March 31, 2004
Budget might not help poor that much (or the middle)
PROPOSED TOBACCO, TV TAXES COULD EAT UP THEIR SAVINGS
By Ryan Alessi And John Cheves
HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU
FRANKFORT - When Gov. Ernie Fletcher talks about his proposed "tax modernization," he regularly mentions Kentucky's poor.
With good reason: Residents can owe state taxes on salaries as low as $3,000 a year. The last time the state's personal income tax laws were altered was 1954, when a family could actually live on that amount.
So along with the corporate breaks, loophole-closing and higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol that Fletcher's plan includes, there's a provision to drop 125,000 low-income Kentuckians off the personal income tax rolls.
And everyone else would get a 5 percent cut.
But as a legislative conference committee prepares to decide the fate of the governor's proposed legislation, starting next week, at least one analysis suggests the savings would be small, particularly for the working poor.
Taxpayers making $38,400 a year or less -- about 60 percent of working residents -- would get off the hook for about $40 a year in income tax. But those who smoke, drink and have satellite television would more than give it back, according to a study prepared by the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Endorsers and critics
A host of business, tourism and industry groups, ranging from the Kentucky Farm Bureau to the Kentucky League of Cities, has publicly endorsed Fletcher's overall package, which he says will stimulate economic growth and jobs.
But a coalition of Kentucky advocacy groups that paid for the study of the governor's proposals maintain that wealthier individuals and corporations would benefit the most.
"We would say this is not a fair plan," Debra Miller, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, testified at a recent House hearing.
The effect of proposed new taxes on satellite TV bills, beer and cigarettes represents a greater proportion of the money earned by low-income residents, she said. Fletcher's plan includes higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco and a 7.62 percent levy on all telecommunications serv-ices, including some that aren't currently taxed.
The lowest-earning 20 percent of Kentuckians -- anyone making less than $12,600 a year -- would realize about 9 percent of the total savings generated by personal income tax changes, the institute's study said.
By contrast, the study said, 57 percent of the tax breaks would benefit the wealthiest 20 percent of Kentuckians, who have income of more than $61,700 a year.
The 1 percent of Kentuckians who have the highest incomes would save an average of $1,437 a year. Residents earning between $61,000 and $112,000 would save an average of $135.
Those who no longer had to pay income taxes at all would save about $40 a year, the study said. That's the same as what a Kentucky family in the middle, earning about $30,000, also would save.
The analysis has prompted at least one organization -- the Catholic Conference of Kentucky -- to withhold endorsement.
At a news conference last week held by organizations that advocate for the poor, the Catholic Conference's deputy director, the Rev. Pat Delahanty, said the Fletcher administration asked for his group's support but didn't get it. He said the group concluded the tax plan "is unjust."
The Fletcher administration disagrees. Income tax savings are available to the poor in the same proportion as everyone else, officials say.
State Budget Director Brad Cowgill recently told a House committee that low-income families can save money if members don't smoke, consume only a moderate amount of alcohol, and pay about the average for telephone and television services. However, high use would offset their income tax savings.
In addition, some of the state's working poor could benefit by landing one of the higher-paying jobs that the tax plan is designed to create, Cowgill said.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have praised parts of the governor's plan, including cuts in corporate taxes as well as the personal income tax changes.
Giveback gives pause
But several, including House Appropriations and Revenue Committee chairman Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, worry that another part of the plan could crimp the state's ability to generate money in the long term.
The proposal includes a clause that would gradually lower personal income taxes even more than the opening 5 percent trim.
If Kentucky's revenue forecasts showed that the state was starting to bring in more money than required to pay the government's bills in a year, half of the extra funds would be returned to taxpayers.
The complicated "trigger mechanism" formula would take into consideration population growth and inflation.
But some lawmakers said that would make it difficult for the state, which has been chronically strapped for revenue, to build up cash reserves or pay for new programs during economic booms.
Jason Bailey, co-director of Lexington's Democracy Resource Center, called the give-back trigger shortsighted and dangerous.
Cowgill said the governor and legislature could still override that clause if the state needed the money to cover rising costs of programs, such as Medicaid, or if it wanted to put away more money.
Moberly said last week that those types of questions are likely to dominate next week's negotiations between the House and Senate.
March 27, 2004
Grocery union's contract expiring
Negotiations affect 29,000 area workers; Deadline for deal is Tuesday; Five-month Calif. strike hangs over regional talks
By Stacey Hirsh Sun Staff March 27, 2004
Giant and Safeway supermarkets in the Baltimore-Washington area and the union representing 29,000 of their workers are fast approaching a Tuesday deadline for a new contract - and the threat of a strike that could cripple hundreds of local supermarkets and send tens of thousands of workers to the picket line.
Safeway Inc. and Giant Food Inc. are negotiating jointly with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents cashiers, meat cutters and other workers. Their contract has been extended to expire Tuesday.
The local negotiation comes on the heels of a tumultuous supermarket strike and lockout in Southern California that lasted five months. Although it is difficult to predict what will happen here, industry analysts say both sides showed a willingness to endure a bitter, extended battle out West.
The effects of that strike could play out across the country, starting in this region, labor experts say. California-based Safeway is also negotiating contracts in several other cities across the country, including Seattle and Denver and in Arizona.
If Giant and Safeway workers strike, it would be the first time in at least three decades. The supermarket business has changed greatly during that span, particularly in recent years as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other nonunion retailers have picked off shopper dollars.
"My clear sense was that employers in retail around the country were very closely watching the Southern California dispute, and I think both the union and the employers saw this as something that would set the trend for bargaining in this industry in other parts of the country," said Paul Clark, a labor studies and industrial relations professor at Pennsylvania State University.
Other unionized supermarket chains in the area - Metro, Super Fresh and Eddie's - are part of separate contract negotiations not under way, so a strike would mean employees at those stores would continue to work.
UFCW Local 400 of Washington and Local 27 of Baltimore are scheduled to vote Tuesday on a contract still being negotiated. Giant and Safeway supermarkets in the region will be closed from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday while their employees vote.
If the members reject the contract and more than two-thirds of those at Tuesday's meeting vote to authorize a strike, union leaders can use the strike vote as a bargaining chip at the negotiating table or begin a strike. A strike would send all union workers at Giant and Safeway across the region, including on the Eastern Shore, to picket lines outside stores as early as Wednesday.
Nonunion competition
A key issue in the talks is health care - an issue that dominates most collective bargaining negotiations nationwide and was the overriding issue in the long California strike and lockout. Both sides decline to discuss their talks in detail, although a union spokesman said the costs of health care benefits are at issue nationwide.
