Grocery Strike Talks Collapse

If even part of the way you make your living is from physical labor you should be wearing a bulleye on your back. These corporatists won't be happy in the US till they get their labor costs to the level that slaves work at.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=4026770

Grocery Strike Talks Collapse Shortly After Resumed
Sat December 20, 2003 03:13 PM ET

By Andrew Morse

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Talks between supermarket chains and striking employees collapsed shortly after they resumed late Friday as store owners rejected labor's first broad proposal to end a 10-week-old dispute that has idled 70,000 California workers.

Owners balked at a proposal by the United Food & Commercial Workers International union that would have cut employer funding of worker benefits by between $350 million and $500 million over a three-year contract.

Safeway Inc., Albertsons Inc. and Kroger Co., the chains affected by the strike, had been looking for about $1 billion in cuts.

Though storeowners acknowledged in a statement that the proposal constituted the "first comprehensive contract proposal since the strike began," they left the 12-hour session without making a counteroffer, exasperating union officials.
(snip)

If I didn't like what I was getting paid at my job I would quit and get another job. Grocery clerks and box boys? Truck loaders and unloaders? Gimme a break. These are jobs anyone can do. Who would want to make loading trucks and stocking shelves a life-long career. These are entry level jobs for the kids. If one wants to earn better wages and increase their standards of living then it should be their own responsibility to get more education and earn a better job OR create their own job by starting their own businesses.

Acting like these kind of jobs are 'the end of the road' thing is just plain silly because as these strikers are picketing the stores are still open and the shelves are still stocked which means there are people WILLING to do those jobs for what they are being offered.

Just plain silly.

I mentioned that the store was hot, and he wanted ME to talk to management because management wouldn't turn the heat down since he was just an employee. Having to beg the customers to represent him with management! Imagine that! Totally clueless.

management will listen to a customer complaint and will often dismiss an employee complaint.

Just the facts! And it's been that way for a long time.

and he literally stated, "well, I've got mine so I'm not worried"!!!
Total dittohead. :crazy:

Underlying this propaganda is "Kill all unions and make the masses work at slave labor wages so that the capitalists can prosper".

First, these are people who are being asked to take CUTS in their benefits. And while you may have the liberty to find another job, not everyone does. Some of these are cashiers who have been working registers for decades, some are older, some couldn't begin to start their own businesses.

As for who is keeping the stores open--managers have flown in from all over the country to do the work; the companies are paying to break the unions. You are seeing the Walmartization of the grocery business---low skilled workers will take what they can get and shut up. Too bad for them, huh? And if their wages don't allow them to get further education--hey, they should have thought of that before being poor, I guess. :eyes:

I lived homeless on the streets of Seattle for several years. I finally got off my ass to get one of those 'slave' jobs to pay for a roof over my head. I'm currently working my way through college using Pell grants, scholarships and etc. within the system. I'm working on my education because I want to own my own business someday. Don't give me this crap about how it can't be done and the poor have no alternatives other than being poor.

Besides, nobody is forced to work at any job. We are allowed to choose who we work for.

You have someone else's money to pay for your education! And if you can do it, why, everybody can, huh? there's just so much money out there....

through their tax dollars and you have the nerve to spit at them. Stores rely on low turnover to function efficiently. It's nice to go into a store and have someone know where things are and enforce store policies consistently. Young kids are soooooo unreliable.

Not everyone is smart enough to go to college.

But it is in error. Many people are forced by necessity to work at bad jobs.

Before you bad mouth union workers, first you better make sure WHY you are able to get government grants and scholarships in the first place. Most social programs that benefit poor people like you are due to the struggles of unionized workers who demand that their employer and government provide such programs that otherwise would be neglected in the capitalist pursuit of corporate profits.

Ha! Don't count on the small business owners (who you idolize) to selflessly offer your children grants and scholarships for an education. It will be up to your own small business to provide you with that cash. Good luck!

In case you didn't notice, the world doesn't always reward your "getting off my ass" in the manner that you expect. Someday you will be betrayed by this system and wish you had a union behind you to protect your self righteous ass. I wouldn't count on your fellow small business owners to do it.

:kick:

"Besides, nobody is forced to work at any job. We are allowed to choose who we work for. "

You just described every temp service I've ever worked for.
How's temping these days, anyway? You would know.

Apparently, you've never been in a situation where what you have is what you've got and there's nothing in store for you anytime soon. Not "anyone" can be a clerk behind the counter; it takes someone willing to deal with people as people, enthrall them, woo them, and get them to come back. A good store clerk will resolve conflicts first in spite of store policy and argue on behalf of the customer if they know the customer deserves what she's asking for. Having been a clerk behind a counter for a number of years, I can solidly attest to the fact that it's a difficult and simultaneously rewarding job, if you like people and- perhaps most importasntly- are not in a situation where relying on that job and that job alone will keep you housed and fed and nothing more.

A behind-the-counter clerk job is not something one can live on. Exist, yes, but live, no.

Similarly, not everyone can perform physical labor. I'm currently a postal worker in a distribution plant, and I can also say with utter certainty that constantly bending, lifting, reaching, and stretching can at times be literally backbreaking labor. There are many people in the plant I work in that are on permenant light duty as a result of physical limitations which occurred both on and off the job. One woman I know, who was injured on the job to the point she cannot easily lift a gallon of milk any longer, was denied worker's comp benefits for months and almost lost her home. In the end, she received a back pay check of over $22,000. She's also on full comp pay, being permenantly disabled as a result of back injuries sustained on the job one night while I was working with her as her lone partner on the same machine.

Don't you dare say, "anyone can do it". It's simply untrue.

"Who would want to make loading trucks and stocking shelves a life-long career. These are entry level jobs for the kids. If one wants to earn better wages and increase their standards of living then it should be their own responsibility to get more education and earn a better job OR create their own job by starting their own businesses."

No one would want to, but many are forced to. The longer these people remain in these dead-end jobs, the more money they generally make. However, the more money they make, the less likely it becomes that they will be eligible for financial aid in any meaningful amount. What results from this is a self-perpetuating closed circle of opportunity; that is, I could go to school if I had enough money, but I need to keep my job; out of pocket alone I can't pay for school, but my income is increasing the longer I stay. I can't keep my job and go to school, because I go to work at 11pm and the classes I need are in the morning.

One thing that would solve this is an open and complete funding of secondary education for all. $87 billion would go a long, long way toward achieving that, as well as bumping up our gradeschools. In that respect, our President has truly left us and our children behind.

Capital is required in this society to open a business. What keeps people in dire straits from doing so is the undeniable fact that if the business fails they'll be left even further in the hole than they already are. One cannot just "open a business", sir; that is an action which requires careful planning, some personal investment, and the willingness to have no sleep, no fun, no life. When one goes to work day after day simply to pay for the rent and the food, it's near impossible to anything but that.

Finally, I was certain this strike was about benefits, not pay. Perhaps you';d like to compensate lost bennies with increased pay? No? Well, then, you're greedy and We the People have the power to take you down a notch or two.

Sucks when peons gather together against the powerful, don't it?

Bwaha!