Union wants raises in wages, health and safety committees at the store level and to increase the base of hours for part time workers
By Dolores Quintana
Tens of thousands of grocery workers voted this week to authorize their union to call a strike against Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions in Southern and Central California.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union’s recent vote to authorize a strike against Kroger and Albertsons took five days to complete but the Union said that 95% of their members voted yes.
Grocery workers unwittingly became frontline workers during the last two years of the pandemic, serving the public in dangerous conditions and dealing with the tensions of the job and the stress of a public that has become more unruly with the continuing worldwide conditions.
The latest approved contract between employers and 43,700 workers at 540 stores expired on March 3 and while negotiations had been taking place since January, the talks broke down three weeks ago. The grocery workers want significant raises in wages, health and safety committees at the store level and to increase the base of hours for part time workers.
Kathy Finn, secretary and treasurer of the UFCW Local 770 and one of the union’s primary negotiators said, as quoted by the Los Angeles Times, “These companies can either come to the table ready to negotiate a fair deal or we’re going to have to take this fight elsewhere.”
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