WHERE'S THE 2ND TIER? IN NEW GROCERY WORKERS' CONTRACT, CEOS' LIES ARE VISIBLE.

Byline: Rick Icaza

A year ago today, after 144 days on the picket line, grocery workers throughout Southern California returned to their jobs. It marked the end to one of the largest and longest strikes or lockouts in U.S. history, affecting 59,000 workers at 900 stores owned by Safeway (including Vons and Pavilions), Kroger (Ralphs) and Albertsons. The companies lost billions of dollars as shoppers from San Luis Obispo to the Mexican border supported workers' struggle for affordable health care and took their business elsewhere.

Throughout the strike, the supermarket giants spun a tale of economic necessity. They said over and over again that, in order to compete in the ``new economy'' dominated by Wal-Mart, their mere survival demanded a two-tier wage and benefit structure that compensated new hires at a significantly lower rate than veteran workers. We said over and over again that the supermarket CEOs had a bad case of envy - a desire to ``keep up with the Waltons'' - and we knew from the countless calls received from stock analysts during the prolonged strike and lockout that Wall Street has a love affair with the sweatshop-priced goods sold to Americans by the low wage/no benefits Wal-Mart work force.

Ultimately, grocery workers were presented with a Hobbesian choice: Accept the two-tier structure or stay on the picket lines indefinitely while our families and the shoppers we love to serve continue to suffer. After 4 1/2 long months on the picket line, grocery workers accepted the supermarkets' offer and went back to work.

Two weeks ago, we were relieved to hear that grocery workers in Northern California, who are also represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, had reached agreement with these same companies without having to suffer on the picket line like their colleagues in Southern California. When the details of their 11th-hour agreement came out, we were surprised to learn that the Northern California contracts did not include a two-tier structure.

How did it happen?

After five months of bargaining, multiple contract extensions and the serious threat of a strike, the supermarket giants backed down from their two-tier demand like the one forced on workers in Southern California. Jack Loveall, president of UFCW Local 588 in Northern California, thanked ``the heroes of the Southern California strike and lockout who, for 20 weeks, fought bravely on behalf of UFCW members and all working people around the country. Their courageous fight and sacrifice helped win these agreements.''

The Southern California strike began in the fall of 2003. After months of unsuccessful bargaining, negotiators for the supermarkets came to the table with a final proposal that put all new hires into a separate health plan, a scheme that would send the plan into a death spiral as veteran workers aged.

The corporations stuck to their guns and refused to budge, and the certainty of their plan to provoke a strike became clear upon learning that they had entered into a profit-sharing pact before bargaining had even begun. The supermarket giants also agreed that, if a strike was called against one of the companies, the others would lock out workers until the strike was called off.

After 4 1/2 long months and overwhelming consumer support for the grocery workers, the corporations backed down. Both sides reached agreement that mitigated most of the proposed cuts to current workers and kept new hires in the current health plan. However, new hires were forced into a second tier with reduced wages and benefits, presumably to compete in the new Wal Mart economy.

Back then, many of us on the inside saw through the supermarket giants' propaganda war. But now that the corporations are reaching agreements in other regions without a two-tier system, their lies are clear for the entire world to see.

The fact that grocery workers in Northern California were not forced to accept a two-tier structure leads to only one conclusion: The cuts that the grocers wanted to take from the hard-working grocery workers in your neighborhood were not a business necessity, but merely a business choice. Those cuts were designed to appease Wall Street stock analysts, boost the stock prices of the supermarket companies and make more money for shareholders.

To the supermarket CEOs who forced 59,000 workers onto the picket line and drove loyal customers away, we say this to you: You are emperors with no clothes. Your lies have been exposed, and we are ready to fight again, alongside the community, to save affordable health care for all working families.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Last year, striking grocery workers were a common sight in front of Southern California chain markets.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer