October 30, 2003

Hold the Line on Health Care

Statement by Doug Dority
International President
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
Hold The Line For America’s Health Care

October 30, 2003

I want to thank John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO for arranging this event and for helping to build a coalition to “Hold The Line For America’s Health Care.”

Almost 90,000 UFCW members, 70,000 in Southern California alone, are in the streets in a fight to save health benefits at work.  Make no mistake about the scope and the consequences of this struggle. It is corporate greed vs. human need and corporate greed is a killer.

If corporate greed prevails in this wave of strikes, it will signal the death of workplace health care benefits in the supermarket industry and, eventually for all workers.

The supermarket giants, Kroger, Albertson’s and Safeway, led by Safeway’s CEO Steve Burd, are trying to cover their agenda with a misinformation campaign about the true nature of their demands.    They are lying about the impact of their proposals.  They are trying to mislead both workers and customers into passively accepting their plans to kill affordable health care.

The issue is not cost sharing, worker co-pays or deductibles. It is not about premiums.

Kroger, Albertson’s, Safeway and Steve Burd propose to eliminate health care benefits for all future workers in the Southern California supermarket industry. They propose to shift massive costs to current workers until the existing health care plan collapses.   And Kroger is trying to do the same thing in West Virginia.

Of course they don’t say that is their purpose, you have to look at the funding mechanism.    Like so many politicians, they promise a program, but then fail to provide the funding to support it.  Or much worse, they promise a program and then propose a funding mechanism that they know will kill the program.

We are here to say, Safeway, Kroger, and Albertson’s and particularly to Steve Burd:   you have miscalculated the resolve of workers.   You have underestimated the determination of the UFCW.

You have failed to see the strength of support for workers from the community, from the labor movement, from religious leaders, from civil rights and women’s organizations and from everyday Americans who think its wrong for profitable corporations to take health care from working families.

Make sure you understand the impact on working families.     It is not simply a matter of a tighter budget to pay for health care. It is not about giving up a few luxuries, so the kids can see the doctor. Working families will face the choice between food and health care—between the rent and health care.

In Southern California, a working mom with a couple of kids can work in a supermarket and keep her family out of poverty.

Maria Lopez was supposed to be here today but she is at her mother’s bedside, helping her recover from a stroke she suffered last night.   Maria supports herself and her three children on her wages she earns at Vons/Safeway.  She makes about $19,000 a year and with health benefits, her family is secure.

Take away her health benefits and how is she going to pay for health care? There is no fat in her budget. There is no extra.    A broken arm, the flu…any illness could be a financial disaster.   We are not going to let that happen.

UFCW members will not give up, they will not give in—UFCW members will hold the line for health care.    The UFCW will mobilize all of its resources, all of its members and all of its friends and allies.   We will not allow any worker to be starved into giving up health care benefits.

We will be there one day longer, fighting to save health care, than Safeway will be there, trying to kill health care.

> First, we will maintain strike benefits. We have amassed tens of millions of dollars to support our members holding the line.

> Second, today we are announcing the “Hold The Line For Health Care Fund.”   Organizations and individuals can make contributions to provide emergency relief to striking families.

> Third, we will ask our friend and allies to take action in areas where there are strikes—to honor picket lines, to put up a yard sign, to send a message to the employers to settle the contracts and keep affordable health care.

> Fourth, we have received requests from our striking members to extend their picket lines.   We are considering their request.  We could extend picket lines from the stores in Southern California nationwide to all Safeway, Albertson’s and Kroger stores.

> Fifth, UFCW members in Arizona are working without a contract with these employers.   The contracts for workers in Indiana and Memphis are expiring very soon.   Safeway, Albertson’s and Kroger could face additional strikes before the end of this year where our members are holding the line to save health care.

In all areas of the country, we are asking friends and allies to contact Steve Burd and Safeway. Tell them to stop the attack on working families.

These strikes are not local matters—they are the battlegrounds in a national fight over the future of health care benefits at work.

These strikes are not just about UFCW members, because if the giant supermarket chains can kill health care in Southern California, then all employers will feel that they can get away with eliminating benefits.

UFCW members on strike for health care are fighting for all workers. They are heroes and I am proud to be part of their union.    On behalf of those working and their families, I want to thank all of you who came here today. Together, we will win this fight.

October 23, 2003

Lies, Damn Lies and Company Lies

Complete Press Kit about Company Lies about Health Care Proposals (pdf)

…more (strike newsletters, worker testimony, news clips)

Statement by
Sarah Palmer Amos
International Executive Vice President and Director of Collective Bargaining for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union

October 22, 2003

From Southern California to West Virginia and Missouri in between, almost 90,000 supermarket workers are fighting to save affordable health care for themselves, their communities and future generations of workers.

