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Old 10-21-2003, 11:22 AM   #46  
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So have any of you been paying attention to our grocery strike out here in SoCal?

It is becoming increasingly difficult to eat healthy when you can't just run out to the grocery store. There are three other grocery stores that are open without strikers. They are ALL jam-packed full of people. One of them is outrageously expensive, the other has lines from here to Pakistan and the last one closes early.

I won't cross the picket line but a coworker did and she said it wasn't even worth it, there was nothing left in the store! She bought the last set of eggs, the milk had already expired and the produce had obviously been sitting there for weeks.

What a pain in the butt! And they're talking like it might last two months. I can tell you right now, Thanksgiving may cause riots in San Diego.
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Old 10-21-2003, 11:29 AM   #47  
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wow Jessica,
i had no idea that was going on.
bummer...
let me know if you want me to fedex a gallon of skim milk...
kidding but, not really, is there anything we can do?
send letters to the corporate owners of the supermarket chains...
or whatever...
let us know,
Soozie
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Old 10-21-2003, 02:53 PM   #48  
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No, but maybe some cookies.
You're so sweet Soozie!
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Old 10-21-2003, 05:35 PM   #49  
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OMG! Jessica, shall I send you the pears that are composting in my kitchen? That is just terrible. Grocery stores should be designated essential services!
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Old 10-22-2003, 01:31 AM   #50  
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hi again Jessica,
my DP works for an East Coast Supermarket which is owned by Albertson's...she was wondering if Albertson's is a union store on the West Coast and if Albertson's is on strike.
Albertson's purchased stores out here that were union and they ended up having to maintain them as union facilities even tho their stores in other parts of the country are non-union.

anyway, what good are cookies without milk...I'll fedex both...
low-cal, low-fat, low-sodium, high-fiber, high-protein, nutrient dense, delicious cookies that is...um, first I'll have to find them...
but, lately I've been enjoying Slim Fast Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Bars...
yum.
love, Soozie
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Old 10-22-2003, 11:30 AM   #51  
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The strike is horrible. The cost of food has gone up because you can only buy food at the more expensive stores or Costco. Albertsons is union here in So. Calif.

From what I understand, the strike is about them paying an additional 6.00 a month towards medical benefits and them having to supplement dependent benefits.

These workers get paid well... Since it is cost prohibitive for most US companies to completely cover medical insurance --if that is truly the case then I don't have that much sympathy for them and the havoic that they are creating.....if there are other issues there that I am not aware of, then I may feel differently.

....here in L.A. we also have a Transportation strike happened at the same time, so we have no grocery stores and so many people are not able to get to work, or others are being inconvenienced to the point to have to go and pick up workers, again these poor people (and I mean financially poor) who rely on this as their way to get to work are suffering terribly....

Again, I know that union workers are paid well, and they should be understanding with the impact that they may have on society should they walk out...people lose their jobs and can't feed them families because of their actions....

I don't feel that this is the American Dream!!!!

Sorry for the soapbox......

rb
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Old 10-22-2003, 01:27 PM   #52  
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Just a quick fly by "Hello!" as I have 2 seconds at work!

I plan on taking Friday off, so I can play in here quite a bit then.
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Old 10-22-2003, 01:34 PM   #53  
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Hi Squeaky! How are you, sweetie!

I'm on honkin' hold with my gas company. A 10 to 20 minute wait, they say! Isn't that just too damned MUCH!?!?
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Old 10-22-2003, 03:05 PM   #54  
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Hi Chicks! I've been down with a bad back, hope to be up & about in a few more days. Can you believe they are calling for snow here tonight & tomorrow I'm just not mentally ready for it yet. Hope everyone is doing well....Hugs!
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Old 10-22-2003, 03:31 PM   #55  
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Sflake, you take care of that back and get better soon!
Yeah, we're supposed to get snow, too. Does that mean I have to wear socks with my Birks?
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Old 10-22-2003, 05:38 PM   #56  
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Yes, soozie, Albertson's is on strike too.

