Vanity: Who here has (or will) cross the grocery store picket lines?

[kingu]

Stater Brothers signed a contract with its unions and has beem free of labor troubles and is open for business.

And their parking lots are full of people shopping at Staters, leaving no spaces for the customers of the small businesses in the same shopping centers. At least that's the case of the two centers near me - both have loads of small businesses complaining that there is no parking and no business.

[ambrose]

Stater Bros. are typically located in blue collar "redneck" areas, and are often the only market in town. At least that has been my experience.

In Los Angeles, the only major market not striking is Gelsons, which also happens to be a high end (and high priced) store.

[goldstategop]

People don't want to lose medical benefits. What the recent strikes have in common isn't a demand for higher wages. And yes, union members feel betrayed if they feel they're losing what they prize so highly. In a way its easier to justify a pay cut than to have to pay part of your medical insurance which is already like docking part of your pay. Which is why they're out there manning the picket lines.

[goldstategop]

I know... the Stater Bros. parking lot here was filled up at 11 AM in the morning Thursday!

[ambrose]

There is nothing free market about forcing someone to join a union he doesn't want to be a member of. There is nothing free market about unions getting favorable legislation because they bribe the corrupt Democrat politicians.

[gubamyster]

I usually go to Costco, but have been making an extra effort to go to the Albertsons near my house just so I can cross the lines. I don't have too much sympathy for the banana scanners.

I worked in an IGA grocery store during high school from age 16-18. I worked every job in the store except butcher. Back then the cashiers actually had to punch the prices in the register & count change (and we even said please and thank you). Baggers carried groceries out to cars in the freezing winter. Anybody can learn the job in less than a week of on-the-job training. Nobody paid my health insurance then, and nobody has ever in any job since. I knew it wasn’t a job to raise a family on, just a job to get me through high school. These workers expect to raise a family, have their medical benefits paid, and make a career of a job that any high school kid or retiree can do. They are expendable, and the sooner they realize it the better.

[goldstategop]

You were one of the few who kept his job. In unions every one functions like part of one big family so yes people take it personally if you disown them. There's an intense loyalty factor and the fact a strike is financially as well as emotionally draining means nearly every one has to vote to support one. Strikes aren't common but when workers get very desperate its usually the only way for them to tell management about how they really feel about the offer presented to them. They're voting with their feet, so to speak.

[goldstategop]

No one is forced to join a union. People have to vote to form one - that's why there are certification elections. Unions exist to give workers in a mass economy a say in their wages, benefits, and working conditions. We've heard a lot about corporate dishonesty. That more than anything else has turned off average people.

[Fledermaus]

So $21.66 a month in contribution to a good health plan for an individual, $86.66 a month for full family coverage, is enough to go on strike?

Bull.

These morons will lose more in income by striking than probably a full year of health plan contributions. If they make $10 an hour, they'll lose in three days the cost of one year of paying $5 a week towards there own health insurance. Are these union people stupid? Yes, they are.

And asking employees to contribute into their own plan with SOMETHING isn't "losing it" as you say they are worried about.

You want to see them lose their healthcare? Just wait until they have no job after Grayout Doofus keeps piling on mandated costs to employers before he's forced to leave. Ask all those Rio Bravo employees that even lost their jobs in Tenn and Georgia and other states.

They'd even strike if the copays and deductibles were raised to save money. But what do they care? They are in a union! They are nothing but group think idiots following the collective like the Borg.

[kingu]

People don't want to lose medical benefits. What the recent strikes have in common isn't a demand for higher wages.

But what they are fighting for is higher wages, in the form of tax free benefits. If the cost of their health care is rising at a rate of 14% per year, and they don't want to pay any of it, that's a 14% per year wage increase. Well, even more, since those health benefits aren't taxable, nor counted as part of their income.

By paying part of the bill, these union workers will realize that these things aren't free. They might figure out that their union health benefit funds have huge overhead costs and are paying too much for health care. I can't feel any solidarity with someone who wants to use a work stoppage in an industry already overpaid to fight for fourteen percent plus increases in wages.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

Do you know what the average cost increase (in dollars) for an average store due to worker's compensation and liability insurance has been for the past 3 years? Just curious.

