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UFCW supermarket workers saved their health care, return to work after 20 weeks on strike
UFCW members in Southern California voted 86 percent to ratify a new agreement affecting 70,000 grocery workers at almost 900 stores, with three supermarket companies, Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons, on February 26, 2004. After 20 weeks without pay checks, workers won their fight to protect affordable health care, their pensions and job security. The companies demanded separate health and pension plans for current and future employees and then under-fund both groups, effectively eliminating affordable health care and retirement security for workers. Workers stuck together and won:
Standing up for affordable health care, these workers put health care on the national agenda in the United States. They sent a message to employers everywhere that attempts to eliminate health care benefits will come at a high price. The strike also raised the alarm for national health care reform. Grocery workers took a courageous stand, John Sweeney says "The Southern California grocery workers took a courageous stand - and they were able to save affordable health care and maintain pension benefits for tens of thousands of grocery workers and their families", said AFL-CIO president John Sweeney in a statement. "These UFCW members held the line against the employer’s extreme give-back demands. That’s no small feat in an America where no-benefit McJobs and Walmarts are quickly driving down working families’ quality of life." "Working families ultimately can’t be expected to put their livelihoods on the line to hold back corporations who are determined to shift rising health care costs onto workers and taxpayers. The crisis will not be solved on the backs of workers and it will not be solved company by company; the ultimate solution to this growing crisis must be national and legislative", Sweeney said. The support and solidarity of millions of people and organizations across America was essential to the striking and locked out supermarket workers in Southern California. From the first day on, customers refused to cross the lines with an average of 75% of customers shopping elsewhere, amounting to nearly $2 billion in lost profit for the companies. John Kerry joined the workers holding the line for health care Workers spirits were also lifted by the rallies and kind gestures from community members, including the tremendous amount of donations and moral support. Many national and local political, faith and labor leaders even put their bodies on the line to defend their communities standard of living. Just days before the settlement, presidential candidate Senator John Kerry joined the workers holding the line. On the employers' side, there may well be some turmoil, when the workers have returned to their jobs. According to Business Week, Safeway CEO Steve Burd, who lead the three supermarket chains in their attempt to deny workers affordable health care, may have to go. " ... the dispute has inflicted serious damage on the companies, contributing heavily to a $696 million loss in Safeway's fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 3. Equally harmful, Burd's bold attack has enraged employees, prompting Wall Street concerns that morale woes could persist long past the dispute's resolution", the US business magazine writes in its latest issue. Business Week quotes Stephen C. Chick, an analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities, which on Feb. 2 downgraded Safeway shares to a sell: "There are people on the Street who want a change" in management. One of the epic battles of American labor history The UFCW Locals have posted a "Last, Best and Final Daily Report " on their websites: "With this vote of ratification, you concluded one of the epic battles of American labor history. The eyes of America were upon you as you fought on the front lines for affordable health care. You, who carried picket signs and endured 20 weeks without pay checks, are the heroes of America's threatened middle class. Your sacrifices were not in vain. Compared with the dismal demands made by the grocery companies 20 weeks ago, the contract that we finally achieved protects our health care and our pensions. We forced the companies to be reasonable in many other areas as well. Our moment to savour victory will be brief, the battle soon shifts elsewhere, as UFCW contracts expire in Arizona, Northern California, Las Vegas and elsewhere. We will support our Union Sisters and Brothers in every way that we can. But for now, let's roll up our sleeves and get back to work, helping our customers and building better lives for our families. We stayed strong, we stayed united and we prevailed."
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