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Pictures from UFCW Local 135 Rally in San Diego on 4 February
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California trade unions
plan state-wide boycott of Safeway: Workers of all professions close ranks behind UFCW supermarket strike The entire labour movement in California will enter the active fight for affordable healthcare, which UFCW members in Southern California have waged for almost five months. Lead by the California Labor Federation, a broad movement of trade unions and community organisations plan to launch a boycott and to extend picketing of Safeway stores to the entire state. This would bring the San Francisco Bay Area with its high unionisation rates, as well as the whole of Northern California, into the forefront of the struggle. The boycott plans were announced by the California Labor Federation at a press conference in Oakland yesterday. Union representatives were joined by striking workers as well as by community and religious leaders. They said that they will now monitor the negotiations until Friday, when a final decision on a formal boycott is due. Safeway and its CEO Steve Burd have been the ringleader for the coalition of the three retail giants, which also includes Kroger and Albertsons. The boycott would bring picket lines to all Safeway stores in California. Union members and other consumers would be asked not to shop in these stores. A state-wide boycott by the entire labour movement is considered to be a very effective weapon to support the UFCW members, who are now first in line to defend collective agreement based healthcare insurance.
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