"The UFCW, nationally, is committed to maintaining affordable health care benefits for workers in the supermarket industry," said Greg Denier, the UFCW spokesman. "The supermarkets in this area are profitable; they're in a very strong market position."
Giant and Safeway officials counter that they are trying to structure wages and benefits to compete with nonunion stores, which pay their workers considerably less. The average hourly wage of a clerk at Safeway or Giant is $13.19, compared with $7.68 for a nonunion clerk, according to Safeway.
"The main threat is the nonunion competition," said Harry Burton, the lead negotiator for Giant and Safeway. "They essentially do not have pension benefits as we have; and they pay very little in heath benefits."
Wal-Mart opens about 220 "supercenters" a year - large discount stores with grocery stores attached, said Andrew Wolf, a retail analyst for BB&T Capital Markets in Richmond, Va. The supercenters are typically in suburban and rural areas, he said. Wal-Mart said it has five supercenters in Maryland, none of them in Baltimore. That's not nearly as saturated as in Virginia and Pennsylvania, where it has about 60 apiece, Wolf said.
"They do a lot of business, and they are opening more stores than anyone else," Wolf said.
But the unionized grocers' struggle to adapt benefits and wages to compete with Wal-Mart also represents a shift in employer attitude, said Bill Barry, director of labor studies at the Community College of Baltimore County. It used to be that nonunion employers would adopt the wages and working conditions of union companies, spreading unionism beyond its members. Now, the opposite is true, he said.
"For decades, the unions have set the tone for all of society and established things such as paid vacations as 'normal,'" Barry said. "What we're seeing now, probably due to the decline of unionism, is things that were always considered normal are now up for grabs."
The union argues that Giant and Safeway have a marketplace advantage over stores such as Wal-Mart because of the quality customer service its workers provide.
"If Safeway thinks it can compete against Wal-Mart by chasing them to the bottom, they will never win," said Denier, the union spokesman.
California strike
In Southern California in October, about 70,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers went on strike for five months at more than 850 stores owned by Safeway, Albertsons Inc. and Kroger Co., owner of Ralphs. By the time the strike ended weeks ago, the businesses had lost an estimated $2.5 billion in revenue and workers had forfeited five months of wages.
Neither side wants a repeat of that in the Baltimore-Washington area. Given the sums lost, neither side came out a winner in California, analysts said. The terms of that settlement, however, could set the standard for what employers here and elsewhere expect to gain and how much supermarket workers are willing to give up.
"It may well be that the battle was fought out in Southern California and that a pattern was set that will enable the parties in other places to settle," Clark said.
The California grocers didn't get near the relief they sought in terms of wage and benefit concessions to better compete with Wal-Mart, analysts said.
The union, which resisted cuts in health care for many of its members, agreed to a structure in which new workers would get fewer benefits than existing employees. Unions typically dislike such "two-tier" arrangements because they create two classes, with new employees receiving fewer benefits and lower pay than existing workers who do the same job, Clark said.
"They took such big hits in that strike," Clark said, referring to the supermarkets and the union. "It's kind of like two boxers who have gone 15 rounds. They're just exhausted in a sense, and I don't know if either of them can afford to take another punch."
Landover-based Giant Food is a unit of Royal Ahold NV, the Dutch supermarket conglomerate that has been struggling after an accounting scandal at its Columbia-based food distribution subsidiary US Foodservice Inc. Ahold may not be able to weather a lengthy labor battle, said Wolf, the retail analyst.
Ready 'to stand up'
Area Teamsters, the union that represents truck drivers who deliver food and other items to Giant and Safeway, have said they would honor a strike by not crossing the picket line for deliveries. The supermarkets say they will be able to operate and keep their shelves stocked in any event.
Mike Nelson, 39, has worked at Safeway since high school. He has tried his hand in nearly every department at 10 stores - a career that's enabled him to buy a nice home and support his wife and three children.
But lately his days have been filled with "a lot of tension," he said. Nelson, who works at the Safeway on North Charles Street in Baltimore, says his coworkers are upset about the negotiations and are willing to fight for their benefits.
"They're willing to stand up for what they believe in," he said. "They're willing to go on strike."
March 25, 2004
Wall-to-Wall Wal-Mart
By Bruce Upbin, Forbes
With 3,550 stores in the U.S. and 1,000 Supercenters to be added in the next five years, all that's left for Wal-Mart is mop-up. It already sells more toys than Toys "R" Us, more clothes than the Gap and Limited combined and more food than Kroger. If it were its own economy, Wal-Mart Stores would rank 30th in the world, right behind Saudi Arabia. Growing at 11% a year, Wal-Mart would hit half a trillion dollars in sales by early in the next decade.
But its mesmerizing success in the U.S. masks this fact: Overseas, Wal-Mart has won some--and lost a lot. Just a few victories have been swift: Canada, Mexico and the U.K. More than 80% of its international revenue comes from these three countries.
In Europe it has proven at times adept, at times inept, at acquiring. In China it struggles with a dauntingly primitive supply chain. In Japan it is taking rice-grain-size steps so as not to damage a powerful but backward retail ecosystem. It has achieved runaway success in Mexico, but stumbled among stronger competitors in the huge markets of Brazil and Argentina.
Some big blunders are behind it. Wal-Mart entered Hong Kong in 1994 and left two years later after screwing up merchandise selection and location. It entered Indonesia in 1996, but tucked tail soon after a Jakarta store was looted and torched during the 1997-98 riots. Wal-Mart lost hundreds of millions of dollars in Germany after trying to force its systems on two acquisitions. It has yet to click in South Korea (news - web sites), where its Supercenters misread local tastes and sit too far outside city centers.
One thing Wal-Mart has going for it--beside the fealty of suppliers and an $11 billion capital budget--is a distaste for making mistakes twice. Operations staff from 36 regions fly into Bentonville, Ark. to attend its famed 7:30 a.m. Friday meetings, which perform hours-long postmortems on what went right and wrong that week. The international crew joins that grueling powwow, too. "We're still very young at this, we're still learning," says John Menzer, chief executive of Wal-Mart International.
International is already the fastest-growing division, accounting for a fifth of revenue, or $47.5 billion--the size of Target--and a fifth of operating income (earnings before interest, taxes and minority interest), or $2.4 billion. Over the next three to five years, company Chief Lee Scott insists, sales from abroad must contribute a third of earnings and sales growth. It missed both targets last year, adding $6.8 billion to the company's overall increase of $26.7 billion in revenue and $372 million to the total $1.8 billion lift in operating income.
