending Walmart’s Rural Stranglehold, subsequently published a chapter titled, Lessons from the Food System: The Rise of Walmart’s Buyer Power, in the book, The Global Food System: Issues and Solutions, reflecting on this unprecedented antitrust initiative.
Olson supported efforts by UFCW Local 75 in Cincinnati to launch the Our Harvest Co-op farm and food hub, a worker-owned cooperative with a union. He currently represents UFCW on the Union Committee of the US Federation of Worker-Owned Co-ops.
Olson worked at the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy (IATP) leading initiatives on the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture, NAFTA and other Free Trade Agreements. He published a chapter. Hard Red Spring Wheat at a Genetic Crossroad, in the book, Controversies in Science & Technology.
Olson worked for seventeen years organizing farmers, ranchers and other conservationists to address food, farm, trade and mineral extraction issues on the northern Great Plains and in the Mountain West.
He represents UFCW on the National Campaign Committee for the Center for Good Food Purchasing, and supports local coalitions working to implement GFPP.
He represented International Food Workers Union (IUF) through the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) of the United Nation’s Committee for Food Security (CFS). He advocated for measures to protect the human rights of migrant workers; address threats posed to food workers by antibiotic resistant bacteria; curtail buyer power abuse in global food supply chains; and reduce agricultural commodity price volatility.
Olson led UFCW engagement in the historic 2010 USDA-Justice Department investigation into whether more antitrust enforcement was needed in agricultural markets. He co-authored a UFCW report, Ending Walmart’s Rural Stranglehold, subsequently published a chapter titled, Lessons from the Food System: The Rise of Walmart’s Buyer Power, in the book, The Global Food System: Issues and Solutions, reflecting on this unprecedented antitrust initiative.
Olson supported efforts by UFCW Local 75 in Cincinnati to launch the Our Harvest Co-op farm and food hub, a worker-owned cooperative with a union. He currently represents UFCW on the Union Committee of the US Federation of Worker-Owned Co-ops.
Olson worked at the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy (IATP) leading initiatives on the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture, NAFTA and other Free Trade Agreements. He published a chapter. Hard Red Spring Wheat at a Genetic Crossroad, in the book, Controversies in Science & Technology.
Olson worked for seventeen years organizing farmers, ranchers and other conservationists to address food, farm, trade and mineral extraction issues on the northern Great Plains and in the Mountain West.
Rights
Fairness
Transparency
Public
Agroecology