Grocery workers in more than 500 stores owned by Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions and Albertsons could stop working if their employers fail to meet their demands.
This is because 95% of a collection of labor unions representing tens of thousands of Southern California grocery store workers have voted to authorize a strike “should that become necessary,” according to reports.
The authorization is framed as an “unfair labor practice” action, with labor officials claiming that the stores are using “small, token bonuses” to make workers feel “intimidated and bribed into accepting a bonus rather than a permanent wage increase,” according to a Fox report. This allows walkouts at selected stores instead of a full-blown strike, under federal law.
With negotiations on a new contract set to resume in the coming weeks, workers are looking for a wage increase over the course of a new three-year contract, along with increased safety standards and “adequate scheduling and hours,” reported Fox.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) is asking that the highest-paid longtime workers — food clerks who include cashiers and shelf stockers — get a $5 hourly raise by the end of a new three-year contract, reported the Lost Angeles Times. These workers currently earn $22.50 an hour after five to seven years. The companies offered a $1.80 raise.
“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,” said Kathy Finn,...
(AP) If a government hopes to function, it has to be able to enforce its laws. Our country is no exception, and in fact, the U.S. government is very good at enforcement. So when a big fraud case c...