I think unions serve a purpose. And I support the strikers at the groceries stores. What they get paid is called a "living wage." They don't get paid well, per se, but they get paid enough to live on. They wouldn't be paid as well if it wasn't for the unions. As for the health insurance, they are making it on what they got. That means they can't spare the extra money. Plus, I'm a firm believer in corporations investing in their employees. The cashier at my Ralph's has been working for them since 1976! To get that kind of loyalty, you need to invest in your employees. To get a more articulate explaination, http://www.ufcw.org/press_room/index...ssReleaseID=47

There is a time and a place for strikes and unions. Strikes aren't suppose to just make a statement, they're also suppose to show impact. There are some unions I do not support (the nurse's union, for example. Striking while people are sick and in need of help is not my idea of a morally good strike) but in general, I'm okay "suffering" without cookies for awhile in order to support them.
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Old 10-23-2003, 02:08 AM   #57  
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Yeah, girls...my DP had gotten the low down today...that the strike is over health benefits and that the Albertson's out there is union. The unions themselves are very powerful entities Rowan...which creates another demension to the whole thing. The unions have become so strong that they have a life of their own and sometimes their actions involve advocating for or supporting the union as opposed to the workers.

The workers vote but the union leadership really has alot of power in terms of influence and don't forget that the folks who work in the supermarkets aren't getting paid while they are out on strike and they will never recoop that money that they are losing...so, they and their families are suffering as well. I know that my DP would prefer not to strike but her store's contract is up this Spring and tho she wouldn't be happy about it she would support the union if they called for a strike.

My DP has been working for this company for 37 years....she started out as a part time cashier when she was in high school. there was a time when being a full time supermarket cashier was a really good, well paying job with decent benefits.

Today that has changed, the hourly wage capped years ago and if you looked at a relative comparison of what a union store clerk made in 1976 and what they make now, you would see that they are making less....new hires make significantly less than old timers like my DP...

and some companies were trying to push out the older clerks to fill in with younger, parttime clerks so they could increase their profit margin.

My DPs salary is at the highest level and has been forever, which means some years she gets no increase and some years she gets something like a quarter an hour... Her work is very physical, she's on her feet all day and bending, squatting, and lifting...and it is stressful as over the years not only have the companies been paying less they have been cutting hours and trying to get the same job done with fewer and fewer employee hours. This leads to customers getting frustrated because there is no help to be found in the store and no one to answer questions and the clerks get frustrated because they have so much to do, if a customer asks a question the clerk falls behind and can't do what they were supposed to do that shift.

They also cut cashiers or pull clerks from other departments to do checkout if they get busy...which means only one employee to re-stock frozen foods because one ends up spending his or her whole shift checking.

I am grateful for my DP's job and the fact that she is covered for health insurance as is our DD...but, Rowan, don't buy into that corporate nonsense that workers should make up the difference for the rising cost of health care....health care costs are rising because, lawyers, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, large corporate health care providers...not lowly private practice docs,
malpractice insurance companies, and other big money wealthy corporations are making beaucoup dollars...put alittle French in there to keep the Canadiens interested.

If a corporation is really at risk of going bottom up then I support them going to their workers and asking for help...and offering the workers incentives in return...but, I would want a good look at the financial statements of the corporation if they were saying, boo-hoo, we can't afford to pay for your health insurance anymore...and I would want to look at the figures in context, ie, relatively speaking who is suffering more? who's life style would be more effected by the change? the share holders and vice presidents of Albertson's? or the divorced woman who has four kids, two in college, and is working at Albertson's fulltime to support her family?

oh, gosh Rowan, look what you've gone and made me do now...my soapbox was much bigger than yours...and I don't even like the big powerful unions tho I support them in theory...but, I do have compassion for the grunt workers like my DP who are there working hard everyday and I fear that both the union leadership and the corporate leadership see her only in terms of dollar signs...

okay, enough.
love you girls
Soozie
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Old 10-23-2003, 07:36 AM   #58  
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Here here, Soozie!
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Old 10-23-2003, 10:43 AM   #59  
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YUP!! There IS a reason that the richest few in this country keep on getting richer. The CEOs of all these companies STILL get their bonuses even whem the companies are filing BANKRUPTCY!!!!
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Old 10-23-2003, 10:56 AM   #60  
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I know, but, I do think I carried on a bit...
love you girlies...
think I'll change my name from Soozie to Perkie,
lil boobin Soozin is too cumbersome...
love,
thingsareperkinup.
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