F*ck the Man

Michael Vermin

As you may have noticed, the stores Vons, Albertsons, and Ralphs have a labor problem with sign-carrying union members protesting outside and on the streets. This is because the United Food and Commercial Workers Union has staged a strike in Central and Southern California. The strike has affected many local businesses such as the nearby Starbucks. Conversely, smaller grocery stores, such as Trader Joes and Town Market have seen increased business.

The strike was instigated when Ralphs, Vons, and Albertsons decided to put up to a 3 billions dollar healthcare burden onto the employees. The union voted nearly unanimously to strike. The strike occurred at the Vons stores, but the other two stores enacted a lock-out of union members, hiring part-time workers for inflated rates. This has caused many of the employees, and other union workers to actively strike outside.

This protest has affected many of the students at El Segundo High School, a few in particular who work at one of the three stores. Senior John Sollee says, “I’m protesting for benefits, not just for myself, but for my fellow coworkers.” This brings up the important issue of who is really affected by the cuts in healthcare. While the students at El Segundo who are employed are not greatly inconvenienced, the long time workers, with families to support are forced from their jobs.

Other students employed by either Ralphs, Vons, or Albertsons include seniors Jennifer Lamb, Chris Stockman, Whitney Levin, and Jeff McKinley. Senior Kenneth Hopper of Albertsons said, “Albertsons, Vons, and Ralphs plan to reduce wages and benefits in order to stay competitive with the Wal-Mart super stores coming to California soon.” This brings up the question: is one willing to pay a little bit more for their goods to support their fellow worker, or simply fall into the corporate scheme?

“The attitudes of the protestors are mostly positive an optimistic, there is a great sense of community among and we hope to resolve this soon” said senior Michael Spagnuolo. It is the charity and sense of community that most define a civilized society. While not everyone receives medical benefits from work, this may not only be a fight for supermarket employees, but a step forward for the treatment of employees by their parent companies. It does come as an inconvenience but hopefully, with the urging of consumers, the companies will be willing to come to a compromise with the union that works in everybody’s favor.