ANSWER LA food and toy distribution to strikers
We at ANSWER LA distributed a pickup truck filled with food and toys directly to striking grocery workers at a Vons at 3rd and Vermont in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Hey, when you see the results of your work, when a young immigrant mom striker with two small kids walks away happily with food and toys, then it really makes it worth it. And they’re the ones on the front lines, fighting for health care, to not have their unions destroyed by greedy pig management – fighting for the rest of us too.
Steven Burd, CEO of Safeway and ringleader of the grocery companies whose stated goal is to break the unions, makes millions in stock options. He’s not taking a pay cut, having his health benefits slashed, or telling management they must accept a two-tiered pay scale. Yet he whines that he must do this to the workers so as to “stay competitive”. Start with yourself, Steven. Then people might actually believe you.
There was a rally with several speakers in the Vons parking lot, followed by a spirited march. Banners were posted at the entrances and, um, intense discussions were had with scabs and those crossing picket lines.
I’m told there was a bit of a hubbub inside the Vons. Some shoppers loaded their carts to the gills, got halfway checked out, realized they’d forgotten their wallets or something, then walked out. Other shoppers apparently performed physics experiments. If you put eggs at the bottom of a shopping cart, then load heavy canned goods on them, the eggs break. The same type of thing seems to occur when you drop baked hams on top of cakes. Who knew?
Grocery store management is now refusing to pay their mandated amount into the workers health funds, and workers may lose benefits within days, including those who are on serious and costly medications.
Amber Scott, a seven-year Vons employee, choked up Wednesday when talking about her health-care needs. The 31-year-old Long Beach woman said she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease last year and must go regularly to her doctor for checkups and undergo tests to monitor her condition.
Of more concern was her 3-year-old daughter, Bleu, who has cystic fibrosis. If they lose their health benefits, she said, it will cost her $5,000 a month for prescription medicines to keep Bleu’s lungs clear and allow her to absorb the nutrients in the food she eats.
Deep Audit, our resident forensic accountant opines there could well be some wrongful injury lawsuits as a result of this – not that Steven “Heart like a Peach Pit” Burd cares. To him it’s just the cost of doing business – while fattening his own bank account with cushy stock options of course.