Southern California grocery clerks on strike
Leaders of the grocery workers union in Southern California called on thousands of its members to walk off their jobs late Saturday, launching the region’s first supermarket strike in 25 years.
It’s been amusing watching TV news anchors who make millions a year tsk-tsk at the extravagant $17 an hour some grocery clerks make. That’s $34,000 a year, hardly a princely income. Yet reporters seem to always take the side of management in strikes. Why is this?
NPR was particularly silly, saying how the strike would be “inconvenient”. Goodness the strike might mean those reporters won’t be able to purchase their favorite brie in a timely manner, and that would be tragic indeed. As for the workers who are striking against wage freezes, less overtime, and more medical expenses, well, they barely registered on NPR.
With time running out in a court-ordered cooling-off period, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the union representing its mechanics remain far apart in contract negotiations, and the union is threatening to shut down most Los Angeles County bus and train service as early as next week.
Two major strikes may happen simultaneously in Los Angeles. Sounds like workers aren’t happy at all. It’ll be instructive to see what our new Governor does as these strikes make national headlines.