CWA 1180 - Solidarity Works

70,000 in CA on frontlines in battle for healthcare

February 2004

WHAT YOU CAN DO
TO HELP

UFCW members have walked the picket line and talked to members of their communities, but they need our help and solidarity to win.

Adopt a striking family. Through a tax-deductible program, you can help keep food in the stomachs of UFCW families and help them last one day longer than the companies. The program is being organized by the Harry Bridges Institute; please call them at 310-831-2397 to participate.

Seventy thousand supermarket workers in southern California have been on strike or locked out since October 11, 2003, in a battle that will help decide the fate of American workers' access to healthcare everywhere. As 1180 members know all too well personally from recent experience, employer cost-shifting on healthcare is affecting workers in every kind of job.

Workers at supermarkets owned by Safeway, who are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers' union (UFCW), went on strike after the company demanded that the workers begin paying for their health benefits, and that workers absorb future increases in healthcare costs. The company also wants to institute a two-tier system, paying new hires less and making them pay even more for healthcare. After the Safeway workers struck, the two other major chains, Albertsons and Ralph's (owned by Kroger) locked out their workers in a united front to enforce these concessions. The supermarkets are claiming that competition from Wal-Mart, with its low prices and even lower wages, is "forcing" them to institute these changes. While Wal-Mart is indeed a problem for small Main Street businesses-and a lousy employer-these supermarket giants are not hurting economically. Moreover, Wal-Mart stores in southern California don't even sell groceries. This battle is about plain old corporate greed versus basic human need.

The union has fought back, but it will take sustained broad-based labor solidarity to win this fight. On February 5, thousands of New York unionists and supporters, including 1180 members, turned out for a Wall Street rally in support of the strike. "It's about healthcare," said Delores Smith-Johnson, a Local 1180 member from HRA at the demonstration. "I'm here to support the grocery workers of California. We're going to be fighting for healthcare, too. It's a big issue. We have to be united as on." Local 1180 members can also help by adopting a striking family. Through a tax-deductible program, you can help keep food in the stomachs of UFCW families and help them last one day longer than the companies. The program is being organized by the Harry Bridges Institute; please call them at 310-831-2397 to participate. It's an act of solidarity that will help all of us in the struggle for healthcare.

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