Solidarity! More on the Teamsters joining the grocery strike
A Teamster who works in a grocery distribution center in L.A. tells me they are in this for the long haul. This is not merely a symbolic, temporary strike in sympathy with grocery workers. The Teamsters will be out for months if need be.
Make no mistake, this is a death match
More than 8,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters will be sidelined at 10 distribution centers in Southern and Central California for the duration of the strike, said Jim Santangelo, president of Teamsters Joint Council 42.
“We either end this thing together or we die together,” Santangelo said.
This solidarity strike will shut down Vons, Albertson, and Ralphs in southern California. With the distribution centers closed and the truck drivers on strike, there is no way the stores will be able to keep their shelves stocked.
The distribution centers are highly computerized; working there is a skilled profession. The grocery chains can’t hire untrained, unskilled labor to run them, and they don’t have the expertise or the personnel to do it themselves.
P.S. Just after the strike began, management attempted to drive some of the already loaded trucks, with results the striking Teamsters found quite comical!