This outbreak of strikes in different parts of the country is not a coincidence. It is part of a planned and coordinated effort on the part of major retail food chains to effectively eliminate worker health care benefits in the supermarket industry.

The employers have tried to cover their real agenda with a coldly calculated misinformation campaign about the true nature of their demands on health care. The supermarket giants are afraid to tell the truth because they know the public would be revolted by the unrestrained greed and the total disregard for human need contained in their demands.

In all my years of bargaining contracts, I have never seen a more flagrant employer campaign of lies than I have witnessed here. We are talking about people’s lives. We’re talking about their ability to provide health care for their children. We’re talking about their ability to obtain medical care in life and death situations.

The employers, Albertsons, Ralphs, and Vons, are pounding away with the big lie. Over and over again they say “”it’s only about a modest co-pay.”” How dare they lie when they know the facts, they understand exactly what their proposal would do.

70,000 jobs in Southern California that now come with comprehensive affordable health care would be transformed into low wage jobs, without meaningful health care benefits. And the next generation of supermarket workers and every generation thereafter would be without health care protection.

The employers would abandon their commitment to the workers who have given them a lifetime of service. Retirees would face increasing costs and reduced benefits. The employers, led by Safeway CEO Steve Burd, have made their intentions clear: cut cost regardless of the human cost; squeeze another penny in profit, and the public be damned. As Burd said, “”this is an investment in our future.””

People are not part of the equation in Burd’s view of the future. But people are the source of Safeway’s profits.

 

Safeway is built on superior service from workers and loyalty from customers. Steve Burd now threatens both.

The fact is: customers come to Vons and other Safeway outlets because the workers establish a relationship with customers. They are friends and neighbors. Supermarket workers are part of the fabric of the community.

How can you keep the profits that come from superior service when you attack the very workers that provide the service?

Steve Burd is like a fading movie star, desperately trying to regain his former glory. From being the darling of Wall Street, he is now a box office bust. And now he expects Southern California workers to pay for his miscues in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Supermarket workers in Southern California average about $12 to $14 an hour and most do not get 40 hours a week.

Under the employers’ proposal, after three years, an average worker would earn about $12.30 an hour, that’s $369 a week before taxes are taken out or about $19,173 a year.

That’s a salary that can keep a single mom and her children out of poverty but, cut her health care benefits or shift several thousand dollars worth of health care costs from the company onto her and, look what happens.

A self-supporting working family can be reduced to near poverty. A self-supporting working family can be reduced to welfare.

Who should bear the burden of rising health care cost—a $19,000 a year working mom or Southern California taxpayers who will pay when more workers become eligible for Medi-Cal? Or, should Safeway be responsible for its workers?

Operating profits for the employers have increased ten times faster than health care costs. A little of that profit should be used to pay the cost of health care.

The UFCW remains ready to talk about cost containment. We will cooperate in any program or plan that stretches the health care dollar or makes the benefits more efficient but we will not agree to the elimination of health benefits in the supermarket industry!

The workers on the picket line are heroes. They are fighting not only for themselves but for future generations of workers. They have earned the support and the respect of their communities. I am proud to be part of the their Union.

-30-

October 16, 2003

Corporate Greed vs. Human Need

 

• Human Need Vs. Corporate Greed–Facts and Figures (pdf)
• UFCW Members Vote to Authorize a Strike
• Consumer Handbill

Over the past several days, Southern California supermarket workers have been voting on a contract offer from three of the largest supermarket operators in the country.

They have been confronted with a stark choice: give up health care benefits for not only themselves and their families, but also, for future generations of supermarket workers.

In unprecedented numbers, Southern California supermarket workers turned out to vote and sent a clear message: we will fight for affordable health care.

They delivered a mandate to their union that they will strike, if needed, to save health care for their families and strike to save health care coverage for the next generation of workers.

These workers are heroes. They are willing to make the sacrifice to take up the fight to save health care.

This is a fight for all Southern California workers.  It is a fight for all supermarket workers—union and non-union—here and across the country because if these three supersize, super-profitable, supermarket chains can cut benefits here, then every worker is at risk.

The UFCW is announcing that on October 11, workers will strike one of the supermarket chains. We will limit our job action to a single chain, so we will limit the inconvenience to our customers.

We are asking the employers to also respect our customers and not to take retaliatory action against workers through a lock out. There should be no lock out.

