Tag Archives: grocery workers

DUI gone postal

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News 5 is trying metaphorically to crucify the Postal Service and especially the Postal Workers union because a mail-carrier wasn’t fired for being convicted of DUI. So I thought to myself (as I often do) “Self, I bet Freedom Communications has literally hundreds of people working for them who have DUI convictions”.

Their piss-and-moan about it is (allegedly) that the Postal Service is losing money. This from minions of a Corporation that’s in bankruptcy. And one of their subsidiaries, the Colorado Springs Gazette, has just laid off half their employees.

But whenever a person takes the stand in court, either as a witness or a defendant, he has to state where and for whom he works. So, fair being fair, posting a partial list of the employees of their Corporate Masters who have criminal convictions would perhaps be in order. I thought of doing it myself, look up the transcripts and report thereof…

Leaving out the names of those who work labor jobs for them, drivers, warehouse, the temps who stuff the circulars into the Sunday and Wednesday papers and assemble the mailings… cut those guys a lot of slack. They already are in wage bondage to a hostile employer anyway. Edit to add… they were the first to go in the layoffs.

On the other hand, there’s a TV reporter from Dallas and who I believe works for one of the Denver stations now, Leeza Gibbons., who was convicted of joyriding on I 30 from Grand Prairie to the west side of Ft Worth at 110 miles an hour and leading the po-pos from 8 different municipalities, 2 counties and the State Department of Public Safety on a high speed chase. And this kind of event isn’t really all that rare. That would be the type to publish. Also any who would fit into a suit and tie on a regular basis.

The ones who slither in and out of their corporate boardroom. The ones who are serving up the Union-bashing and the ones who ordered it done.

It’s also convenient that the Union Bashing is done at a time when two of their Loyal Corporate Partners are demanding that the Grocery Workers Union accept a really arrogant “Last and Best Offer” contract.

King Sooper UFCW members hang tough

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King Sooper grocery workers
COLORADO SPRINGS- King Sooper UFCW Local 7 members vote this week. Local activists are ready to join their brethren at the picket line. If the supermarket giants persist in their efforts to deny workers benefits and living wages, they might be surprised to see how far customers will be willing to go to support their friends in the business.

Managers Lie, Benefits DieThis letter just in from the United Food and Commercial Workers:

Dear Friend,

You might be surprised to learn that despite the economic downturn, the national grocery chains in Colorado continue to rake in large profits as more and more people choose not to dine out.

What’s really shocking (or…frankly…not so shocking) is that the profitable national grocery chains are pushing cuts on our friends and neighbors who are working harder than ever at these stores. When profitable grocery chains ask their 17,000 workers in Colorado to make financial sacrifices, it doesn’t just hurt those workers, it hurts all of us, and hamstrings Colorado’s economic recovery.

So what can you do about it?

Your neighborhood grocery workers are in the midst of negotiations that could very well lead to a strike or a lockout. It’s not something anyone wants to happen. There are a lot of tough kitchen table conversations going on right now about what might happen if a family member has to give up a paycheck to take a stand for a fair deal.

Grocery Worker Without Benefits, Please HelpThese workers need to know that they have friends –that there are people out there who will respect a picket line.

Take the pledge today to support workers, and respect the picket line should a strike or lockout happen.

Please join us in support of Colorado’s grocery workers as they negotiate to get a fair deal and pledge to not cross the picket line if a strike becomes their only option.

Please sign the petition and share your comments.

We might add, let them know you will JOIN THE WORKERS ON THE PICKET LINE! The grocery worker’s resources may be thin, but yours and mine are not. WE will not stand for businesses who seek to impoverish our friends and neighbors.

Those poor banks! Those poor grocery store chains!

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The banks have ‘failed their stress tests’ and now need at least $75 BILLION dollars from taxpayers! See Ten US banks fail ‘stress tests’ …Doesn’t your heart just bleed for them? And not to be outdone the grocery store chains, led by Kroger (KING STUPID), Safeway, and Albertsons are out there trying to convince the general public that they are being beat up bad by union workers, most of who make less than $15 per hour. They just can’t take it anymore! So their solution?

It looks like it might be to lock out the workers and use the government’s police to try to force these people into unemployment lines! Destroy their pension plans. Work them to death and then discard them! This all is on hold for now, but the companies may begin this assault within days?

DON’T SCAB if they do lock out the grocery workers. Support union labor and they will support you! Workers have Rights, but only if you solidly back them up with Your Solidarity instead of giving in to these crappy food grocery chains by vacantly walking past union picket lines if they are forced to go up.

Eat right! Do right! Don’t cross picket lines. Write Management a note and tell them how you feel! And tell the workers you support them, too.

Don’t be a strikebreaker!

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The major grocery store chains here in Colorado are planning to attack their workers next week by forcing a strike. At issue is that they want to destroy the pensions of these workers so don’t break their strike by crossing the picket lines and into the stores to shop. All workers deserve a decent retirement!
United food and commercial workers

You can even help out on the picket line for a bit and show some solidarity with these people in their efforts to stop company cutbacks forced against them. You can also go do your own shopping for groceries at some of the ethnic grocery companies in Colorado and help save some of your own money in the meantime. Give yourself and union workers a break!

Here is what this strike will be about…

By Laura Chapin – UFCW Local 7 – For Immediate Release – 5/2/2009

The federal government has extended the deadline for the green – or fully funded – status for the major grocers’ pension fund from April 30 to June 30, giving the companies a second chance to do the right thing by their workers. The union has already agreed to the extension, so it’s up to the companies to meet the workers halfway.

Under the Worker Retiree and Employer Relief Act of 2008, trustees of a pension plans – both the union and the companies – have the option of extending their green status, or adequately funded status, for one year. If the company trustees fail to agree to extend the green status by the new deadline of June 30, the pension fund will go into a red status, meaning there will be insufficient funding to maintain the workers’ pension plan.

The union pension trustees have agreed to the one-year extension, but the company trustees have refused and instead proposed dramatic cuts to worker’s pension benefits. The benefits to be cut include eliminating the Golden Rule of 80, which raise the retirement eligibility from age 50 to age 62, eliminating the disability pension, and eliminating a $200 a month supplement between ages 60 and 62 years of age.

“We agreed to the extension because we want to give the economy time to recover,” said UFCW Associate Counsel Crisanta Duran. “Instead of meeting the workers halfway on the agreement, which would not have cost them a penny, the companies are choosing to use the under funded status as a bargaining chip and ask for almost 50% in cuts. This is not fair to the workers who are counting on the retirement they have earned.”

According to Safeway worker Arlys Carlson, “All we’re asking is that the companies take care of us the same way we’ve taken care customers all these years.”

UFCW Local #7 represents approximately 17,000 Colorado grocery workers at Safeway, King Soopers/City Market, and Albertsons. Negotiations began April 9 and will continue daily through the current contracts’ expiration on May 9.

For More Information:
Laura K. Chapin, (303) 425-0897 ext 302 ofc
(303) 885 – 1402 cell

The major companies simply want to destroy the unions with a strike. They have begun putting help wanted ads in the papers looking for scab workers to replace union workers. Sadly enough there are many who will try to grab these jobs and to Hell With Those Guys will be their attitude, since this is America, Land of the Screw the Others. Many are actually proud of themselves for being ‘smart’ when they do so. Wrong.