Febuary 19, 2004 � (Los Angeles) Four months into the historic strike and lockout of grocery workers in Southern California fighting against supermarket giants Vons, Ralphs and Albertson's, the members of the United Food and Com mercial Workers remain militant on the picket lines and steadfast in their demands to maintain healthcare benefits and decent wages.

Community support for the 70,000 strikers is also as solid as ever. Unions and activist groups are strengthening picket lines at grocery stores throughout Southern California and holding solidarity actions across the U.S.

On Feb. 4, just days after a 20,000-strong march and rally in Inglewood, Calif., to support the grocery workers, the seven UFCW local unions involved in the strike and lockout held five simultaneous, coordinated press conferences to announce their offer to enter into binding arbitration with the supermarkets as a means of ending the strike.

Among those present at the Los Angeles press conference were UFCW local presidents Connie Leyva, Rick Icaza and Greg Conger. They were joined by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Los Ange les Mayor James Hahn, officials from unions work ing in solidarity with the UFCW, and representatives of various community sup port organizations, including the Com munity Action Project to Support Labor (CAPSL), a project of the Inter national ANSWER Coalition.

Under the terms presented by the union, an arbitrator to be selected jointly by the union and the bosses would hear evidence and arguments from both sides and then render a final decision to settle the strike and lockout. In addition, during the arbitration process all striking and locked-out workers would return to work for the supermarkets and the scabs would be fired.

Less than one hour later, the supermarkets arrogantly rejected the union's offer, demonstrating the bosses' true motives. They do not want to end the strike and lockout on anyone's terms but their own. They want to drastically slash healthcare benefits and force a permanent two-tier wage system on these low-paid workers, all to increase the massive profits the companies already enjoy. More than that, the bosses are ultimately striving to bust this union of multinational workers and drive wages into the ground.

The night of the press conferences, one of the striking locals held a spirited rally at a Vons in Culver City, attended by over 300 workers and community activists.

UFCW picketers--joined by members of the Screen Actors Guild, CAPSL, the National Lawyers Guild, the Peace & Freedom Party and the Los Angeles Striker Solidarity Organization--marched around Vons chanting, "One day longer, one day stronger," and hounding the few customers who dared to cross the picket line. All rally participants vowed to continue the fight for healthcare and union rights and to strengthen the picket line at another L.A.-area Vons every week until the union prevails.

Solidarity coast to coast

National solidarity actions are also on the rise.

In late January the AFL-CIO announ ced it would coordinate a national campaign to help the UFCW win the strike.

Unions and people all over the U.S., from Baltimore to Seattle, are realizing that the struggle of 70,000 multinational grocery workers in Southern California to save hard-won healthcare benefits is their struggle, too, and are carrying out solidarity actions at Safeway stores.

On Feb. 5 in New York, 1,000 grocery workers, union members and community activists marched on Wall Street in solidarity with the Southern California grocery workers. They protested investment firms and stockbrokers who are instructing rich investors to buy stock in Vons (Safeway), Ralphs (Kroger) and Albert son's in order to artificially inflate their financial profiles. In fact, these greedy supermarket chains have each lost hundreds of millions of dollars in sales during the strike and lockout. Why urge investors to buy now? Because Wall Street and the super-rich corporate interests it represents stand to profit if the grocery workers lose this strike.

Like Wal-Mart, the company that the supermarket bosses have invoked through out the strike as the main reason they need to lower wages and cut healthcare, the supermarkets are not above violating federal and state laws to further their anti-union interests. This week, the union revealed that Ralphs hired at least 200 people to work under phony names and Social Security numbers during the lockout. The U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles is currently investigating these serious charges.

The supermarket and Wall Street bosses fully intend to win the strike and smash the union by breaking the law with impunity, refusing to negotiate, and starving out the workers. They believe they can set a nationwide precedent by making workers pay for their healthcare benefits.

But the determination of the workers and community stands in the way of the supermarkets' greedy aspirations. As a striking grocery worker stated while picketing outside a Vons store this week, "We are going to stay out here as long as it takes to win this whole thing."

Reprinted from the Feb. 19, 2004, issue of Workers World newspaper

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