"Mediation begins, but Shaw’s strike goes on" by Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | March 30, 2010
Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. and its striking employees failed to reach an agreement when they met yesterday with a federal mediator. Workers’ protests are expected to continue today.
About 300 employees from a Methuen distribution center have been on strike since March 7, after having rejected a final contract offer. It would have resulted in a net loss in compensation, the workers said.
“Shaw’s wasn’t interested in bargaining,’’ said Peter Derouen, a spokesman for about 300 Shaw’s employees who belong to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 791. “They were there to demand that we take this inferior offer. There was no compromise. Nothing.’’
Judy Chong, a spokeswoman for Shaw’s, said:
“The union advised us it intended to continue this unnecessary strike instead of accepting the fair contract offer we put on the table more than three weeks ago. We hope the union will reconsider and accept that offer, which will not be improved and will not be available indefinitely.’’
On Friday, dozens of other unions joined striking Shaw’s workers to escalate the protest across New England after Shaw’s said it was beginning the process of hiring workers to permanently replace striking employees.
That doesn't seem to be in the spirit of mediation, does it?
The strike will continue until an agreement is reached, Derouen said.
Chong declined to comment on whether replacements had started working at the Methuen plant, which provides much of the produce and dairy products Shaw’s sells in New England.
I've been boycotting Shaw's.
“We have received a number of quality applicants who have expressed interest in the roles,’’ Chong said. “We will continue plans to recruit and hire replacement workers.’’
Yeah, that's the spirit.
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And how are they supposed to go back to work after this?
"Shaw’s to cut strikers’ health care" by Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | April 1, 2010
Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. is cutting off health care coverage today for about 300 striking workers from the company’s Methuen distribution plant, according to union officials.
“We’re extremely disappointed that the company has decided to cut the health insurance of these workers instead of sitting down and working out an agreement,’’ said Peter Derouen, a spokesman for the employees, who are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 791. “Now these workers and their families and children are without health care. This will not deter the workers. They will continue to strike until the company wants to come back to the table and bargain.’’
In a statement last night, Shaw’s said: “Though it is difficult to take this step now, we need to act with the long-term best interests of our business and 25,000 other associates in mind.’’
Union members, community leaders, and concerned shoppers are planning to protest at the distribution center and at stores across New England. They will also hold a rally this afternoon at the Shaw’s supermarket in the Back Bay on Huntington Avenue. The workers have been on strike since March 7 after rejecting a final contract offer.
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Been out only a month, huh? Bet it seems longer to the families.
"Doctors, nurses decry Shaw’s action" by Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | April 6, 2010
Members of the Massachusetts medical community are calling on Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. to reinstate health care benefits for the 300 striking workers from the company’s Methuen distribution plant. About 15 nurses, doctors, and health care advocates are expected to join workers and their families today at 11 a.m. for a rally at SEIU Local 1199 in Dorchester, the local health care workers’ union headquarters.
“This is just completely unacceptable,’’ said Benjamin Day, executive director of the health care advocacy group Mass-Care who will speak at a news conference. Right now, the workers and their families are uninsured, he said.
Yet here they are accepting it.
In an e-mailed statement last night, Shaw’s said: “It is unfortunate that the union continues to perpetuate this unnecessary strike. All our associates understood the potential risks of striking.’’
Health care costs are part of what drove workers from the Methuen warehouse to reject the company’s contract proposal and go on strike March 7. Shaw’s cut off health care coverage on April 1 and has said it plans to hire permanent replacement workers for the facility.
Yup, the LACK of a GOOD, DECENT SINGLE-PAYER like France or Norway or even Cuba for that matter really is felt now.
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And picket lines are not what they used to be, are they?
"Picket lines increasingly rare sight as the ranks of organized labor thin" by Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | April 11, 2010
Supermarket shoppers in the Boston area have been seeing a rare sight over the past month: workers on strike.
Shaw’s employees have been picketing in front of 16 local Shaw’s stores since March 8, a day after union members at Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc.’s Methuen warehouse voted to walk out. It isn’t a major work stoppage — there just over only 300 workers at the distribution center — but it’s shining a light on how infrequent strikes have become in Boston and across the nation.
Nationwide, the number of strikes dropped from nearly 1,000 in 1984 to 133 in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2009, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. Only five strikes with 1,000 workers or more took place last year — the lowest number on record — involving about 35,000 workers. By comparison, in the late 1970s, there were 200 to 300 large strikes a year, affecting more than a million workers annually.