The Wal-Martization of the world is changing commerce around the planet, for good and ill. By importing so many goods from low-wage countries like China, it eliminates manufacturing jobs and depresses wage growth in the U.S.--and has the same effect in any country where it achieves significant density. But by selling goods for less, Wal-Mart raises living standards. It will create 800,000 jobs worldwide over the next several years, not to mention the labor needed to build the stores, parking lots and distribution centers. Yin and yang.
Bentonville has gotten a lot of flak for squeezing its U.S. suppliers to the point of asphyxiation. But for every casualty, there are successful upstarts like Orange Glo International. The family-run household products company in Greenwood Village, Colo. got picked up by Wal-Mart in 1998 and two years later went overseas. Wal-Mart gave Orange Glo a few pointers, urging it to make its tubs of OxiClean stain remover two inches shorter to fit on Japan's lower store shelves and to hire a full-time employee for floor demonstrations at the Sam's Club in Shenzhen, China. Orange Glo now ships U.S.-made goods to 11 countries; its sales have more than quadrupled to $400 million since 1999.
Sam Walton wasn't one to stare at a map on the wall and dream of conquest. He died in 1992, when Wal-Mart's global ambitions consisted of two Sam's Clubs in Mexico City. A year later Rob Walton, chairman, and David Glass, chief executive, asked Bob L. Martin, chief information officer, to forge abroad.
Martin went on a wild ride, mixing franchising, acquisition, virgin development and joint venture. When he retired in 1999, International had $12 billion in sales and $550 million in operating profit--and became the largest retailer in Canada and Mexico.
Time for a numbers wonk. John Menzer had been Wal-Mart's chief financial officer since 1995 and brought a passion for precision and planning. The 1999 acquisition of ASDA, then the U.K.'s third-largest grocer, was followed by two and a half years of careful technology integration and employee training. He wasn't about to repeat the chaos of the rushed acquisitions in Germany. Armed with four years' worth of studies and outlines of the Japanese market, Menzer took only a sip, spending $51 million for a 6% stake of the Seiyu chain in 2002. Seiyu's stock price more than doubled after the news broke, but Menzer had secured warrants to up its interest to 67% at a fixed price. He remembered how Wal-Mart had paid ever higher prices to add to its stake in Mexican retailer Cifra in the 1990s.
Menzer has ordered all his country presidents to make their own decisions in order to enact them faster. Each handles his own sourcing, merchandising and real estate. "Over time all you really have is speed. I think that's our most important asset," he says.
Some of Wal-Mart's labor problems have dogged it overseas. The largest union in Germany tried to get Wal-Mart to sign an industrywide collective bargaining agreement, but the retailer refused to sign any omnibus contract because it says its stores already had the terms in place. In China, where unions have little clout, Wal-Mart has refused to kick in the customary 2% of wages to the state-run labor councils, paying it instead into a fund for employees.
Competitors everywhere are bracing for a fight. Tesco, the U.K.'s biggest grocer, has opened superstores and added merchandise space faster than ASDA. The two largest retailers in China, Lianhua and Huilan, merged last year into one state-owned firm called the Bailian Group, with annual sales of $8 billion.
Where Wal-Mart goes next is a well-kept secret. Rumors swirl of buyout overtures to Italy's Esselunga chain, France's global giants Carrefour and Auchan, Japan's Daiei or Aeon. In plans kept hush until now, 40 Wal-Mart managers are convening in Russia in April to study trucking routes, distribution points, rival store locations, shopping habits. With stumbles along the way, this retail revolution will be exported to all corners of the globe.
Giant, Safeway labor talks likely to last until deadline
Contract for employees at both grocery stores expires March 30
The lead negotiator for Giant Food and Safeway Inc. said he is expecting talks with union officials on a new contract for about 30,000 employees to go down to the wire.
"I think we'll need all the time that we have available to us," said Harry Burton, the negotiator.The contract for employees at both stores expires March 30. Management and union officials are negotiating over wages, pensions and health benefits at the two companies with stores in the Washington and Baltimore areas.
Rising competition from nonunion stores is forcing the companies to search for ways to save money, Burton said.
Nonunion grocery stores in the area pay less wages, often don't provide pensions and provide substantially less in health benefits, Burton said.
"We're trying to maintain as much as we can for our current employees -- both their jobs and the quality of their compensation -- while trying to adapt as much as possible to the competitive environment through change -- work rules and also through new hires," Burton said.
Jim Lowthers, a negotiator with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, did not return phone calls by the Associated Press seeking comment. Negotiators for UFCM Local 27, which also is involved in the talks, also did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Both stores are preparing for a strike and have run advertisements in newspapers for temporary workers.
"All I can say is both sides are working as hard they can to avoid that, but the issues are tricky enough that neither side can give you an answer," Burton said.
Both sides began discussing a new contract last month, and intense negotiations have been going on in the last two weeks, Burton said.
In recent days, negotiators have been meeting into the evening.
March 24, 2004
UNION VOTE SET FOR QUEBEC WAL-MART
Québec City, Québec- A Wal-Mart store in Jonquière, Québec has moved one step closer to becoming the only unionized Wal-Mart location in North America following a decision Tuesday by the Quebec Labour Commission (QLC).
The ruling by the QLC struck down Wal-Mart's argument made during four days of hearings earlier this year, that store managers and administrative staff should also be granted voting rights in determining whether the Jonquière store goes union. Instead, in a decision delivered by commission chair Louis Morin, the QLC ruled it will conduct a vote limited to the store's general retail workers only.
While the commission agreed with the union's application that the bargaining unit be limited to the store's retail floor employees, the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada union (UFCW Canada) was disappointed the commission didn't go further and automatically certify the bargaining unit.
UFCW Canada Local 503 had applied for the automatic certification following a successful signup campaign at the Jonquière store conducted in late December.
The commission's decision leaves us with mixed feelings," said Marie-Josée Lemieux, president of UFCW Canada Local 503. "On the one hand the QLC agreed with the position of the union that the makeup of the bargaining unit be similar to what is traditionally accepted at similar workplaces in Quebec."
"On the other hand we are disappointed the Jonquière workers now have to wait to realize their desire to get trade union accreditation."
"With the backing of UFCW Canada Local 503," said Lemieux," these Jonquière workers will have a singular opportunity to reconfirm to Wal-Mart they want a union; that they want to take their destiny into their own hands and decide their future."
"We will certainly continue to assist them in their battle of David against Goliath," declared Lemieux. "Thanks to his courage David beat the giant. We trust the Jonquière Wal-Mart workers will prove they have the same courage and determination."
