Extensions Are Fine, But Be Ready to Fight

Being employed in the grocery industry, and a UFCW union member, tomorrow's expiration of the contract in Southern California that settled the 03-04 strike (one of the largest strikes in history), represents both one of the worst defeats for labor in modern history, and an opportunity to start to turn it around.  While I live in Seattle Washington, the Southern Cal strike heavily affected how our contract was settled, as it did for contracts around the nation.

Here in Seattle, we conceded far too much, but we managed to dodge some of the worst concessions, mainly a two-tier wage/benefit scale that would have permanently put new hires in a lower "class."

No one wants a repeat of that strike, including the employers that lost billions of dollars to win the concessions that they got.  The strike ripped apart worker's lives, as people lost their savings, their homes, and in some cases their families.  The San Diego Tribune has a retrospective look at the effects of the strike on the eve of the expiration of the contract:

Experts and industry watchers say both sides were wounded in the 2003-04 labor dispute, making the current talks challenging for the companies and the union.

Edgardo Villanueva, senior vice president of Labor Relations Services, a management consulting firm in Newport Beach, said the union could be hurt by the fact that more than half its membership was hired after the strike.

The new workers get paid less and therefore contribute less in union dues, Villanueva said, which could limit the union's financial resources to withstand another labor dispute.

Also, Villanueva said, the union may be more reluctant than usual to call a strike because veteran workers are battle-weary, which would give the supermarket chains a distinct strategic advantage.

“That kind of tips the scales to that side,” Villanueva said.

That is exactly what the employers were hoping for, a crushing strike, that would break the will of workers to fight back for a very long time, maybe permanently.  The Southern California two-tier system also splits the solidarity of workers.  Why would a new hire fight for the wages benefits of someone who sold them out to keep what they had?  So getting rid of the two-tier system should be a priority of the union.  And considering what a terrible effect it has on store moral, it is bad for business too, as smaller grocery companies in the market have acknowledged. 

The contract in Southern Californian is likely to be extended while both sides talk.  That is fine with me, since it will push the possibility of a West Coast strike on to the table.  If their talks continue till our contract up here in Seattle is ready to expire, and then we push ours until Northern California is ready, we could shut down the west coast for Kroger, Safeway, and Supervalu.  But in the end workers have to be ready to fight.  Organized people are the only thing that can beat organized money and power.

No one wants a strike, but considering how the American economy has shifted away from manufacturing to service industry employment, grocery workers represent a hell of a lot more than just their own interests.  Like the auto-workers in the 1940s and 50s, we are setting the rules of the game for many others.  This is our time to turn out and challenge the predictions of the employers and labor "experts."  It is time to get our fair share of the wealth that we create.

tags: ufcw  grocery  california  strike  seattle  kroger  safeway  supervalu  

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