Translation: The decades-long effort to break the back of labor has been a success -- especially when you consider that "public service" unions are the most powerful.
The Shaw’s strike — which is mainly over health care costs, as most modern-day strikes are — is one of the few work stoppages that have taken place in New England in the past few years. In December, 450 industrial laundry workers in Somerville went on strike against Angelica Corp., but there were no strikes in Massachusetts in the previous fiscal year, and only two in the region. About 36,000 Stop & Shop workers in Southern New England were able to avert a strike last month by reaching a deal with the company.
More on that below.
The decline in the number of strikes goes hand in hand with the decline in the number of unions. In the mid-1950s, a third of the workforce was in a union, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies. By last year, that number had fallen to 12 percent. As the number of unions drops and the public becomes increasingly disconnected from them, strikes have less of an impact on consumer opinion than they used to, labor analysts say.
Strange, because unions seem increasingly disconnected from their members.
The lack of union presence, as well as a perception that union workers have better benefits than nonunion workers, can make it more difficult for consumers to relate to workers’ struggles, which generally makes a strike less effective, said James Green, a labor historian at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. “The question in all these strikes is can you successfully appeal for the public’s support even if some of them don’t have the benefits you have?’’ he said.
Sorry, but he is wrong.
The PUBLIC LIKES and IDENTIFIES with the working man because THEY ARE the WORKING MAN!
This is who we do NOT identify with:
The Massachusetts Model: Municipal Health Mess
Towns to Pay Health Tax For Public Servants
See what I'm talking about?
Winning over consumers is key for workers striking at retail companies like Shaw’s. The workers picketing in front of Shaw’s on Morrissey Boulevard say they’ve seen a decline in business at the store since they started action in early March, citing fewer cars in the parking lot and fewer UMass students stopping in on their way to the T station. “I think we’ve had a big impact,’’ said Michael McKeon, 31, of Haverhill, who has worked at the Methuen warehouse for 10 years.
Shaw’s spokeswoman Judy Chong declined to comment on the effect the strike has had on the 176-store chain, which recently laid off 4 percent of its store workers and closed 18 locations in Connecticut. “Sometimes we have to make difficult business decisions,’’ she said, “but ultimately they allow us to operate more effectively and efficiently in the marketplace.’’
The recession is playing into the current labor environment, said Richard Rogers, executive secretary-treasurer of the Greater Boston Labor Council, which represents 151 unions in the area. In a down economy, unionized businesses like Shaw’s find it increasingly difficult to compete against nonunion stores that can more easily control worker costs. “The economy is emboldening management to pressure these workers into a substandard wage and benefit package,’’ Rogers said.
On top of that, workers may be less likely to take a stand against a company during a shaky economy. When there aren’t many jobs to be had, and unemployed workers are eager to step in and take a striking union member’s job, it takes even more collective bargaining power away from unions, labor analysts say.
That is why they call them scabs.
Two weeks ago, for instance, Shaw’s started hiring workers to replace the picketing warehouse employees, a few of whom the company said have opted to return to work....
In a good faith effort at bargaining, I'm sure.
But with the public’s anger at corporate greed at a boiling point, some labor analysts and leaders predict there will be a resurgence of actions by workers against companies.
“When people are backed against the wall, they feel like they have no choice,’’ said Russ Davis, executive director of Massachusetts Jobs With Justice, a coalition of community and labor organizations that campaigns for workers’ rights. Without a fight, Davis sees corporate America using the recession to permanently restructure the nature of jobs with more part-time and temporary positions and lower wages and fewer benefits.
He is RIGHT about THAT!
“What happens now,’’ he said, “is going to determine what work looks like for a generation.’’
Translation: Your standard of living continues to drop, Americans.
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Looking For an AmeriKan Lunch
Looks like I will have to head out of state.
"Stop & Shop moving jobs to Pa." by Katie Johnston Chase, Globe Staff | April 15, 2010
Stop & Shop Supermarket Cos. is eliminating, moving, or changing many support jobs as the company relocates some operations from its Quincy headquarters to Carlisle, Pa., where its sister company, Giant Food, is based. The number of jobs affected won’t be known until the end of the year, according to a company statement....
I'm sure it had nothing to do with the threatened strike.
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Message to labor: bend over and never strike.