Wal-Mart Settles Lawsuit Collecting Insurance From Dead Employees
DALLAS - Wal-Mart has settled a lawsuit over its practice of taking out life insurance on employees and making itself the beneficiary. The settlement with families of employees who died was reached hours before a federal appeals court ruled against the giant retailer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The families said that Wal-Mart never told workers about the life insurance policies - Wal-Mart disputes that claim - and said they were enraged that the company profited but they received nothing from the proceeds. “A large percentage of the population doesn’t approve of the morality or the ethics of this type of conduct,” Mike Myers, a Houston attorney for the families, said. “My clients’ reaction, when they found out, was stunned and disbelief, turning to frustration and anger.”
The relatives sued in 2001 in Houston, and the U. S. District Court sided with the families, ruling in effect that Texas law limited such policies to key employees. Wal-Mart appealed to but lawyers for the company and the relatives reached a settlement hours before the court issued its ruling, upholding the victory by relatives and saying that Wal-Mart “unlawfully took funds that, under Texas law, rightfully belonged” to a dead worker’s estate.
Wal-Mart is one of many large U.S. companies in recent years that have taken out policies on the lives of employees, ranging from executives to workers on the bottom rungs of the pay ladder, with the goal of collecting benefits when the employees die. Companies term the policies corporate-owned life insurance, or COLIs. Critics call them dead-peasant policies.
Wal-Mart set up a trust in 1993 and named itself as beneficiary on policies for 355,000 employees.
March 23, 2004
Save Overtime Pay
President Bush and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao are still expected to finalize their overtime pay take-away before the end of March. An exact date has not been announced yet. At the same time, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is pushing for a vote this week on a legislative measure to block the Bush administration from cutting overtime pay.
The Petition to Save Overtime Pay now has more than 570,000 signers. We'll announce a special new effort on overtime pay you can support next week. For now, it's more important than ever that you reach out to your friends, family and co-workers to let them know about the Bush overtime pay take-away. Please ask them to sign the petition at the link below.
http://www.saveovertimepay.org/
March 20, 2004
Grocers Set To Recruit in Case of Strike
Contract Deadline in 10 Days
By Michael Barbaro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 20, 2004; Page E01
Giant Food LLC and Safeway Inc., which are renegotiating a contract with 18,000 local grocery workers, will begin recruiting temporary employees to operate their 350 Washington area stores in case there is a strike, the companies said yesterday.
The chains will run advertisements seeking cashiers, clerks and customer service workers beginning in tomorrow's editions of The Washington Post and Baltimore Sun, according to company spokesmen.
The union and the chains have extended the deadline for negotiating a contract from March 27 to March 30, the day workers are scheduled to vote on a final proposal from Giant and Safeway, which are jointly negotiating the contract.
The decision to seek temporary workers is the latest sign of how intensely both sides are preparing for the possibility of a strike, which could disrupt business at the region's two biggest supermarket chains, which together control 48 percent of the Washington area grocery market.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 has already selected strike captains, distributed instructions for setting up picket lines and handed out the names of bail bondsmen in case striking workers are arrested.
"It's simply prudent preparation," Harry Burton, the lead negotiator for Giant and Safeway, said of the recruitment. "It is important to serve our customers."
In a statement, Local 400 President C. James Lowthers said the advertisements are used not only to staff stores "but also as a scare tactic to incite fear and disunity among our members."
Safeway spokesman Greg TenEyck said people interested in jobs can pick up applications from the company's stores on Sunday, and the chain will start conducting interviews in stores on Monday. Giant will follow a similar schedule, company spokesman Barry F. Scher said.
If there is a strike, Safeway plans to pay temporary workers $10 an hour, which is $3.40 more than the starting wage for new cashiers. Giant's planned wage is unclear.
In a letter posted on Giant's employee Web site yesterday, the Landover-based company notified employees that it would begin advertising for temporary help but said the workers "are not your replacements."
"If there is a work stoppage, we want you back on the job as soon possible after it's over," the letter says.
Giant and Safeway have vowed to cut wage, pension and health care costs to compete with nonunion chains such as Food Lion and Harris Teeter, which operate at lower costs.
Safeway yesterday released a report on its employee Web site saying that grocery clerks at the company earn about $13.37 an hour, compared with a grocery clerk at a local nonunion store, who makes about $7.61 an hour. The company said it pays between $8,000 and $11,000 a year to provide health care to a union worker, three times more than its local competition.
March 19, 2004
Bush-Cheney and Slave Labor
BUSH / CHENEY CAMPAIGN PARAPHERNALIA
MADE WITH SLAVE LABOR IN BURMA
NEWSDAY Article, "Bush campaign gear made in
Burma," by Lauren Weber, Friday March 19, 2004
*Bush / Cheney '04 Campaign Fleece pullovers obtained by NEWSDAY were made in Burma in factories operating as joint ventures with the brutal military dictators. Workers in Burma earn as little as seven cents an hour, 56 cents a day and $3.23 a week. Any worker in Burma daring to ask for her most fundamental rights would be imprisoned. The garment workers in Burma were paid approximately four cents for each $49.95 Bush / Cheney fleece pullover they sewed.
*U.S. Customs import records show a large $124,241 shipment of fleece goods made in Burma which was raced to the U.S., entering at the port of Los Angeles on August 21, 2003---just 10 days before the Burma import ban would go into effect.
Another shipment of fleece goods from Burma entered Vancouver, Canada on September 6, 2003. It is not known if these goods entered the U.S. in violation of the ban. The landed customs value-the total cost of production-of the fleece pullover entering Canada was just $5.21. One company located in Denver called Yes America Inc. imported $2,000,000 worth of fleece goods made in Burma between March 19 and May 12, 2003. The fleece goods were manufactured at:
Myanmar Yes Company Limited
Industrial Zone (Plot 64 / Port 3)
Hlaing Thayar Township
Yangou, Myanmar (Burma)
All Bush / Cheney campaign goods are handled by the Spalding Group based in Louisville, KY. [In the last three years, Kentucky has lost 36,200 manufacturing jobs.] Ted Jackson, Spalding's President, told NEWSDAY that out of their entire fleece pullover inventory they could find only one other garment made in Burma. However, this appears to be untrue. Last evening the National Labor Committee placed an order to purchase several Bush / Cheney fleece pullover which were due to arrive on Monday. At 11:00 a.m. this morning we reviewed a call from the Spalding Group saying that -without explanation-they could not send us the fleece pullovers we ordered.
