SoCal DUers - How to Support UFCW Strike

I've been wondering exactly how I can best express my support for those supermarket workers fighting to kee their health benefits.

Obviously, stop shopping at Ralph's/Pavilions/etc.

Wave and honk when you pass picketers.

Local 770 of UFCW has a Web site with an address to mail donations to the strike fund:

http://www.ufcw770.org/SUPPORT.htm

None of the other locals I can find online seem to have this.


Ralph's has a Web site for customer comments:

http://www.ralphs.com/contactus.htm

Any other ideas? A SoCal DU fund raiser, maybe?

vote 'yes' in this poll
http://www.1031kdl.com/

Do you support the supermarket strike?


no 57.84%


yes 42.16%

this afternoon ...

the DJ was relating about being in Ralphs and that they were hiring people before the ink dried on the application; and, if you are 'for management', to get down there and apply for a job

based on the website schedule, the DJ should be Chris Elliot 3-7 p.m.

I'm shocked.

I emailed the radio station to complain; copied several UFCW locals

http://www.1031kdl.com/

love the music ... they're losing me w/the overt politics



corporate office
3450 Wilshire Blvd. #820
Los Angeles, CA 90010

213.251.1011

Here are a few ideas that could be of help.

1). Be sure to honk and wave whenever you pass the line. It really does help boost morale.

2). Contact the company offices and inform them in no uncertain terms that you will not shop in their stores until this is resolved. Get all your friends, neighbors and all the DU'ers in the area to do so. Nothing makes a point like an angry customer.

3). Write to the local newspaper or get on their online discussion boards and back the workers with some comments.

4). Drop off a box of donuts or cokes at the line if you can. The Fire House near my store has been Super in seeing that we have donuts. The Police Dept brought Pizza one evening. City work trucks go by honking, bus drivers give a thumbs up! Customers bring cupcakes! It's truely amazing.

5). Write your elected officials and ask them to get the parties together to get this over with. Your state is losing tax money from lower sales taxes and withholding. Every state is in a budget crunch so those tax dollars are important.

6). Vote in every web poll that you come across to support the workers.

7). Contributions to the local's strike fund I am certain would be appreciated. I am sure they are listed in the phone books there.

This strike is about hanging onto what the workers have, not being greedy. The chains have decided that they can pay lip service to customer service and lock out their fully trained workforce, replacing them with people off the street that have trouble finding the stores much less getting anything done in them. Grocecy workers do work hard everyday to take care of their customers (when the company allows that to happen) and try to have a little of the American Dream.

Thanks on all our behalf,

Tonight I spent some time talking with the picketers in front of my local Vons. I will NEVER shop at Vons again unless they treat the workers fairly. I will NEVER cross a picket line. The supermarkets refuse to negotiate. There are lots of other stores…..local smaller markets, Rite Aid…..a lot of alternatives. There is no excuse to cross the picket lines.

The picketers are getting discouraged and could sure use our support. They NEED us.
We've got to get on this NOW. Thanksgiving is coming. Christmas is coming.
‘Tis the season for big bucks for Vons, Ralphs, Albertsons, Safeway.

We, the shoppers, hold the power. Let's put our heads together....write those letters, get some ideas and help these people. Ideas....more ideas. Help. It's google time! :)

The BFEE loves to bust unions....we can't let them get away with this one. We must draw the line.


We must get a letter writing campaign going. NOW.
I got some information from the picketers tonight to get started on.

A handout they gave me had the salaries of the supermarket CEOS for the last year……OBSCENE!

A focal point for us….the consumers……..Steve Burd, CEO of Safeway. I’ll be doing more research on him and on the board of directors of Safeway. He’s an evil man.



Verbatim from one of the handouts:


UFCW
Corporate Greed vs. Human Need.

Talking points for striking/locked out UFCW members when speaking to the media.

-We're not asking for more...we just want our current health care benefits.

-The companies' profits are 91% higher than four years ago. They don't have to cut our benefits. It's just a matter of greed. (Combined operating profits have increased from $5.1 billion to $9.7 billion from 1998 through 2002.)

-Over the past 10 years, the companies' profits have risen 10 times faster than the employers' contribution for worker health benefits. (From 1993 to 2003, the employers' hourly contribution for worker health care increased 28 percent while corporate profits went up 271 percent.)

-The companies want to shift a billion dollars in health care costs to us. They say they only want us to pay $5 to $15 per week for our coverage—but under their proposal, our coverage would be cut 50%. New hires would effectively not have any real health care protection at all.

-We are fighting to save affordable health insurance for all workers—union and non-union, current and future grocery workers, everywhere in America. If these supersized, super-profitable supermarket giants can cut our health benefits, all workers are at risk.

-If our employers win, all of Southern California loses. These companies would drain over $700million a year from this area—when they cut health care for workers, they rip off California. (For every dollar they cut in our health care benefits, they take $2.08 our of the Southern California economy.)

not that I am going to shop there anyway because I thought their lockout of workers really stunk but I see alot of people are shopping there again. :shrug:

THE DISPUTE: 70,000 grocery workers at 859 stores in Southern and Central California have been on the picket lines since Oct. 11. Vons, owned by Safeway Inc., was the target of the strike by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. But Kroger Co., owner of Ralphs, and Albertsons Inc., whose stores are covered by the same contract, locked out their employees, saying they considered a strike against one as a strike against all. The Teamsters union, which represents warehouse workers and tractor-trailer drivers, is honoring the picket lines. No new negotiations are scheduled.

KEY ISSUES:

* Health care: The companies want current employees to pay part of their health insurance premiums. The union says the proposed agreement would raise fees for doctor visits and prescriptions substantially. The markets dispute this.

* Wages: Management wants to freeze wages. The union seeks pay increases of 50 cents an hour the first year and 45 cents for each of the following two years. Clerks and stockers currently earn up to $17.90 an hour, and most don't work full-time.

Two-tier system: The companies propose a substantially lower wage and benefit package for newly hired employees

....I've noticed (duh) that the "general discussion" forum gets a lot more readers and responders than this one. (See how astoundingly "brilliant" I am?) :silly:

Is this topic one that could somehow be posted to that forum as well?
Since time is of the essence....the more help the better in the next couple of weeks.

Whatchoo all think?