by Marcy Rein
Cheering, chanting pandemonium broke out as the ILWU Drill Team stepped smartly into the UFCW mass meeting March 14. Around 900 members of nine Northern California locals had converged on the ILWU longshore Local 10 hall. Their banners ringed the balcony and their noise rattled the roof as they joined the yell raised by the Drill Team and their own chant team. "UF-C-Double-U! Safeway, we’re coming through!" they hollered.
After a fiery morning rally, Northern California UFCW members broke into work groups and dove into the details of their contract campaign.
The energy unleashed at that opening carried through a day that was part pep-rally, part planning meeting for the upcoming Northern California grocery contract campaign. Smarting from the bitter end of the Southern California struggle just two weeks before, the members at the meeting vowed to learn its lessons and hold the line.
"Southern California began the war of 2004, and we're going to win it!," said Local 839 Shop Steward Dorothy Smith. After nearly five months on the picket lines, the 70,000 UFCW members in Southern California voted up a three-year contract marked by sharp cuts in wages and benefits for new hires. Current employees will see their wages stay flat, their pension accrual go down and their health care premiums go up, although they held off the premium increase until the last year of the deal.
Watching the Southern California strike and lockout unfold, nine locals formed the Bay Area UFCW Coalition last October. They represent nearly 50,000 workers at Safeway, Albertsons, Ralphs, Cala, Raley’s and several independent stores. Eight of the locals--01, 120, 1179, 373R, 428, 648, 839 and 870--sign on to a master contract that expires Sept. 11, 2004. The union expects talks to begin mid-June. Sacramento-area Local 588 bargains alone. Its agreement expires July 17.
Each Coalition local hired an organizer for the contract campaign and began planning the mass meeting months ago, with help in the last weeks from the California Labor Federation and the AFL-CIO Western Region. They all know what they’re up against.
"The store managers are already telling us the contract from Southern California is coming to Northern California," Local 839 President John Briley said in opening the meeting. "They’re expecting us to roll over and play dead," he said, drawing shouts of "Boo!" and "No way!" from the crowd.
Following Briley, Rev. Phil Lawson, Rev. Carol Been and Fr. Louis Vitale of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice delivered fighting invocations, and U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and Teamsters International Vice President Chuck Mack promised support. Then speakers from each local hit the mike.
The Coalition locals represent workers from Salinas in the Central Valley to Eureka by the Oregon border. The members at the meeting ranged from 30-year veterans to baggers with just a few years on the job. But they all voiced the urgency of the looming fight not only for health care, but for decent living standards for working people.
"I worked my way through college at Safeway, and had a baby daughter," said Vince Herrera of Local 428. "With the well-baby check-ups and the immunizations, the flu and earaches she had, I would still be in debt today if I didn’t have a well-funded benefit package," he said. "This attack on our health care is like a rock dropping to the bottom of a pond. Everyone, not just retail workers, will feel the ripple."
"I knew I was never going to get rich working at Safeway, but I could provide for my family," said Local 870’s Diane Powe. "Now they want to take away health care and pensions, because rich people like [Safeway CEO] Steve Burd want to get richer. We built this country. We built this industry. Why should we take a hit because he wants more? When is enough enough?"
The speakers recognized the delegations from their locals, who stood amid more cheers and yells. And the crowd roared for Southern California strike veteran Mike DiLeo, and the representatives who’d come from locals all over the U.S. and Canada--from Washington State, Michigan, Hawaii, Kentucky and Calgary, Canada.
Over lunch, breakout groups of about 30 people discussed shop-floor and public strategies for the coming months. When the rank-and-file vigorously enforces their contract on the job, the employer will know they mean business—so the sessions began with a review of members’ rights under the contract and the National Labor Relations Act.
"We're making sure people know the in’s and out’s of their contract," said Local 648 President Mary Chambers. Rev. Carol Been spoke to each group and encouraged people to sign up for outreach to clergy and congregations in their communities.
"Every faith tradition shares a commitment to justice," she said. "That gives you powerful allies in getting your message to the public."
After lunch, the meeting re-convened for a skit put on by members of Locals 648 and 1199 that envisioned a successful campaign--starting with apathetic and fearful workers in a captive audience meeting and ending with a group of members badgering Steve Burd till he gave up the fight. The audience booed, cheered and rose up on cue. By the end they were on their feet yelling and ready for the brief rally that wound up the day.
At the rally speakers from the broader labor movement pledged solidarity and support, including California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski, AFL-CIO Western Region Field Mobilization Coordinator Lisa Hoyos, San Francisco Central Labor Council head Walter Johnson and ILWU Local 10’s Trent Willis. Even though members of the ILWU longshore division have excellent health benefits, they’re still backing the UFCW fight, Willis said.
"There’s no way the ILWU is going to sit back and watch workers be persecuted," he said. "Every worker in this country is at risk and everyone deserves health care."
Pulaski reminded the crowd that the fight for health care will extend to the ballot box this fall. The California legislature passed SB-2 last session, requiring employers that don’t offer health insurance to pay into a state fund for uninsured workers. But big retail interests funded an initiative that would repeal the measure--so labor will need to get out the vote to defend its gains.
The March 14 mobilization ended with a quick, loud march around the Safeway across the street from the ILWU Local 10 hall.
As the rally ended, members streamed out of the Local 10 parking lot for a march around the Safeway across the street. And if they happened to look up when they filed past the back of the store, they would’ve seen a few Bay Area activists on the roof with home-made banners. "Safeway: Don’t Destroy Workers' Healthcare" read one. "Our Fight is On!" read the other.