*Since President Bush came into office in January 2001, the U.S. has lost 337,000 textile and apparel jobs in the last 12 months. There are now 709,000 textile and apparel jobs left in the U.S., down from down from 1.5 million in 1994. The U.S. had a $70 billion textile and apparel trade deficit last year, as imports shot up 10.3 percent. In the last three years the U.S. has lost an average of 78,000 manufacturing jobs a month.
CALL OR EMAIL THE WHITE HOUSE & BUSH-CHENEY CAMPAIGN
HEADQUARTERS!
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
202-456-1111
president@whitehouse.gov
BUSH-CHENEY '04, Inc
P.O. BOX 10648
Arlington, VA 22210
Phone: 703.647.2700
Fax: 703.647.2993
Email: BushCheney04@GeorgeWBush.com
March 16, 2004
New Union Plus Education Benefit
1) NEW: Education Services through AES
With college costs soaring and the demand for higher education increasing, union members need help to pay for college. From scholarships and loans, to planning tools for college, the recently enhanced Union Plus Education Services program provides working families with valuable educational assistance
The unique benefits for you and your family include:
Quality service from a new unionized provider: American Education Services (AES). AES employs over 1,000 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.
Financial aid counseling over the phone at 1-877-881-1022. Live online chat is also available.
Education loans including federal, private and consolidation loans.
Ability to search for scholarships online.
A strike benefit for loans provides up to 60 days of loan forgiveness where AES will actually pay the loan payments for the borrower in the event the borrower is on strike for at least 30 days.
Practical college planning tools including financial calculators, timelines, help with the FAFSA form, information on 529 college savings plans, help with college entrance exam test preparation and much more.
Affordable textbooks through an online unionized bookstore, Powell's.
ALT="Union Plus benefits for union members"
March 15, 2004
1 Hispanic Worker Killed Everyday At Work
The jobs that lure Mexican workers to the United States are killing them in a worsening epidemic that is now claiming a victim a day, an Associated Press investigation has found.
The jobs that lure Mexican workers to the United States are killing them in a worsening epidemic that is now claiming a victim a day, an Associated Press investigation has found.
Though Mexicans often take the most hazardous jobs, they are more likely than others to be killed even when doing similarly risky work.
The death rates are greatest in several Southern and Western states, where a Mexican worker is four times more likely to die than the average U.S.-born worker.
These accidental deaths are almost always preventable and often gruesome: Workers are impaled, shredded in machinery, buried alive. Some are 15 years old.
For the first such study of Mexican worker deaths in the United States, AP talked with scores of workers, employers and government officials and analyzed years of federal safety and population statistics.
Among the findings:
• Mexican death rates are rising even as the U.S. workplace grows safer overall. In the mid-1990s, Mexicans were about 30 percent more likely to die than native-born workers; now they are about 80 percent more likely.
• Deaths among Mexicans in the United States increased faster than their population. As the number of Mexican workers grew by about half, from 4 million to 6 million, the number of deaths rose by about two-thirds, from 241 to 387. Deaths peaked at 420 in 2001.
• Mexicans are nearly twice as likely as the rest of the immigrant population to die at work.
Why is all this happening?
Public safety officials and workers themselves say the answer comes down to this: Mexicans are hired to work cheap, the fewer questions the better.
They may be thrown into jobs without training or safety equipment. Their objections may be silent if they speak no English or are here illegally. And their work culture and Third World safety expectations don't discourage risk-taking.
Federal and state safety agencies have started to recognize the problem. But they have limited resources — only a few Spanish-speaking investigators work in regions with hundreds of thousands of recent arrivals.
Meanwhile, Mexicans continue to die on the job.
Carlos Huerta, 18, fell to his death as he built federal low-income housing in North Carolina.
His bosses ignored basic work safety rules, according to state inspectors, when they put him in a trash container that wasn't secured to the raised prongs of a forklift. It soon toppled.
In 2002, the year Huerta was killed, more Mexicans died in construction than any other industry.
A year ago in South Carolina, brothers Rigouerto and Moses Xaca Sandoval died building a suburban high school that, at 15 and 16, they might have attended. They were buried in a trench when the walls of sandy soil collapsed.
The United States offered these three teens wages 10 times higher than in Mexico. They offered their employers cheap, pliant labor. For safety violations that led to these deaths, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined employers $50,475.
Accidents like these suggest that employers assign Mexicans to the most glaringly perilous tasks, said Susan Feldmann, who fields calls from Spanish-speaking workers for an institute within the federal Centers for Disease Control.
"They're considered disposable," she said.
But employers are not always at fault, some safety officials say.
Though he was trained and wearing required safety gear, Jesus Soto Carbajal severed his jugular vein with a carving knife in a Nebraska meatpacking plant.
Federal safety officials didn't fine the employer, though they did recommend fundamental changes in the work routine. A plant spokesman says that since the accident in 2000, workers wear larger protective tunics.
Mexican worker deaths also were concentrated in agriculture.
When Urbano Ramirez suffered a nose bleed picking North Carolina tobacco, his supervisor prescribed shade rest. Ramirez's body was found 10 days later. A medical examiner said he died of unknown natural causes, the body too decomposed for a definitive finding. His brother suspects heat stroke.
Like Ramirez, many deceased workers came with little more than a grade-school education — and often left behind large families.
The AP's investigation focused on 1996 through 2002, the most recent set of worker death data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
During those years, the analysis showed, Mexicans were increasingly more likely to die on the job than U.S. workers of any race.
The annual death rate for Mexicans increased to the point that about 1 in 16,000 workers died. Meanwhile, for the average U.S.-born worker, the rate steadily decreased to about 1 in 28,000.
Mexicans now represent about 1 in 24 workers in the United States, but about 1 in 14 workplace deaths.
The greatest frustration is that so many deaths are avoidable.
"Ninety-five to 99 percent of the time, there's going to be noncompliance with a standard that could have prevented the fatality," says Joe Reina, the No. 2 OSHA official for Texas and neighboring states and a leader of the Hispanic Taskforce.
And, language remains a barrier.
In its eight-state Southeastern region, OSHA has a single Spanish-speaking outreach worker. Marilyn Velez encourages workers and employers to avoid unsafe practices.
It's not easy. Some workers feel they don't need her.
"They are looking at you like, `Are you crazy? I have done worse things,'" Velez said. "It's just the way they see risk."
March 13, 2004
Medicare Ads use tax dollars for Bush Campaign
For weeks, the Bush administration has been using our tax money to run misleading ads for the new Medicare law. Though studies show most people will pay more and millions could lose existing coverage, the $12 million ad campaign says, "Same Medicare, more benefits."
Now, a congressional study has found that the ads include "omissions," overstatements, and a "political tone" not appropriate for "public education" advertising. It's clear that the real intent of these ads is to whitewash President Bush's huge drug lobby give-away in this election year.
