Closing the deal (CA Grocery Strike)

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER ^ | Thursday, February 26, 2004 | ANDREW GALVIN

[So Cal Rocket]

On 15th consecutive day of talks, the 138-day grocery strike may be near an end.

Union leaders and supermarket negotiators met all day Wednesday and late into the night at an Orange County hotel, ironing out the details of an agreement that could end the 138-day grocery strike.

[martinidon]

"Anything that we get that is better than what we were originally offered, that's what we were out there for," said Lori Morris, a picket captain at an Albertsons in Fountain Valley. "If we come out with anything better than that original contract, then we have done our job."

So how much of a raise will it take to make up for the lost wages over the last 5 months???? Must be the union math!

[dalereed]

If thery got a $5/hr raise it would take over a year to make up what they lost figuring in the $100/wk the union thugs paid them for picketing.

They will never make back what they have lost even if they get a $1/hr raise as they will no doubt be on strike again before 5 years is out.

If the markets give them anything but some kind of reduction it won't mean anything anyway since the markets will probably be put out of business without a reduction in their wage cost.

[azcap]

They won't be on strike again five years because they'll all be working at Wal-Mart by then. And there ain't no pretty union contracts there!

[lady lawyer]

It sounds like they know they will get a pittance, and they're already putting out face-saving soundbites.

The simple truth is that the grocery business, for a long time, has been an enclave where a person could get a salary and benefits out of proportion to the skills she brought to the job. That's changing. Regular grocers are being squeezed out by the WalMarts, Targets, Costcos, and now Sears superstores. The profit margin on food is razor thin. The only place the grocers can cut costs to be competitive is in the inflated labor area.

It's too bad the union and its members are so stupid. They would have realized all the foregoing. They would also have realized that the stores could replace them with the first people who walked in off the street.

[BurbankKarl]

Oh, these clowns have lost 15-20K by now. It will take a lot of years to make it up.

[calcowgirl]

Oh, these clowns have lost 15-20K by now. It will take a lot of years to make it up.

Amazing they can't do the math and see what their union is doing to them.
'Clowns' is a nice word.

[John123]

In tomorrow's Investor's Business Daily, this appears:

The grocery workers union sees a deal soon to end the 5-month, 70,000-worker strike at 3 supermarket chains. Published reports suggest Albertsons, (ABS) Kroger's (KR) Ralphs and Safeway's (SWY) Vons seem to have won a lot of concessions, including a two-tier wage system and workers paying more for health care. Shares of the grocery chains, which have lost $1 bil in sales, rose modestly.

It looks like the Union lost big time...