Food Employers And Service Employees Unions

Grocery Workers Authorize Strike

The union representing grocery workers at Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons stressed during a rally Monday that they don't want to go on strike, but they will if they believe they have to in order to get a fair contract, City News Service reported.

Over the weekend, 90 percent of the 62,000 grocery workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 voted to authorize a strike against the supermarket chains, all three of which have at least one location in Redondo Beach.

"Our members overwhelmingly authorized a strike because they want a fair contract, not a walkout," said union president Rick Icaza on Sunday.

"I voted for this strike," said Tom Hancock, a worker at Pavilions, which is affiliated with Vons. "I didn't want to. I went through the last strike, but they've left us no choice. So I'm happy that over 90 percent of us voted for the strike."

Nevertheless, Hancock called the 2003-2004 strike "extremely tough."

"It'll be tough in the short run now, too," he said.

The current offer calls for workers to pay about $36 per month for individual health insurance or $92 per month for family coverage; however, the union wants the supermarket chains to pay more money into a health-care trust fund for the workers.

Union spokesman Mike Shimpock previously said that payments to the trust fund have decreased over the past decade, and if the employers don't add more money, the fund will go bankrupt within 16 months.

"We don't want another strike, but we need to protect our health benefits for ourselves and our families," said Ralphs employee Mario Frias.

The two sides have reached an agreement on pensions; however, not even a tentative agreement on wages has been reached.

Negotiations between the two sides will resume Aug. 29 with the help of a federal mediator.

The Dysfunction of Maryland Politics and The National Scene ...

Between you and Me (Cecil Calvert), there is going to be a civil up rise in our Country the likes of Historic proportion.  Be prepared to protect yourself at all times and be prepared for higher unemployment rates in the United States the likes we never have seen.  The only jobs protected with be in the Healthcare, Law, and IT Industry’s, The Private Sector who is following the E Verify Protocol that Maryland should be doing as well on a State Level. Secretary Hilda Solis today signed “partnership” agreements with ambassadors from a group of Latin American nations aiming to protect what she described as the labor rights of both legal and illegal migrants working in the United States. During the signing ceremony hosted at Labor Department headquarters in Washington D.C., Solis said the agreements are aimed at educating migrant workers, regardless of how they got here, about their rights under U.S. law and to help prevent them from being abused in the workplace, either through wages, loss of job, or deportation.

When asked by CNSNews.com, she made clear the agreements aim at protecting both documented and undocmented workers inside the United States.

In her address at the signing ceremony, Solis asserted that all migrant workers have a “right to a legal wage”–even though the Labor Department itself  states  that under U.S. law, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), “employers may hire only persons who may legally work in the United States (i.e., citizens and nationals of the U.S.) and aliens authorized to work in the U.S.”

The INA “protects U.S. citizens and aliens authorized to accept employment in the U.S. from discrimination in hiring or discharge on the basis of national origin and citizenship status,” states the Labor Department Web site.

Nevertheless, during the signing ceremony today, Solis said, “No matter how you got here or how long you plan to stay, you have certain rights. You have the right to be safe and in a healthy workplace and the right to a legal wage. We gather here today to strengthen our shared commitment to protect the labor rights of migrant workers in the United States. Unfortunately, due to language barriers and immigration status, migrant workers can be those that are most vulnerably abused.