Upcoming grocery strike actions

These actions are organized or sanctioned by UFCW Local 770.

Distribute widely.

UFCW Local 770, one of several locals in LA, has several important actions planned during the next two weeks, culminating in a massive march and rally at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood on Sat. Jan 31 which is expected to draw at least 20,000 people. Another major event is a rally at Vons HQ this Wednesday in Arcadia. The general public is invited and encouraged to come to all the events.

Check the UFCW Local 770 calendar for more details as they happen. Some items listed here are not on their calendar as yet.

Sun Jan 18
1 pm
Back to Picketing Ralph’s
Ralphs
19781 Rinaldi St
Porter Ranch / Northridge
(Exit the 118 at Tampa, north to Rinaldi, go  west)
City Council member Dennis Zine and Congressman Brad Sherman, among others, will speak.

Mon Jan 19
1 pm
Rally at the end of the Martin Luther King march
Albertsons
Crenshaw and MLK

Wed Jan 21
Shame on Safeway!
11 am
Vons / Safeway main office
618 Michillinda Av
Arcadia
(at Huntington Dr off the 210)
Local 770 President Rick Icaza will speak, as will locked out workers, religious leaders, community activists, and more.

Fri Jan 23
EDD demo in Van Nuys.
The state of California still has not scheduled a hearing to determine when locked out workers will get unemployment benefits. Major politicians are expected to speak.

Fri-Sun Jan 24-26
Church vigils for fallen strikers
One striker was caught in a gang cross fire and killed while driving to a picket line at 2 am. There have been suicides.

Tue Jan 27
Pilgrimage to CEO Steven Burd’s home in Alamo, CA.
Buses leave Vons at Kester and Ventura in the SF Valley
Burd has said he wants to crush the union. He also suppports animal rights and has said animals need better health care. Too bad he doesn’t feel the same about humans.

Thu Jan 29
Adopt a Store rallies
Everywhere
If your organization adopted a store, be there in force.

Fri Jan 30
Congressional hearing regarding strike.

Sat Jan 31
Massive march & rally
Noon
Supporting Striking & Lock-out UFCW Wokers
Great Western Forum
3900 West Manchester Blvd. (at Prairie Ave.)
Inglewood
Call LA County Federation of Labor at 213-381-5611 ext 15

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Michael Moore is a peacenik?

Michael Moore, whose books and movies I often enjoy, has inexplicably endorsed Wesley Clark, saying, “That’s right, a peacenik is voting for a general. What a country!.”

Tell me Michael, why do you consider yourself a peacenik? Wesley Clark cheerfully invaded and bombed Yugoslavia when even the Pentagon thought it was a terrible idea. While there, by some accounts, he blundered so badly he almost started World War III with the Russians. He wants us to stay in Iraq, and that means more dead US troops. Like Clark, Michael Moore says the invasion of Iraq was bad, horrible and nasty, yet he supports continued occupation by the US or UN. Most illogical.

Does Clark plan to withdraw the 110,000 US troops already in Iraq? Not bloody likely, given what he says on his campaign website. In fact, he says he might even send MORE troops. That means more war, not less.

Howard Dean’s stance is similar. Bring in the UN. His web page on Iraq has no mention about when US troops will be withdrawn. (The page can not be directly linked to. Click On The Issues/Security & Foreign Policy/Iraq Truth Center/Governor Dean’s Plan for Reconstruction).

Neither Clark nor Dean have made any statement about when the troops will come home from Iraq. Keeping US troops there, even under the guise of a UN-led force, will only increase the resistance, drive moderates to those not friendly to us, and further blacken our already mostly ruined reputation in the Middle East.

An occupation by the United Nations would still be an occupation. The US has Security Council veto over any such plan, so a UN occupation could and would be controlled by the US. And consider this; the UN blockade of Iraq resulted in the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children, so doubtless Iraqis see an UN occupation as just more death and destruction.

Plus, of course, our troops would still be there and would still be getting killed. You can’t pretend to be a peacenik and then support continued US/UN occupation of Iraq. Because, if you do, then you are saying war is peace.

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A good  place to buy books!

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The L Word

A full-page ad in the LA Times yesterday loudly proclaims how The L Word, a new TV series about lesbians, is monumentally ground-breaking and Very Very Important indeed.

However reality is not allowed to intrude. The entire cast is young, white and pretty. (Update: Whoops, a reader comments there is one woman of color on the show - as you can tell I haven’t actually watched it).

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