Rallies at Southern California markets end in arrests (Assemblywoman Goldberg Arrested)

AP via North County Times ^ | February 19, 2004 | Associated Press

[calcowgirl]

LOS ANGELES -- More than 40 people were arrested Thursday during supermarket rallies in support of grocery clerks idled by a four-month strike and lockout.

The granddaughter of late farmworker union leader Cesar Chavez, state Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, and an 86-year-old member of the Gray Panthers activist group were among those arrested during civil disobedience rallies involving clerks and about two dozen labor unions and community groups, organizers said.

Some protesters linked arms and blocked the entrances at Vons and Pavilions stores.

Twenty people were handcuffed and led away from the two stores in mid-city Los Angeles and the San Pedro area, organizers said. Ten people were taken into custody in Santa Monica and 17 in the Orange County town of Mission Viejo, authorities said.

They were cited for misdemeanors such as trespassing, obstructing an entrance or failure to disperse and were released to face court appearances, authorities said.

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis attended one rally.

"I'm here as a mommy trying to explain to her little boy why we honk, why we put our thumbs up and why we don't go into those markets," she told KABC-TV. She was not among those arrested.

More civil disobedience rallies could occur as community groups from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. prepare to support the clerks, said Shannon Donato, one of the protest organizers.

"Today was the beginning of what you will continuously see across the nation," she said.

Meanwhile, federally mediated negotiations between the union and store chains continued for a ninth day without resolution.

The strike that began Oct. 11 put 70,000 clerks from San Diego to San Luis Obispo on picket lines in front of stores owned by Albertsons Inc., Kroger Co. and Safeway Inc.. Both sides have been deadlocked for months over the cost and scope of health benefits and a proposed two-tier wage system for future employees.

After clerks went on strike at Safeway-owned Vons and Pavilions stores, Albertsons and Ralphs, owned by Kroger Co., locked out their workers. The chains have lost tens of millions of dollars in sales since then but have been able to keep stores open with replacement workers.

[calcowgirl]

Ping!

[Richard-SIA]

Union = Organized crime, communist front org., or both.

Guess I will have to begin shopping at the local Safeway.

[CounterCounterCulture]

Where's a good Rodney King style beatdown when ya need one?

[Salvation]

A dimocrat -- Go figure.

[BurbankKarl]

the LA Business Journal detailed how a lot of the locals have taken out mortgages on their union halls to pay the strikers. They also have been loaned money from the strike funds of grocery workers across the country. There are a lot of contracts coming due across the US...and the other states locals are mad that this hasn't been resolved, because it would establish a base to negotiate from (and, if they take a beating with a new contract, it affects union workers nationwide)

What you see now is desparation. The supermarket really have no reason to give in. Half of the strikers have found work elsewhere...albeit at much lower wages.


As Alan Hamel used to say "Tell a Friend!"

[farmfriend]

Those ads by the teacher's union just kill me. What the heck does a supermarket strike have to do with education?

[calcowgirl]

I went to Vons Monday... there were 4 times as many protesters there than usual... and they were much more assertive. Desperation is definitely setting in. I told them ever since I heard CTA/Barbara Kerr's lying commercials, that I intentionally avoided Trader Joes and preferred Vons. They didn't like that much! LOL.

[NewRomeTacitus]

No relation to the former pro-football player/professional wrestler Bill Goldberg who does have a measure of self-respect.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!

[Moonmad27]

I make it a point to shop more often at Vons than I did before the strike, and enjoy sailing past the strikers, ignoring them as if they weren't there. Only in the early days did they yell at me or try to argue as I walked in or out (some way to get sympathy for their strike, eh?). One Saturday there was a really large crowd of strikers, boom boxes blaring, but I think that was a traveling band of strikers going from store to store to make a big show. When and if those people go back to work, it will be a long time before I thank one of them at the checkout counter when they hand me the receipt.

[AppyPappy]

They are getting desparate.

[B4Ranch]

"What you see now is desparation. The supermarket really have no reason to give in. Half of the strikers have found work elsewhere...albeit at much lower wages. "

And a brief wave Good Bye to middle class America. That is the one thing that unions did for America, brought about the middle class income.

[SierraWasp]

S-O-L-I-D-A-R-I-T-Y, Don'tcha know? She prolly thinks she's Lech Lowensa's soul mate, thinkin free healthcare isan Amurikun wurker's right, right?

They's all brudder's under da skin in their fight for Commonism... "Because no child can succeed ALONE!" (They REALLY HATE home schooling!!!)

[SierraWasp]

"That is the one thing that unions did for America, brought about the middle class income."

They may have helped add a percentage to that "class," but don't try to make it sound like the middle "class" was the sole creation of unions. There were at least as many American families who achieved middle "class" status without the benefit of "collective" coercion!!!

Try not to overstate what ain't totally a stand alone truth of some kind in America. Yes, atrocities were committed against "collective" bargainers, but let's lighten up on worshiping at the alter/myth of their single handedly creating America's great middle "class" of the 20th century, please.

You and I generally agree on most things, so I'm not being hostile or disagreeable on this point, just for the fun of it. I just get a little weary of that repetitive generalization, even though I'm married to "a coal miner's daughter" and have a soft spot in my heart for "labor!" (I just don't have a soft spot in my head.)

[thesharkboy]

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis attended one rally. "I'm here as a mommy trying to explain to her little boy why we honk, why we put our thumbs up and why we don't go into those markets," she told KABC-TV. She was not among those arrested.

I always put my thumb up, too. Oh, wait...that's not my thumb.

What is it about Jamie Lee Curtis that turns me off? Oh, that's right--she's a man, baby!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFL!!!

I still check in and buy at various Albertson's.

But I don't exchange pleasantries!

I just smile!

[NewRomeTacitus]

http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/jamie.htm

[BunnySlippers]

She's about 400 pounds ... it ought to be a sight.