Congress's General Accounting Office investigated the ads and found that while they are not technically illegal, they contain "omissions," overstatements, and have a "political tone." The GAO pointed to the ad's failure to mention that drug discount cards will cost up to $30 annually, and that savings will vary by drug.
The new Medicare law has fatal flaws. The government's ads call it "the same Medicare, more benefits." In fact, it's "the same Medicare, more benefits for the drug companies and HMOs--not for average Americans."
Most people will actually pay more under the new law. According to a Consumers' Union study, "Most beneficiaries will face higher out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs after full implementation, despite the benefit."
People with drug costs of around $500 per month get no Medicare help for half the year. Each year, people on Medicare must pay 100% of their drug costs between $2251 and $5100.
Medicare is forbidden to negotiate lower prices with drug companies, despite the Veterans Administration's proven success of this approach.
Drug companies will get $139 billion in new profits under this law, and HMOs will receive billions to participate. The Wall Street Journal wrote, "Corporate lobbying groups are emerging as winners."
2.7 million Seniors could lose benefits that are more generous from their former employers, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The media firm hired to run Medicare's TV ads, National Media Inc. of Arlington, Virginia, also works for the President's reelection campaign, the Republican Party and drug companies.
Source: Move On.org
March 12, 2004
Hanson New International President
Milwaukee Meatcutter Brings History Of Commitment to Diversity, Activism, Organizing And Global Solidarity To Union's Top Leadership Position. A Milwaukee meatcutter took charge today as International President of the 1.4 million member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW). Joe Hansen, member of UFCW Local 653— rank-and-file activist, volunteer organizer, union representative, regional director, the head of the union's packinghouse division, and the UFCW's International Secretary -Treasurer since 1997— was the unanimous choice of the union's International Executive Board to fill the unexpired term of retiring International President Doug Dority.
Hansen, as a young worker learning a skilled trade, proudly became a member of Local 73 of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America in 1962 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His skills went beyond cutting meat. He had the ability to connect with non-union workers, win their trust and help them to organize. Hansen volunteered to spread the union message and quickly became a key part of the union's organizing program. He was an outspoken rank-and-file activist who won election to local union office, and in 1973 became an international staff representative.
After the 1979 merger of the Meat Cutters and the Retail Clerks that created the UFCW, Hansen rose rapidly in the new union serving as an organizer, an executive assistant to a Regional Director, and then as Director of the North Central region. He won election as an International Vice President in 1986. In 1990, Hansen was assigned as Pacific Region 14 Director and then as Director of the UFCW's Food Processing, Packing and Manufacturing Division.
Joe Hansen has always made the connection between aggressive organizing and improving the lives of union members. The more organized workers in a community or industry, the greater their clout at the bargaining table. From his own experience, Hansen focuses on motivating and activating union members to organize other workers. "We have more than a million potential organizers with our membership. Our challenge is to inspire, empower and lead our members in organizing the millions of non-union workers. Organizing activism is first on our agenda for the future," said Hansen.
Joe Hansen was one of the labor movement's first leaders to recognize the importance of organizing and representing the new wave of immigrants that was filling the packinghouses and food processing plants of the Midwest and South. Hansen saw that the future of his union would be men and women of many colors, speaking a multitude of languages, and coming from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. "Solidarity among all workers— regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or immigration status— is the foundation of our movement, and our strength to meet the challenges of the future," according to Hansen. He is a leader within the AFL-CIO for addressing the needs of immigrant workers, and serves on the Federation's Immigration Committee.
Hansen's vision of the future sees global solidarity as the counter to corporate globalization. He was elected to serve as President of Union Network International (UNI) at its first World Congress in Berlin in 2001. UNI is an international labor organization representing 15 million workers in 900 unions in more than 100 countries across the globe. "As corporations spread their reach around the world, we must extend our hands in solidarity to workers in all lands. Organized workers are the most powerful force in the world. Solidarity works worldwide," Hansen has pointed out in speeches in the U.S. and abroad.
Hansen has played a key role in support of local union collective bargaining. He has advised local unions, challenged employers, rallied supporters and walked picket lines. He has seen over the past decade that rising health benefit costs are the number one cause of strikes. Hansen has reached a firm conclusion on the single most important legislative and political issue: "We must have comprehensive national health care reform. No worker should be forced onto the picket line to save health care for their families. November 2004 is the time to elect a President and Congress that will protect health care benefits for working families."
Hansen, as well the other members of the UFCW International Executive Board, thanked Doug Dority for his service and commitment to the UFCW. Hansen said on behalf of the entire Board, "Doug Dority is a union builder and an organizer. He is part of the soul of this union. He taught a generation of leaders and representatives that our commitment is always first and foremost to the members. We are stronger, more effective and better prepared for the future because of Doug Dority. He will forever be our brother."
After more than 40 years of union service that began when he organized the grocery store where he worked in Lynchburg, Virginia, Dority, UFCW International President since 1994, decided to retire from his union office. He will continue, however, to work with labor and other progressive organizations on efforts to win national health care reform. Dority had planned to announce his retirement in January, but delayed retiring until the Southern California strike had been successfully resolved.
Michael E. Leonard, International Executive Vice President and International Director of Strategic Programs, also announced his retirement effective March 2, 2004.
The UFCW International Executive Board elected Anthony M. Perrone as International Secretary-Treasurer, William T. McDonough as International Executive Vice President, and Michael J. Fraser as International Executive Vice President. Perrone currently serves as International Executive Vice President and International Director of Organizing. McDonough currently serves as International Vice President and Region 8 Director. Fraser currently serves as International Vice President and Canadian National Director. Sarah Palmer Amos continues to serve as International Executive Vice President and International Director of Collective Bargaining and completes the five-person International Executive Committee.
March 08, 2004
Healthcare Reform a Must for 2004
In Southern California, workers were given no choice but to fight. The local unions faced a demand that would have effectively eliminated affordable health care benefits for its members. Through their struggle the striking and locked out workers have performed a service for the entire country… they sounded the alarm that your health care benefits are at risk. The strike caused by these big profitable mega corporations also sounded an alarm…that the American health care system is ready to collapse. In the negotiations, two players who influenced the strike were not at the table… Wal-Mart and the Health care system.
Five years of double-digit increases in the cost of health insurance has caused many employers to either eliminate or drastically reduce coverage. In just one year, over 2 million people lost health insurance. That’s over 6,000 workers a day. Wal-Mart the world’s largest corporation covers only about 40% of its employees who pay almost $300 a month for coverage. What happens when the 60% who can’t afford the coverage are ill or injured? We all pay for it. We pay for what Wal-Mart should in two ways. First in higher taxes, because States through Medicaid are paying for the uninsured coverage causing large budget deficits and secondly in higher costs from health care providers to make up for unpaid charges.
