Infoshop News March 2, 2004
The longest strike by grocery store workers in U.S. history ended last week in California. Infoshop News talked today with one of the workers who works at a grocery store in the Bay area of Los Angeles.
Infoshop News: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Eric: My name's Eric. I'm currently living in the South Bay area.
I-News: You work at one of the grocery stores that were on strike?
Eric: Yeah, I've worked there for about a year, mostly for the health insurance. It was an OK job, as jobs go, until the strike.
I-News: Do you work full time or part time?
Eric: I was offically working full-time, but I never got more than 24 hours a week, mostly night work.
I-News: Stocking?
Eric: Helping the stockers throw away cardboard.
I-News: Are you considered a new employee still? How does the new contract affect you?
Eric: You aren't considered a new employee after passing probation (3 months) and the insurance and union come into effect. I need to read into more detail of the contract, but I think the insurance deal will be bearable.
I-News: Was health insurance the main reason for the strike?
Eric: No, many think that, but it was far from it.
I-News: What are some of the issues?
Eric: It included provisions about starting a declining pension fund, so that current and future retirees would run out of pension payments. And they were starting a two-tier wage system, where new hires would get less pay and less benefits, causing them to attempt firings of employees with more seniority.
I-News: So the new tier system protects workers with seniority?
Eric: No, it makes them more likely to be fired. Any new employees coming in will make less money and replace them.
I-News: Have you talked with your co-workers yet about the new contract and the end of the strike?
Eric: I haven't had a chance to meet with any of them since the strike ended. I've emailed a few but they haven't gotten back to me.
I-News: Did you and your co-workers picket outside of your store?
Eric: Yeah, we picketed by the doors and strikers from Ralphs were picketing by the street.
I-News: What was the reaction from people going into the store? Did people go into the store?
Eric: We noticed most regular customers didn't come in and some even brought us food. The people that were going in were generally (not being anything -ist) elderly or Asian.
I-News: So there were many people who respected the strike and didn't cross the picket line?
Eric: Yeah, most people I'd say. We'd get alota honks and food from people. I'm sure we had the community's support.
I-News: Which union do you belong to?
Eric: UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) Local 1442.
I-News: How do you feel about their handling of the strike? Their strategy?
Eric: I haven't liked it. I don't think its active enough. Most people were just standing aroung and BBQ'ing. There were very little proactive moves taken until the AFL/CIO took over and did civil-disobedience demos. It ended quickly after that.
I-News: Do you think that more civil disobedience would have drawn more attention to the strike and put more pressure on the stores?
Eric: I think it would haved forced more media coverage and made a chance that our side will be represented. The media has been against us from the beginning.
I-News: How about taking the strike to Wal-Mart, which is non-unionized and is fingered by the other stores as the reason for their need to cut costs?
Eric: I'm starting to get invloved in stopping Wal-Mart from moving into Inglewood. There are many community groups opposing it, notably Whittier Peace and Justice.
I-News: There seems to be much opposition to Wal-Mart in Southern California.
Eric: It's building up. It helps that people are always suing Wal-Mart, and the media reports all the bad stuff about them.
I-News: What was your favorite part about the strike? What was difficult or annoying?
Eric: I think it builds up worker relations. We all know each other better, and talk more than we did. We mostly just stood around, BBQ'ed and drank beer. The woman working there in the morning was not very well liked, and all the morning people had drama going on between them, so I was only there for night crew.
I-News: Sounds like the division of labor in the store was replicated by divisions on the picket line?
Eric: Yeah, because most of them didn't "know" what the strike was about. All they thought was that that had to stand around until it was over. But the night crew was alot more laid-back. We didn't charge people for food and there was no drama.
I-News: Did anybody from the union make an attempt to fire people up about the strike?
Eric: There were some rallies, but they were mostly put on by other unions. The ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) even started a job hiring program at the docks, a family relief fund of $5 million, and 3 rallies.
I-News: Thanks for talking to us today. Is there anything else that you'd like to add?
Eric: I found that the strike offered me a good channel to distribute union literature and radical unionism stuff. Many wanted the Infoshop Guide to Alt Media--I gave out 15 of them.