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UFCW strike

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has sued five retail chains for their actions during the U.S. supermarket workers' strike. The lawsuit, which was filed yesterday, says that the agreement between Safeway, Albertsons and Kroger to share both profits and losses during the UFCW strike violates federal anti-trust legislation.

"The grocers agreement to share costs and revenue hurts consumers by discouraging competitive pricing," Lockyer said in a statement quoted by yesterday's East Bay Business Times. "The antitrust law exists to prevent that, and I intend to enforce the law."

As an aggravating fact, the lawsuit states that one retail chain that has not been part of the strike or lockout, Food 4 Less, is party to the agreement between the supermarket companies. This alliance of greed extends also beyond the strike itself, the profit and cost sharing will continue for another two weeks after it ends.

What makes the scheme even uglier is that the three retailers struck their deal already on 5 August, two months before the strike started and workers were locked out.

This confirms that the companies indeed aim at breaking the back of the union, and to 'walmartize' employment conditions throughout the U.S. retail industry.

There is no question about it: These companies intend to take the same approach in their forthcoming collective agreement negotiations, in other U.S. States.

Safeway's Steve Burd under pressure to leave

Safeway CEO Steve Burd, the ringleader of these aggressive supermarket giants, is in deep trouble. The company's market value has dropped by two thirds during the last three years. This means that shareholders have lost more than 20 billion USD. Yesterday, the leading banking and investment firm J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. downgraded Safeway's stock from 'neutral' to "underweight", a further indication that investors begin to have had enough of Burd's management policies, and would like to see an end to the strike and lockout.

In addition to poor results, Burd's aggressive approach to the Safeway workers and their union has not been met with approval. Major shareholders, including pensions funds, have called on Safeway and the others to negotiate a compromise, which UFCW has declared itself prepared to do.

When the strike once comes to its end, Burd would not be the best person to build up a normal relation with the Safeway workers.

Last Wednesday, hundreds of striking shopworkers, accompanied by religious and labour leaders, carried over 100,000 letters to Burd's doorstep in a plush San Francisco suburb. This was an expression of their deep annoyance over his personal role in attacking the health care of his workers and their families.

Los Angeles teachers join UFCW blood donation drive

The striking and locked out supermarket workers receive much sympathy and support from the general public, and from their fellow trade unionists. Yesterday, the teachers in Los Angeles came actively into the campaign, in support of UFCW and its members. The local teachers' union UTLA urged its members to participate in a blood donation drive, initiated by the UFCW Local.

"UTLA joins UFCW's commitment to the fight for access to health care," the teachers' union stated, and urged its members to join the picket lines.

Stage reading of new play to support striking workers and their families

Also artists are lining up in support of the supermarket workers. In Los Angeles today, a staged reading of a new play by playwright Joe Roland is expected to bring in some much needed financial support for striking workers and their families. "The Three Same Guys" is a play about a fictional strike, in a fictional factory, in a fictional town. Also the characters are fictional, but the human spirit revealed in a battle for a living wage not to mention a decent life is as real and as devastating as the one being fought by the 70,000 workers on picket lines across Southern California.

“Three giant corporations (Safeway, Kroger and Albertson's) are attempting to eliminate health care benefits at work, effectively destroying affordable health care, for these workers" says Joe Roland, "There is a war being waged on the working class in America. They are slowly disappearing into the ranks of the working poor....Personally I think that corporate America is taking the short view. A nation of poor, overworked, underinsured service workers can't be good for business."

"[But] this benefit isn't really about the money. It's about morale and attention. Those mothers and fathers and sons and daughters are fighting for their jobs, and for the jobs of millions of Americans, because although the American public may not be watching, you can bet your ass that American business is. I want those people on strike to know that I am paying attention, that many of us are paying attention and that we appreciate it...."

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