After all, the customers are the ones that we depend on for our jobs and the companies for their profits.

Following today’s meeting with the companies and the federal mediator, we will announce the time and the target of the strike.

We will make an effort to avoid a strike but, workers will not give up on health care.  We are not asking for more, we are asking to keep the benefits that we have.

There is information on this website about company profits and health care costs.

Employers’ profits have risen 10 times faster than their hourly contribution to worker health care.

Their profits overall have gone up 91% since 1998.

We have contained health cares cost. The increased costs for health care for these employers have been significantly below the national average.

This is a battle between corporate greed and human need and, we are asking our communities to stand with us.   We are your friends and your neighbors. We serve you everyday in your local supermarket. We ask for your support.

If the supermarket giants win, Southern California loses.  These companies would drain over 328 million dollars a year from Southern California because when they cut health care for workers, they rip off California.

October 15, 2003

Kroger Employees Take Stand for Fairness

CHARLESTON, W. VA. – Poised to walk off the job at 10 o’clock this evening, 3,300 Kroger workers in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky vowed to stay out until the company agrees to provide decent health care benefits.

“This is not an issue of a company struggling to survive in a poor economy,” UFCW Local 400 President Jim Lowthers said. “This is an issue of corporate greed surging ahead at the expense of hard-working employees.”

Kroger earned $2.5 billion dollars over the past several years and has $562 million in profits so far this year. Yet it is underfunding employee benefit plans, refusing to provide adequate health care. This basic unfairness is why members of Local 400 voted to strike after weeks of unsuccessful negotiations, Lowthers said.

“Kroger’s policy apparently is ‘Billions for Profits, No Benefits for People,’” he said. “This policy hurts every community in the tri-state area, not just Kroger employees. If Kroger gets away with this, other employers will try it. We’re standing up for working families and demanding justice.”

Workers are confronting Kroger and other employee-pinching grocery chains nationwide. In California, 70,000 workers have walked off the job at Kroger’s Ralph’s stores, Safeway’s Vons stores and Albertsons, citing unacceptable health care packages. Another 10,000 Shop ‘N Save, Schnucks and Dierbergs workers in St. Louis are striking over pay and health care issues.

“Our members are trying to take care of their families,” Lowthers said. “Kroger is telling its employees that it will not provide the benefits to do that.”

Kroger stores affected include stores throughout West Virginia, Ashland, Kentucky, and Marietta, Ohio.

Click here to view a copy of a UFCW newspaper ad.

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Additional press contact: Nelson Graham, 304-346-9679

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 represents more than 40,000 workers in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee and the District of Columbia. The members work in industries ranging from meat processing plants and retail and grocery stores to nursing homes.

 

October 14, 2003

UFCW News 10/10: UFCW Supermarket Workers Reject Employers

PRESS RELEASE

Friday, Oct. 10, 2003

UFCW Supermarket Workers Reject Employers’ Offer Vote Overwhelmingly To Protect Health Care and Retirement Benefits

In elections this week at seven local unions of the United Food and Commercial Workers, almost 70,000 supermarket workers in Southern California voted overwhelmingly to reject the demands of their employers and to authorize their leaders to call a strike. The vote to reject the proposals surpassed 97 percent.

Some 85 percent of workers eligible to vote did so in an unprecedented turnout of support for rejection of the offer.

The three supermarket companies – Albertson’s, Safeway (Vons) and Kroger (Ralphs) – have been working together to impose a package of severe cuts in benefits for their employees. In addition, they aim to set up a “”second tier”” of wages, benefits and working conditions for new employees – in effect making them second-class citizens in their own workplaces.

Workers have also announced that they will only target one supermaket chain in order to avoid inconveniencing their customers. Workers at the two other supermarket chains will urge their employers to allow them to stay on the job and not to act on Employer threats to lock the workers out of the stores. The other chains are urged by the seven locals on behalf of their customers and neighbors not to spread the dispute by engaging in a retaliatory lockout .

The seven local unions represent supermarket employees and other workers from Bishop in the north to the Mexican border in the south and from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Nevada and Arizona borders in the east.

The 1.4-million-strong United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is the largest private-sector union in North America. It represents employees of  supermarkets, pharmacies, health agencies and other companies and organizations throughout the United States and Canada.

UFCW MEDIA CONTACTS:

Greg Denier, 202-256-7851 (cell)

Ellen Anreder, (818) 591-7480, (818) 416-9400 (cell)

Barbara Maynard, (323) 850-1356. (323) 855-8739 (cell)