GROCERY WORKERS' BENEFITS REDUCED FEWER NOW HAVE HEALTH COVERAGE.Byline: JULIA M. SCOTT Staff Writer Health care coverage among unionized grocery workers in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, has dropped steeply, but within expectations, in the three years following a 139-day strike, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a report released Tuesday. The rancorous ran·cor n. Bitter, long-lasting resentment; deep-seated ill will. See Synonyms at enmity. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin, rancid smell, from Latin strike ended with a new contract that made it significantly harder for workers to get health insurance. Coverage of union workers fell from 94 percent to 54 percent, fueled by higher turnover and longer waiting periods for eligibility, the Center for Labor Research and Education at University of California at Berkeley (body, education) University of California at Berkeley - (UCB) See also Berzerkley, BSD. http://berkeley.edu/. Note to British and Commonwealth readers: that's /berk'lee/, not /bark'lee/ as in British Received Pronunciation. found in the report. Some 88,537 grocery workers in Southern California belong to United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is a labor union representing approximately 1.4 million workers in the United States and Canada in many industries, including agriculture, health care, meatpacking, poultry and food processing, manufacturing, textile and . Researchers had expected coverage to drop to between 48 percent and 67 percent of members, said Berkeley research economist Arindrajit Dube. Researchers decided to study Southern California health care rates in the grocery industry because ``health is one of our core areas,'' Dube said. ``We wanted to see what happened'' after the strike. The findings reflect a shift away from employer provided health coverage, Dube said. ``An on-going increase in health costs and weakening leverage of workers have led to a situation where job-based coverage is no longer a bedrock for providing health coverage in this country,'' Dube said. But grocery workers here still contribute less than the national average, said Adena Tessler, a spokeswoman for Vons, Albertson's and Ralphs. Some employees contribute nothing, while others pay between $5 and $20 every two weeks, Tessler said. Eligibility waiting periods of 12 months is not uncommon across the country, Tessler added. Some Chicago employees wait 12 months for health coverage, while some in New England New England, name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been so named by Capt. wait 24 months. ``Everyone is trying to balance meeting the needs of the employees and at the same time allowing the companies to remain competitive in a really challenging and competitive market,'' Tessler said. Connie Leyva, president of the UFCW UFCW United Food and Commercial Workers , said workers were forced to sign the contract after the long strike, but they were not happy about it. ``Workers are willing to earn their health care, but employers are more concerned about their bottom line,'' Leyva said. The long-term impact of the contract will be a shift to younger grocery workers who don't stick around as long, said Dan Blake, director of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. Economic Research Center at California State University Enrollment  Northridge.
``They've made it into a shorter term job, where someone isn't as likely to choose this as a career as before,'' Blake said. In fact, annual turnover has increased from 19 percent to 32 percent, according to the report. And the number of teenage grocery workers has risen from about one in five to about one in four. The current grocery contracts expire in March. Some negotiations have already begun. The study findings are to be presented today at a meeting of the Commission on Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Grocery Industry and Community Health at 6 p.m. at the Cathedral Plaza at 555 West Temple Boulevard in Los Angeles. The study examined union actuarial data, union membership rolls and surveyed 755 active union members. Data from September 2006 was compared to data from September 2003. julia.scott(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3735 CAPTION(S): chart Chart: Declining health care coverage Source: UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education Daily News |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion