Ok so the grocery stores here in Southern CA went on strike and managment has locked out workers from sister stores.. also they have put letters in all paychecks telling union workers how to resign from their job and ALSO how to resign from the union.. ugh..

So once agian if you live Anywhere where there is a Ralphs, Vons, or Albertsons please be sure to not go through the picket line and shop at those stores until the strike is over.. Go to Trader Joes, Wild Oats, Gelsons, Bristol Farms, or your local farmers marekt! if anything gather up some friends, pack some snacks and take it down to the picket line, they will be striking 24 hrs. a day.. they need support.. remember these are people who you see everyday when you go to the store, the cashiers who help you out, the baggers who help carry your stuff out, the people who help you in the deli.. and it's EXTREMLY hard for them to decide to go on strike, and the least we could do is support them right now..

THE WORKERS UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED!


http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/101203_nw_grocery_strike.html


Clerks at Kroger Co.'s Ralphs, Safeway Inc.'s Vons and Albertsons grocery stores went on strike late Saturday after negotiations between union representatives and store officials broke off, with health care coverage a key sticking point.

The companies operate about 900 stores from San Diego to Santa Barbara and control 60 percent of the Southern California market.

Officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers union initially said strikers would only target Vons and urged the companies not to lock out workers from the other stores.

The supermarkets, however, said a strike against one company would be considered a strike against all three. In a joint statement, they said Albertsons and Ralphs would lock out employees during the dispute.

Plans were in the works to "ensure that stores remain open and staffed," the statement said. Sandra Calderon, a spokeswoman for Vons, said those plans include using temporary workers.

Many of the union's 70,000 clerks began picketing outside Vons markets after last-minute talks involving a federal mediator broke down.

The chains want workers to pay more for health benefits, citing a sluggish economy, rising health care costs and increased competition from nonunion rivals such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Vons president Tom Keller said the proposal does not call for wage reductions and asks employees to pay $5 a week for individual health care coverage and $10 to $15 a week for an entire family.

The union called on Southern Californians to honor picket lines and shop elsewhere. Under their contract, warehouse employees and truck drivers can also choose not to cross picket lines, said Paul Kenny, president of Teamsters Local Union No. 630.

Grocery clerks work a minimum of 24 hours a week, with 70 percent working part-time. They earn, on average, about $15 an hour, said Rick Icaza, president of UFCW Local 770 in Los Angeles and one of the negotiators.

The union wants the companies to maintain health care plans and provide raises of 50 cents an hour the first year and 45 cents an hour the following two years, Icaza said.

The last time the grocery workers went on strike was 1978, with the walkout lasting less than a week.