Union? YES! Support the grocery strikers!

[blondeatlast]

https://secure.ga3.org/08/holdtheline/

This strike has consequences for all of us. Safeway is proposing NO health care benefits for new employees and reduced benefits for current employees--a dangerous precedent.

Thanks, gang--this is for all of us.

[Lefty48197]

1. Support the strikers

They are fighting for better wages and benefits for themselves and their families.
As Democrats, we owe it to ourselves to support people that fight FOR these goals. The other option is to fight AGAINST better wages and benefits, and if we did that, well then we'd be Republicans.

[Ernesto]

9. NO, not exactly

The grocery workers are fighting wage & benefit CUTS. They want to stick it out in the "middle class" They do not want to be "Walmart-ized". Try the SacBee.com for todays indepth story. (sorry, no link)

[Melsky]

2. I've never crossed a picket line

and never will!

[JanMichael]

3. Solid!

Unions are about all the rest of have left as an alternative to living as a wage slave with no fucking HC or Pension!

[pmbryant]

4. Thanks for this link!

I was wondering how, living in Texas, I could support the Southern California grocery workers. Now I know how. ;-)

I've been using the "Union Yes" avatar for a while now in honor of them, but this is a much more concrete way to support them.

Thanks!
Peter

[rucky]

5. Food 4 Less Good...

Whole Foods BAD
Trader Joe's is fine
Albertsons/Vons/Ralph's/Safeway BAD

just a reminder, until we get a settlement.

edit: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/holdtheline

[Emboldened Chimp]

6. Whole Foods bad?

I've discovered WF thanks to the strike. It's my new favorite place. What's wrong with it?

[rucky]

7. Their corporate culture has changed recently...

here's the scoop from one worker-activist website, endorsed by UFCW

http://www.wholeworkersunite.org

[Eloriel]

8. You bet it's for all of us

We need to see Unions not just supported but strengthened. And we definitely need to support these strikers.

Thanks!

Eloriel

[neuvocat]

10. Same here.

And if you REALLY need to go shopping, do your best to go to the smaller mom-and-pop type stores in the meantime. They could use the business fer sure.

[slackmaster]

11. I support the strikers all the way

I've never been a union member but this case needs to be a line in the sand. If the corporations manage to bust this union and start treating their workers like Wal-Mart it won't be long before high-tech workers and everyone else is facing the same fight.

[pmbryant]

12. High-tech workers are already without unions

Or am I missing something?

:shrug:

:scared:

--Peter

[knight_of_the_star]

13. Sets bad precedent

If corporations can run roughshod over union laborers, what will stop them from doing so to people who are "protected" by their degrees?

[pmbryant]

14. High-tech workers are not protected by degrees

More and more of these jobs are being shipped to India every day, from what I hear. And there are no unions in place to fight this, unfortunately. I hope this changes.

Degrees don't help protect jobs one bit.

--Peter

[onebigbadwulf]

15. Exactly

Vons and Albertson's instantly locked out their employees along with Ralph's. What does this mean?

If grocery stores continue to profit with locked out employees,

it will encourage EVERY company whose employees are thinking about strike to lock them out , put them out of work, and permanently hire scabs.

And it works so effectively too with an unemployment rate as high as this one.

[pmbryant]

18. This is the better explanation

This is about union-busting, plain and simple. It cannot be allowed to work, or unionized workers (and non-unionized workers in the same professions) all over this country will be in for a very rude awakening.

--Peter

[slackmaster]

20. That's right - But if they can bust the unions they can bust us too

More and more of OUR jobs are getting shipped to low-paid workers overseas - Countries like India and Ireland.

I am fairly secure in my job, but the health care cost crisis is going to hit us sooner or later.

[pmbryant]

23. I hope you don't feel more secure than the union workers

Because you are not. I should say, 'because we are not', as I am a high-tech worker as well.

Without a union protecting us, we are at the mercy of your employers. They can decided to "bust" us whenever they want to and there won't be anything we can do about it. At least the grocery workers have a fighting chance.

That is why this fight is so important. If those who have a fighting chance still get screwed, where else do we turn?

--Peter

[Cleita]

16. So really what is going on?

I went into Ralph's today because they announced that the lockout was over for them. When I got to the store, there were no pickets, so I went in and did some shopping. I did not recognize a single clerk, and the new ones weren't very efficient. The delicatessen, bakery, and fish departments were empty and closed. Are the union workers still staying out in solidarity? Because if they are then I won't shop there until this whole thing is over with.

[pmbryant]

19. Picket lines were re-deployed. Ralph's workers are still locked out.

Here is a story that explains what is going on:


(EDIT: Changed subject line from 'Still on strike' to 'still locked out' for accuracy.)

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-super3nov03,1,5578653.story?coll=la-home-todays-times

Ralphs Sees Crush of Customers
Shoppers stream into stores over the weekend after grocery workers' union redeploys pickets.

By Denise Gellene
Times Staff Writer
November 3, 2003

It was more of the same for Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs stores on Sunday.

For Ralphs, that was a good thing.

Customers have been streaming into the Southland's largest chain since Friday, when the grocery workers' union pulled pickets and redeployed them to bolster lines at Vons and Albertsons markets.

(snip)

The pickets were withdrawn from Ralphs stores and consolidated at the two remaining chains because the union said it wanted to give increasingly frustrated consumers another place to shop. The three chains, which have agreed to stand firm and bargain jointly, said the union was out to divide them.

(snip)

--Peter

[slackmaster]

21. Ralph's and Albertsons ended the lock-out

Von's workers are still on strike.

[pmbryant]

22. I don't think that's right

That's not what the LA Times article I cited above says. Did this just happen today? I can't find anything about this at the LA Times site other than the article I already provided (post #19).

:shrug:

--Peter

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

17. I will not shop at Safeway until the union gives the go ahead

Solidarity works