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On the picket line

Published Jul 19, 2007 9:01 AM

Calif. grocery workers threatened

Representatives of the 65,000 unionized grocery workers in Southern California are continuing to negotiate for decent pay raises and health care benefits, as they have since their contract expired on March 5. In June the UFCW workers voted to authorize a strike, though the union has repeatedly stated it wants to avoid one. But the bosses are already setting up the barricades.

Even though it’s public knowledge that the CEOs of Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons received raises totaling $27 million in 2006, the bosses aren’t making serious pay offers that meet even minimal cost-of-living increases. The workers have not received a raise since 2002, and the supermarket chains want to cut back the wages of new hires. In true-blue ruling class style, the chains have threatened to lock out the workers. But Ralphs just escalated the situation by announcing a plan to hire replacement workers, that is, scabs. It also threatened to fire workers who strike or to cut their hours and to make them pay exorbitant fees for family health care during a work stoppage. (UFCW press release, July 9)

Barbara Maynard, representing UFCW Local 770 covering the greater Los Angeles area, told the Santa Clarita Signal that the grocery companies have “continued to put forward proposals that show a tremendous disrespect for the workers and the communities they serve.” (July 11) The current rolling extension requires a 72-hour cancellation notice by either the UFCW or the supermarket chains. The struggle continues.

Prison labor working Colorado fields

After the state of Colorado passed strict laws against hiring undocumented workers in 2006, immigrants boycotted the state. A shortage of farm workers led to crops rotting in the fields last fall. So in May the state Department of Corrections set up a farm-labor pilot program. Ten women inmates are now working on five farms covering 2,400 acres. The program is the first of its kind nationwide. (The Washington Times, July 11)

Rep. Dorothy Butcher, who opposed the legislation, has been contacted by the United Farm Workers and immigrant rights groups who were concerned that the program devalued skilled farm labor. Other groups have protested the possibility of chain gangs, where prisoners are forced to toil under backbreaking conditions for no pay. Even though farmers pay the DOC $9.60 an hour per inmate and prisoners earn $4 an hour—which is

better than most $1-per-hour prison jobs—the inmates are unskilled labor forced to work because of economic necessity. The real solution is to grant amnesty to trained immigrant workers and pay them a starting salary of at least $9.60 an hour.

Toys ‘R’ racism

A federal lawsuit filed July 12 accused the Toys “R” Us chain of singling out Black customers in a race-based pattern of stops, searches and wrongful detention. The suit was brought by people who say they were unlawfully or unreasonably detained or searched because of their race. They are seeking class-action status, $400 million in damages and a court order to end discrimination.

Asian-American laborers sue for wages

The Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund filed four lawsuits on June 12 on behalf of six Sikh and Bangladeshi laborers seeking payment of unpaid wages from five construction contractors. The suits accuse the companies of breach of contract and violations of minimum-wage laws.