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NEWS & LETTERS, NOVEMBER 2003LA strikes defy grocers and MTALos Angeles--The workers of Ralphs (owned by Kroger), Vons (owned by Safeway), and Albertsons supermarkets are now on strike. United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) members went out on strike against Ralphs on Oct. 11. Albertsons and Safeway locked out their workers in retaliation. A key issue in the strike is that workers who are given only up to 23 hours of work per week want their retirement to continue to kick in after 30 years, instead of 40 as management demands. Workers also reject management’s demand for a $750 yearly increase in health care co-payments. Management wants workers to pay 50% of the cost of health care even after the co-payment increase goes into effect. Many residents of the community support the strikers. People are sounding their horns as they drive by. Local businesses have delivered pizza, tacos, and coffee to the strikers at a market in Eagle Rock. The County Federation of Labor has supported the strikers and is asking other unions to join in expressing solidarity. Teamster drivers are not crossing the picket lines, but the union is letting management drive the trucks to the dock—if they can get them in gear. The workers claim that Safeway’s CEO has transferred losses incurred in stores on the East Coast to those here on the West Coast. The CEO has stated he would be willing to lose $200 million rather than agree to workers’ demands--even though the entire cost of the benefits that the workers are asking for is only $73 million. We need your support for the strike. Please boycott all of these stores! --Marel * * * Everybody is on strike at Ralphs and Albertsons--from cashiers to meatpackers to stock people. Even the security guards have joined the strike. Most of the strikers at Albertsons are Latinos. They have so far been more active than others in organizing the strike, and they are raising slogans against the corporations. Workers are asking customers not to shop at Ralphs or Albertsons, but to go to another unionized supermarket. They are asking people not to cross the picket line, but they are not blocking the entrances. The store owners want new employees to be hired at a much lower pay scale, below the poverty level and far below what it costs to live in this area. Workers are concerned that the corporations want all unionized grocery stores and supermarkets to be like Wal-Mart--to be without unions. Most Wal-Mart workers are part-timers who do not have fringe benefits and work for lower wages. They can be terminated from their job any time that management wants. --Strike supporter * * * Transit workers' strike Los Angeles--The mechanics for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) had been working for 18 months without a contract before going on strike on Oct. 11. We had been waiting and waiting but nothing happened. Finally, the MTA made a proposal. They insisted that we pay for our own fringe benefits, which would cost about $270 more a month. The workers and the unions said no, we are not going to pay for our own benefits because our salaries are already so low. Many drivers are supporting the mechanics. The union has said that if the drivers cross our picket lines the union will fine each one $520. But that is not the main reason drivers aren’t crossing the picket lines. The main reason is that we as workers must be united. If management can do this to one group of workers today, they will do the same to the rest of us later. Another reason for the strike is that management wants to take control of our pension funds in order to invest the money and make profits from them. If management controls our pension funds, then they control us as workers. --MTA Mechanic, Los Angeles * * * We are not supposed to cross the picket line because it is against our commitment to each other as union members. As a driver it is going to mean that I’ll have to adjust my budget until the strike is over, but I am still not going to cross a picket line. As a bus driver, I see people all the time sleeping at bus stations, on bus-stop benches, or living in cardboard tents. The so-called democracy and freedom that we have is fake. One group of people cannot claim that they are free while another group is not free. --Black Bus Driver, Los Angeles |
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