Americans have the highest cost health care and the worst coverage of any of the industrialized countries. We must have national health care reform. No one company, no one union, no industry, or group of workers alone can fix the health care system. We can patch it up. We can protect our members for another contract term, but the system continues to fail. The increased cost on both employers and workers is leaving more and more families with out health care.
It is clear that what we are doing now is not working. In the United States, health care spending now averages $5,440 per person, roughly double the amount spent in European countries. The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced an increase in the number of Americans without health insurance of 2.4 million, bringing the total to 43.6 million, or 15.2 percent of the population
Now is the time for action. 2004 is the year to put health care reform on the political agenda. We need to demand that every candidate for office commits to comprehensive, affordable health insurance for every working family. UFCW has endorsed John Kerry for President because we believe that he will lead the nation to reform the system. President Bush’s plan to allow us to save our own money in a tax-free health savings account may be fine for millionaires but it takes everything that workers earn to get by.
No worker should ever again be forced to choose between a paycheck and health care. No worker should ever be forced into the streets to protect health care for their families. Affordable health insurance for all Americans can be a reality…we must not allow the sacrifice of those 70,000 Southern California workers to be for naught.
Changing Times and Challenges
Health Care is not a privilege but a right! Ten or fifteen years ago health insurance was a given. Union and non-union companies in every industry provided health insurance coverage for its employees. Many unions and employers or groups of employers established funds that administered the insurance benefits to the covered groups of workers. The employers paid the premiums to the fund and the fund in turn paid the bills to healthcare providers.
Every contract the union would seek more money for the fund, providing additional benefits for the workers and their families. All was well. The workers gave up a few cents per hour in wage increases and in return received good benefits. Non-union companies followed suit and provided some of the benefits for their employees.
What happened? Health care costs started skyrocketing. Why? There are many factors and much finger pointing. Some accuse doctors and hospitals of getting greedy; others blame the high cost of new technology and unnecessary procedures. For others, insurance companies got greedy and the doctors blame the lawyers because of large malpractice awards. Whatever the cause, and there are many, healthcare costs began to increase dramatically. It’s gotten to the point where Ford Motor Company pays more for its employees’ health insurance than they do for the steel to make cars.
Because of increased costs, non-union employers started cutting benefits. Many stopped covering their workers altogether. This only exacerbated the problem for everyone else. Those who had insurance subsidized the treatment of those who didn’t. Unionized employers weren’t able to unilaterally make the same cuts. Nevertheless, pressure increased at the bargaining table to take cost saving measures and to not fund benefit improvements.
Employers are demanding their workers share an ever-increasing portion of the cost. Our members at Carhartt were the first in our Local to feel the sticker shock. The non-union garment companies don’t worry about health insurance since most have moved off shore where even wages are only a few dollars a day. Still Carhartt has to remain competitive or go out of business. Today health care costs are the number one issue at the bargaining table. In the current contract dispute in Southern California, resulting in 70,000 grocery workers on strike and locked-out, three of the most profitable companies in the industry are hiding behind Wal-Mart while effectively eliminating health care for their employees. Safeway, Kroger, and Albertsons’ combined profit rose 91 percent over the last five years and they control 61 percent of the grocery market in Southern California; yet, they are asking their workers to sacrifice their health to increase those profits even more.
At the heart of this fight is a question of values -- the values of the hard-working, middle class American worker or the underlying greed of the largest company in the world. Every person working hard for a living earns the right to a decent wage, affordable health-care, and a voice on the job. On the other hand, Wal-Mart’s greed provides other companies a license to chip away at the rights of working America, influencing everything from wages to working conditions. Wal-Mart is transforming America from a secure middle class country to one of extremes: making affordable health insurance a privilege for the rich instead of a right for all.
March 06, 2004
Corporate Welfare
The PBS news program, "Now With Bill Moyers,'' recently reported that Wal- Mart's personnel offices actively encourage employees to apply for public assistance. In addition, economists at the Institute for Labor and Employment at UC Berkeley estimate that in 2002 California taxpayers subsidized $20.5 million worth of medical care for Wal-Mart workers.
Recently it was reported that Georgia’s tax-subsidized health insurance program for low-income families, now serves more than 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees. Meantime the five heirs of Sam Walton rank among the 10 richest people on the planet, with a net worth of $20 Billion each. Less than 1% of that could provide affordable health care for their employees.
In other words, we taxpayers pay for the federal programs that provide health care for the children of Wal-Mart's workers. We also pick up the tab for the local public hospitals that provide health care for Wal-Mart employees.
Congressman Miller released a 22-page report by the Democratic staff of his House committee detailing how non-unionized Wal-Mart, the largest employer in both the United States and Mexico, allegedly imposes financial burdens on local governments. A certain percentage of its workers must turn to subsidized medical care, free school lunches, housing subsidies, and other taxpayer- supported welfare services, Miller said.
A typical Wal-Mart store with 200 employees would cost taxpayers $420,750 per year, according to the report. Its employees were paid an average of $8.23 an hour in 2001, compared with $10.35 for a supermarket worker, the report said.
Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, a Democrat representing parts of Contra Costa and Alameda counties, said at Miller's office that Wal-Mart represented "one of the greatest fortunes in the world that has been built on human misery and public subsidy."
March 01, 2004
Kroger Contract Committee Selected
The fight for a fair contract is over in Southern California. In what was the longest strike and most successful strike in UFCW history. The members approved a new contract by 86% after being on strike for five months. However, the fight to save healthcare and resist the grocery industries attack on good jobs is by no means over. It just moves to Indiana, Kentucky, Northern California and other parts of the country as contracts expire. The sacrifices made by the members in California, Missouri, and West Virginia have sent the message to the grocery industry that the attempts to eliminate good jobs and good benefits will come at a high cost.
These negotiations will be the most challenging that we have faced and membership participation and support will be crucial to the bargaining process.
More than 500 members have participated in the 110 meetings we have held over the over the past 6 months to educate members for the Retail Advisory Board and Contract Negotiations Committee. We are very proud of the One-hundred and two members who completed 4 of the 6 courses that were required to serve on the RAB. Listed below are the members who gave up their free time to help work toward a good contract. Thank you.
