Religious Leaders to Make Appeal(CA Grocery Strike)

Los Angeles Daily News ^ | 1/27/04 | Nicholas Grudin

[Mark]

Religious leaders to make appeal

By Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

A host of priests, rabbis, pastors and bishops will join union leaders and striking grocery clerks today on a "justice pilgrimage" to the home of Safeway Inc. boss Steve Burd. It is there that they hope to appeal to the chief executive's spiritual side.

"We know that Steve Burd is a serious Christian and a compassionate man," said the Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. "He hasn't really realized the suffering that he's causing. We feel like we need to call on him as a brother to be conscious."

About 20 clergy organized by the group argue that the strike and lockout that has kept 70,000 Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons workers unemployed for nearly four months is fundamentally unethical.

The labor dispute, which began Oct. 11, centers around a company contract proposal that would reduce health care coverage and impose a compensation plan offering significantly reduced benefits to new employees.

The religious rallies will be held from Sherman Oaks to San Jose today and Wednesday, ending in Burd's hometown, Pleasanton, where the clergy will protest in front of his house.

"In Jewish tradition, there are certain standards that are imposed in terms of religious law in terms of the relationship between employer and employee. There are responsibilities on both sides," said Rabbi Linda Bertenthal, associate director of the Pacific Southwest Counsel of the Union for Reform Judaism.

"The companies' proposal seems to be deliberately endangering the health of their employees, and that's fundamentally unethical."

The pilgrimage starts at 9 a.m. today in a Sherman Oaks Vons, 14845 Ventura Blvd.

Nicholas Grudin, (661) 257-5255 nicholas.grudin@dailynews.com

[Lulu]

Unfortunately, the Catholic Church that I attend actually put fliers in the vestibule of the Church and supports and is a member of CLUE.
My question is: Since there is hue and cry for separation of church and state, why don't we sponsor a petition for the church denominations involved to immediately lose their tax exemptions? The churches here also joined a march and were part of the busloads that went across the country.
The priests don't have a "clue". The one at our church prayed last week for health for a dead Bishop. And he is one of the most "intellectual" in that order.
The Clergy and Laity organization is joined also by the United Farmworkers Union, the organization birthed by commie Caesar Chavez here in CA.