Rite Aid workers from seven states converged on the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Harris- burg, PA on June 23 to oppose management’s plan that would force employees to pay more for their health care – and show support for a 15-week “unfair labor practice” strike by Rite Aid employees at seven stores in Cleveland, Ohio.
Many of the national coalition partners who helped Rite Aid workers win their fight in Lancaster, CA attended the Pennsylvania meeting, including the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, United Students Against Sweatshops. Jobs With Justice and union members from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, SEIU 1199, and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
A spirited rally took place an hour before the shareholder meeting, hosted by the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and Harrisburg Region Labor Council. After the rally, the group marched to the site of the shareholder meeting where 15 Rite Aid workers and union reps got inside to voice concerns at Rite Aid’s Board of Directors and top executives.
Rand Wilson of the AFL-CIO’s Center for Strategic Research presented a shareholder resolution that would stop the company from paying outrageous tax subsidies – on top of their golden parachutes – to company executives. The measure won support from a majority of independent shareholders, but lost when company-controlled votes were counted.
Striking Rite Aid worker Christina Frymier from Cleveland was the first to address CEO John Standley: “I’m on strike because Rite Aid is trying to make our health care so expensive that nobody will be able to afford it. Rite Aid does most of its business with customers who are very much like me. When I talk to customers, and tell them what Rite Aid is doing, they are angry and upset. They take their prescriptions and their business to CVS and other pharmacies. If the people who shop at Rite Aid’s 4,700 stores learn that management is trying to deny health care to its employees, Rite Aid’s reputation will be harmed. Do shareholders really want management to continue on a path that will hurt Rite Aid’s business nationwide?”
Donna Weber, a member of UFCW Local 1776 who works as a pharmacy technician at Rite Aid’s Tobyhanna, PA store was the next to address the company CEO. Weber told him that the company has cut staffing to dangerously low levels. She compared the executive’s huge salaries and benefits – including free use of a corporate jet for their personal use – to the challenging conditions in her store where she struggles to help customers with their prescriptions.
“It seems that if we can afford these high executive salaries and a free jet plane we should be able to adequately staff our stores,” said Webber, who added: “We shouldn’t have to choose between health care or food for our families.”
The day before the annual meeting, Rite Aid union leaders convened a national summit to share information and develop common strategies