San Franciscans Clash With U.K. Grocer Over Labor Practices, Job Creation
from In These Times:
San Franciscans Clash With U.K. Grocer Over Labor Practices, Job Creation
By R. M. Arrieta
SAN FRANCISCO—A British-owned grocery chain with a history of unfriendly labor relations in the United States is looking to open its doors in San Francisco’s Mission District. Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market plans to build on a site that used to host two local grocery stores.
But while the arrival of another source of fresh produce is a promising development, Fresh & Easy's past suggests it may bring labor struggles as well. Many local residents worry about the company's labor practics, and about the impact the store would have on small mom-and-pop grocery stores. There are eight such businesses within three blocks of the proposed Fresh & Easy site.
On Thursday, dozens of community members attended a San Francisco Planning Commission hearing where the food chain is applying for a conditional use permit.
“In communities that they have been in the last four years, they have not kept their promises. They are blocking employees from advocating for improvements. We’ve been hearing horror stories,” Oscar Grande told In These Times. Grande, who testified at the hearing and has spoken with workers in other stores about their treatment, is a community organizer at People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights (PODER). .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12915/fresh_easy_european_companies_and_u.s._labor_relations/
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We had a Fresh and Easy move into our neighborhood a few months ago, in an old supermarket site that had been vacant for some 7 years. Before their opening, we had only a few, small corner markets to shop at in the neighborhood -- to find a large supermarket, we had to drive over to another neighborhood entirely. And that market was a Safeway (which is Union) and far, far too expensive for me to ever shop at on a regular basis. As a working class person struggling to make it in a very expensive town, good food was becoming a luxury for me. 
With Fresh and Easy in the neighborhood I am eating better than I have in years, and I am doing it on a budget. It kills me to read these labor stories, but I have crossed the local picket line so I can eat well. I'm not proud of it, but there you are.