Abell, Irvin 730
Adams, Don 394
Allen, Richard 722
Ashley, Phyllis 352
Bailey, Tazzie 387
Baker, Linda 901
Beard Jr, Michael 710
Blackwell, Judy 403
Blakely, David 903
Bolanowski, Yvonne 276
Boston, John 346
Bray, Jamie 269
Brothers, Kevin 339
Brown, Dennis 346
Brown, Jennifer 721
Brumfield, Charles 407
Burchett, Ricky 376
Carlton, Dennis 309
Case, Christopher 903
Chandler, Janet 402
Chaney, James 721
Clark, Jerry 276
Cole, Lori 721
Davidson, Mark 713
Dean, Geraldine 713
Dishman, Lisa 901
Donnelly, Danny 394
Easterly, Martin 269
Farmer, Doug 336
Ford, Kay Linda 739
Fraddosio, Pat 713
Gensheimer, Mark 739
Gilpin, Trina 356
Girdler, Eddie 269
Goldberg, Stan 346
Goldey, Larry 713
Grant, Wannah 356
Gray, Terry 734
Green, Mark 739
Hagan, Barbara 385
Harris, Cooper 220
Haynes, Marvin 369
Hendricks, Bobby 350
Heuser, Richard 739
Hewitt, Danny 710
Hopkins, Stephen 396
Howard, Doug 407
Hughes, Donald 710
Hughes, John 733
Hunt, Shannon 713
Johnson, Teresa 734
Kamer, Dave 707
Kearns, Phyllis 411
Kearns, Robert 411
Keeton, Linda 348
Keeton, Mike 348
Kendrick, Mary 901
Kennedy, Steve 729
Kibler, Josh 903
Kilner, Jason 376
King, Judy 718
Larkin, Marty 269
Lewis, Phil 707
Logsdon, James 713
Logsdon, Lisa 717
Lowry, Don 411
Masters, David 734
Maxwell, Robert 348
McCauley, Robert 385
McCubbins, Mike 366
Merrick, Janet 345
Messex, Elisa 385
Miller, Michael 220
Mills, Jerry 717
Newberry, Earl 713
Nichols, Kevin 717
Ott, Kenny 744
Pegram, Jonathan 903
Perkins, Joyce 741
Phillips, Carol 739
Reed, Robert 366
Roberts, Rebecca 411
Rogers, Melanie 411
Russell, Terri 387
Sears, Christina 901
Shelton, Ronnie 717
Shuffett, Karen 408
Smith, Saundra 903
Spaulding, Paul 362
Steudle, Gale 739
Thomas, Jerry 710
Thompson, Earl 403
Vincent, John 707
Voelker, lee 372
Walker, Johnia 402
Walls, Marilyn 315
Warner, Mike 712
Weiter, Larry 385
Weiter, Martin 224
Wilson, Debbie 352
Wine Steve 309
Young, Shirley 789
About 80 of the qualified members expressed an interest in serving on the Negotiations Committee. This led to the difficult task of selecting 20-25 members to represent us in negotiations. The selection was controlled by a formula to ensure the best possible representation and balance by job classification and geographic location. The other RAB members will still have an important role to play and will be involved as the negotiations proceed.
Our Bargaining Committee for the 2004 contract will be the following members.
Harris, Cooper 220
Nichols, Kevin 717
Kennedy, Steve 729
Hopkins, Stephen 396
Chaney, James 721
Bailey, Tazzie 387
Walker, Johnia 402
Fraddosio, Patricia 713
Weiter, Mary 224
Johnson, Teresa 734
Spaudling, Paul 362
Brown, Dennis 346
Donnelly, Danny 394
Voelker, Lee 372
Young, Shirley 389
Hughes, Don 710
Messex, Elisa 385
Phillips, Carol 739
Blackwell, Judy 403
Keeton, Linda 348
Brumfield, Charlie 407
Larkin, Marty 269
In addition to the general negotiations committee, there will be a Sub-Committee to deal with pharmacy issues.
Burchett, Rick
Merrick, Janet
McCauley, Robert
A Bargaining Committee for the Country Stores will meet concurrently.
Sears, Christina
Case, Christopher
Roberts, Rebecca
It is the Union's intention to have our first meeting with the Kroger Company on week ending March 6th or March 13th, and then bargain for the remainder of March and the first part of April.
Shortly after March 1st we will be upgrading our website on Union negotiations and will also create a call in hotline for members who do not have internet access so they can review a timely update.
Together with solidarity, we hope to be able to ratify a fair and equitable agreement.
Marv Russow, President Gary K. Best, Secretary/Treasurer
Kroger members should log in to the "Members Only Retail" site for future updates.
Health Care Costs
The increases in health care costs are effecting us all. The 5 month strike by UFCW members in California is a symptom of a much bigger problem. We must have national health care reform because no one company, no one union, no industry or group of workers alone can fix the health care system.
In one year, over 2 million lost health insurance. That's over 6,000 workers a day. Now is the time for action. We must demand that every candidate for office commits to comprehensive, affordable health insurance for every working family.
If you would like to lean more read the National Coalition on Health Care's report on the cost of inaction. It's in pdf. Download file
California Strike Over - Contract Approved by 86% Vote
Local 227 Secretary/Treasurer Gary K. Best visited the picket lines in California taking money and the message of solidarity to the striking and locked out workers.
More than 70,000 UFCW members in Southern California took a stand against corporate greed. Forced to fight by supermarket giants demanding wholesale cuts in health benefits that would leave current workers unable to pay for their care—and effectively leave future employees without any health care coverage at all--workers from seven locals voted over 90% to reject the offer by three of the largest supermarket operators in the country, Von's (Safeway-owned), Ralph's (Kroger-owned) and Albertson's and set up picket lines October 11, 2003.
The job action was limited Von's in order to reduce any inconvenience to customers but the other chains responded by locking workers out of their jobs.
Even though operating profits for Kroger, Safeway, and Albertson's over the past decade have risen ten times faster than their contributions to worker health care in Southern California, the companies insist on what amounts to a 50 percent cut in medical benefits that would shift almost a billion dollars in health care costs onto employees over the term of the proposed contract.
"I'm fine with paying my fair share for health care coverage," says Angelica Medina who works at Albertson's. "But they are demanding to reduce our benefits while making us pay more. I'm really upset because they know how hard we work, and that we need to support our families."
The striking and locked out members belong to San Diego Local 135, Buena Park Local 324, Hollywood Local 770, Camarillo Local 1036, Bloomington Local 1167, Claremont Local 1428, and Santa Monica Local 1442.
Local 227 President Marv Russow said, “these workers were on strike for all workers—union and non-union—here and across the country knowing if these three super-profitable, supermarket chains can cut benefits, then every worker is at risk”.