SACRAMENTO UNIONS IN SOLIDARITY WITH SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA UFCW WORKERS
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| "The healthcare issue is all important-- The government doesn't seem to know how to handle it, and the employers want out of it. We have to draw the line so somebody will step up and provide for my child when he goes to the doctor. A worker can't pay a doctor out-of -pocket even with a good wage. That is a key issue! The other key issue is two tier wages: an old scale for existing employees and another scale for new employees, which is less. A job has a value which everyone should be paid. No one out here wants anything for free, just a fair day's wage for a fair day's work." Howard Rahn, Teamsters Local 150, Sacramento, CA. |
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| Jim Hard, President, SEIU Local 1000 (California State Employees): "I see a pattern developing in the attacks on working people-- the 70,000 UFCW grocery workers in Southern California, and the Communication Workers of America, 200,000 workers going up against SBC right now. Healthcare is a major issue with them also. State employees will be on the line next year in the spring on the same issues: healthcare and pay. There is a nationwide attack on working people, and that's why I'm here." |
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The history of this Safeway on Alhambra Boulevard carries with it a warning: In the 1970's, Safeway tore down the magnificant and historic Alhambra Theater in order to build the Palace of Food and Drugs that you see before you. Why is this a warning? The Unions picketing Safeway are fighting to hang on to a benefit that unionized grocery workers fought hard for: affordable healthcare. Like the Alhambra Theater, once it's lost, it is very difficult to reclaim. Sacramento citizens who recognized the value of the Alhambra fought to keep it, but enough other citizens didn't care or thought business should triumph over other values, and the result is what you see here. If the grocery workers' union doesn't win this one in Southern California, the fight is going to come to Northern California, and when it does, watch out for YOUR employer-paid health insurance, because that could be what's on the table next! |
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| John Simmons and son Ben were representing SEIU 1000.(State Employees). |
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Chris, (Local 522 firefighters) passing out informational flyers to drivers, asking that they shop at Raley's until the Southern California labor dispute is settled. This shopper agreed. Has Safeway suffered from the strike? The East Bay Business Times reports that Safeway stock has been downgraded by J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. Their report cites concerns about Safeway management: "Recent departures of management (and the CEO selling 25% of his vested stock) do not give us comfort in the 12-month outlook for the company or its stock price." |
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| Mercedes Roldan (foreground on the right), Unite Local 75, Sacramento, "I'm here to show my support. This will affect all people, organized and unorganized,--This is everybody's fight." |