I pulled up at Raley's, and there were pickets out. I waved to them and moved on, taking my business elsewhere. I had no idea what the issue they are striking over are, (I do now) but my thought was this. All across this country, businesses are making ever increasing profits, paying their top management more and more, while at the same time trying to screw those at the bottom. In the current climate, I will give the workers, not management, the benefit of the doubt.
So I did my shopping elsewhere and came home to do a little research. These were the pertinent items that I was able to glean from my research.
- Management claims that they need to control costs to remain competitive. This, though rather vague, does make sense.
- And of course 'controlling costs' means no premium pay for working Sundays, wage freezes, and the ever popular two-tiered wage rate, where current employees are paid one amount, while new hires get less. And of course cuts in health care benefits. Building in an incentive to get rid of current employees to replace them with cheaper ones.
- The union has asked for an audit so that they can find out if this is really about remaining competitive, or just lining the pockets of upper management (the company is privately held, not publicly traded, so much less is a matter of public record)
- Management has been unwilling to submit to an audit, which tells me that the numbers probably do not justify their demands
I have been a professional most of my adult life, and have never belonged to a union. But that does not mean that I don't recognize what their existence have done for all of us. And I see what is happening all over this country, the push to bring labor relations back the 19th century.
So for now, I am taking my business elsewhere.
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