[ambrose]

These people remind me of the greedy steel workers who kept striking over and over and over again. Now, the US steel industry has practically vanished. Same with the coal miners in England.

[Fledermaus]

I worked in an IGA grocery store during high school from age 16-18. I worked every job in the store except butcher. Back then the cashiers actually had to punch the prices in the register & count change (and we even said please and thank you). Baggers carried groceries out to cars in the freezing winter.

The good old days. I worked from 15-18 in a small Arkansas town (pop. 3,500) for the biggest grocery store. I made extra money on the side pushing up the milk for the dairy guys, stacking pop bottles for the soda guys (the store doubled the crate price of 5 cents), I learned how to master the 10-key ringing up groceries manually (we had keys for general, meat, dairy, etc.) that came in real handy as an accountant. And the marking of groceries was a tedious affair with label guns and those stamping ink guns for cans and such.

These days they have computers that do all the work and they can't even scan efficiently. I swear they haven't heard of Windex at the store I frequent since their scan screens are always filthly. And they don't even have to make change since most of us use the credit/debit/check card system.

Oh well, less work and more pay and demands are par for the course today.

[goldstategop]

This is the way the union sees it:

Employers who do not provide adequate coverage for their workers are one of the primary causes of the health care crisis. No-benefit employers shift health care costs to other employers or to taxpayers—driving up costs for everyone else and forcing other employers to cut or reduce coverage.

Costs get passed on to taxpayers when working families without health insurance get sick and wind up in emergency rooms or public facilities. Emergency room care is the most expensive----particularly for routine medical conditions like colds and the flu. That strains resources at health care facilities, and leads to lower quality care for all of us.

Costs get passed on to responsible businesses that provide affordable family coverage when workers get coverage under their spouse’s more affordable plan. These uneven rates of coverage have placed employers who provide affordable family health care at a competitive disadvantage. In order to stay competitive these employers scale back services or raise rates.

Costs get passed onto workers when employers refuse to cover their employees or companies raise rates. Some employers like to say that they offer health insurance. The more accurate statement is that they sell health insurance to workers. Family health care costs have increased more than 100% in the past decade. For low wage workers, costs have gone up 55% faster than the costs that corporate executives and management have to pay. Workers are forced to shoulder an unsustainable burden of health care costs. From this, more employees drop coverage and delay medical treatment until a crisis emerges, causing even greater expenses for emergency treatment. The cycle continues until the system crashes.

According to the CFWU, virtually every labor dispute in the past few years has revolved around medical coverage.

[LiberationIT]

I have crossed picket lines and would do so again. No hesitation.

[ambrose]

working families without health insurance get sick and wind up in emergency rooms or public facilities.

As John & Ken said so brilliantly today... you shouldn't be having a family if you can't afford to raise one.

Why should I subsidize (with higher grocery bills) someone's choice to spend his life as a grocery clerk?

[Drammach]

Something else to consider;

Profit margins on groceries - supermarkets are extremely low, generally running 2% to 5%, compared to many other service industry businesses running as high as 30% to 40%.
I am familiar with some services that are "part" of the overall business that have margins as high as 60% to 100%.
With profit margins that low, any new costs are a major blow to the business.
Retail prices have to be raised to compensate and still remain competitive.

[fishbabe]

can you tell me where to find information on what small businesses bring to the economy?????i heard they were 75% of the economy and big companies like walmart aren't keeping the economy running,its the small businesses...

[gubamyster]

that came in real handy as an accountant.

I turned out to be a CPA. I didn't realize grocery clerking was a prerequisit for us accountants.

[I_dmc]

Did unions make the middle class possible? I've heard that Henry Ford did that, in his own self-interest, of course, by paying the unheard of wage of $5 an hour, so the workers that built the cars could afford to buy them. Some might say that if said workers demand wages 3 to 5 times higher than that, no one will be able to afford to buy them. Undecided myself, I can see pros and cons.