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UFCW strike

Pictures from UFCW Local 135 Rally in San Diego on 4 February

Commerce trade unions around the world are closely following the supermarket workers' strike in Southern California. They are well aware that a similar situation could emerge in Europe, Asia, Australia or any part of the world unless UFCW and its members succeed in defending grocery workers' healthcare insurance, wages, pensions and other benefits.

"The issues may not be the same as social insurance structures are different", says Jörgen Hoppe, the Danish union president who heads UNI-Europa Commerce. "But the setup at the Californian bargaining table could well repeat itself in Europe if large employers believe that they could succeed with what Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons are now trying to do."

Solidarity messages from all over the world are pouring in to UFCW and the Locals in Southern California. Shop stewards in Japanese department stores, supermarket workers in Spain and trade unions in South Africa - the long struggle for affordable healthcare has generated much sympathy and support. 

The malaise can spread

"If the American employer strategy would be successful, it would put workers' rights world-wide in jeopardy. Healthcare insurance is a mainstay for all workers, which decides their families' living conditions", says Ulrich Dalibor, head of the commerce sector of ver.di, the world's largest trade union. "In Germany, retailing is in a vicious circle, with cut-throat competition and personnel reductions", he adds, saying that dumping of employment conditions is a real danger also there.

"We should make no mistake about it. The US supermarket strike and lockout is not a local issue only", says UNI's general secretary Philip Jennings in a letter to affiliates worldwide. "These American commercial workers - supermarket cashiers, sales clerks and others - are now at the frontline where future trends for working life in the worldwide retail industry are being set.

"Will it be corporate greed that dictates wages and employment conditions, or will UFCW and its members succeed in defending the social dimension", Philip Jennings asks. "This conflict is an all out attack on workers' rights and trade unions by some of the world's largest and most profitable retailers. If they succeed, pressures on collective agreement benefits will rapidly increase also in other parts of the world."

Socially responsible investors should not buy Safeway shares

UNI has been advising socially responsible investors in different parts of the world to consider whether the management policies of Safeway's Steve Burd and his colleagues in Kroger and Albertsons are in line with their declared policies on corporate social responsibility.

"I would like to alert you to a very serious labour conflict in the United States, involving some of the largest supermarket operators - Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons", writes Jan Furstenborg, head of UNI Commerce, in a letter to a number of major European investment advisers: "Of course, occasional labour conflicts are a normal part of the social dialogue. This conflict, however, has taken on a much more fundamental relevance. I would therefore suggest that until the approach of these three companies changes, it would not be in conformity with corporate social responsibility principles to invest in them."

Many unions have also sent solidarity contributions to the striking and locked out workers. They are well aware that after more than four months on the picket lines, many working families cannot afford the bare necessities of life. Among the trade unions from around the world who have contributed to the support funds is the commercial workers union of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Sarajevo-based UNI Commerce affiliate knows how important international solidarity can be, having gone through the difficult years of war in the 1990's.

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