Safeway, King Soopers - Poised to "bust" the union?

Historically, Colorado has a low unemployment rate and in my opinion for good reason; it's a beautiful place to live, work and raise a family so it tends to attract business. The state is not exempt from the recession, the unemployment rate for April was 7.4%, a drop of .1% from March, leaving over 200,000 Coloradans out of work.

One might wonder how many of  the 21,000+ Coloraodo/Wyoming members of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 7 are enjoying the mostly beautiful springtime in the Rockies we're having? Safeway, King Soopers and Albertsons workers belonging to UFCW Local 7 are working without contracts and from what I read, contract talks between the companies and union are stalled with neither side giving much ground. 

Talks with  Safeway were the first to begin and the members authorized a strike on May 9th but agreed to continue working until June 1st, and now June 26th, while talks continued. King Soopers and Safeway have a legal lockout agreement so if Safeway workers had walked out, King Soopers would likely have locked out. 

If you'd like background, you can visit the UFCW Local 7 site or you can follow the saga in the Denver Post. I'd like to be able to link you to the Rocky Mountain News but, alas, Denver's other paper folded in February. I'd warn that both sites are biased but any conservative sites would also display a bias and there just ain't no such thing (this blog included) as a totally neutral party.

I do not think grocery workers are overpaid or have exorbitant benefits!

I follow (and contribute to) the Denver Post forums regarding the labor dispute and I see many of the posts as two totally irrational "armed camps". On the one side the vehemently anti-union crowd who rant against the "overpaid, lazy, unskilled, uneducated, can't find a real job" union grocery workers and the other that constantly berates the "greedy, money grubbing, evil, giant corporations getting rich on the backs of the down-trodden worker".

As a "lonely rational voice in the wilderness :-)", here's how I see it:

The workers are entitled to every penny and every benefit they can get. However, the companies owe the worker nothing more than what's guarenteed by Federal/State law and their collective bargaining agreement. The idea that a profitable company must share those profits with the employees is a moronic myth perpetuated by their union toadies. The companies have a fudiciary duty only to their investors and if an employee wants to share in the profits, invest your money - you can also share in any losses!

The other argument is just as bogus and much more cruel. We can agree that checkers, stockers, clerks and the like do not have jobs requiring an advanced degree but when the worker is berated for the job they have, it only displays the ignorance and bigotry of the poster. There was a time when an "honest days pay for an honest days work" actually meant something regardless of your job description. Myself, I'm really pissed that I'm not 7'6" and able to dunk a basketball without jumping - there went my $30 mill a year!

I do think that the workers need a reality check. The stores have been accepting "scab/replacement worker" applications for quite some time and I predict that a strike, at this time, by any of the bargaining units, will bust the union. Call the management of any of the companies all the names you want but don't for a second think that any of the unionized employees are irreplaceable. Unions cut into company profits and now, if the workers strike, is the perfect time to legally do away with them. Wake up - it's a new business model! Love 'em or hate 'em, the WAL-MART model works and is profitable. Do you think for a second that the Safeway, King Soopers and Albertsons executives don't look at their bottom line and enviously compare theirs to WAL-MART?

Now is also the time for the union to quit "looking out for the union" and actually do what you're paid to do - represent the worker! I've computed that nationwide, UFCW members paid close to 650 million dollars in union dues in 2008. I ask, "what the hell are they getting for their money"? My opinion; corruption, bloated union payrolls, nepotism and massive political contributions designed only to benefit the union. The worker be damned!

There is another twist - Colorado House Bill 09-1170 that would have given unemployment benefits to workers who were locked out because of a lock out agreement. Democrat Governor Bill Ritter vetoed the bill on May 19th and drew the wrath of UFCW and it's members. Colorado is BROKE and I applaud the Governor who issued a press release explaining his reason for the veto.

The bill narrowly passed the Democrat controlled Colorado Senate late in session and in my opinion was  introduced and eventually sent to Governor Ritter in hopes of influencing the anticipated, now on-going, labor talks between UFCW Local 7 and the grocery chains.

The bill would have taken effect on July 1st and it's my belief that if passed, the union would have stalled talks with Safeway and Safeway workers would have walked out early in July, discouraging King Soopers from a lock out. I see it as yet another blatant attempt at influence peddling by a union and greedy union lapdog legislators begging for more treats.

Call me crazy but that's the way I see this mess.

Ya'll come visit now, ya hear - we need the tourist dollars.

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Colorado News - Safeway, King Soopers & UFCW Local 7

The contract between Colorado Safeway and UFCW Local 7 expired May 9th, 2009. The "members" authorized a strike but agreed to continue working until May 30th while talks continued. Safeway and King Soopers have a lock-out agreement and King Soopers has stated they will lock-out if the Safeway workers walk out.

That's the news synopsis and we have one more little wrinkle. King Soopers went on strike in 1996 and Safeway locked-out it's employees. Colorado/Safeway paid more than $5 million in unemployment to the locked-out workers during the strike. Safeway challenged the claims and finally, the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the workers right to unemployment during a lock-out.

Enter the republican legislation and we have the law that currently exists: locked out workers can draw unemployment if it's an "offensive" lock-out but cannot draw benefits if it's a "defensive" lock-out. A King Soopers lock-out because of a Safeway walk-out be considered a "defensive" lock-out and the locked-out employees WOULD NOT receive unemployment benefits.

Colorado now has a democrat Governor and democrat legislation so HB-1070, that would allow ALL locked-out workers to receive unemployment benefits, was introduced. The original effective date was in 2010 and it wouldn't affect (unless there were a really looong strike) any current labor negotiations but in the final days of the legislative session that ended May 6th, the effective date was changed to July 1st, 2009 and sent to the Governor. Interesting timing!

Surprise! Much to the consternation and dismay of the UFCW, democrat Governor Bill Ritter vetoed HB-1070 at 4:55 PM on  May 19th and issued a press release stating:

"I believe it is ill-advised and counterproductive to enact legislation that materially impacts the relative bargaining position of parties in the midst of ongoing negotiations."

It's obvious our first term governor wants to be re-elected in 2010; I'll leave the discussion of the Governors true motives and political future to the pundits and applaud the Governor for his veto - Drive a wooden stake through it's black heart and kill it forever! And while you're at it, let us Coloradoans have our deserved right-to-work and banish union protection clauses to the dark pits of hell where they belong.

Colorado Safeway, King Soopers and Albertson's workers - grow up. You absolutely have the right to walk off the job and the other employers absolutely have the right to lock-out their employees if there is a strike going on. If you get locked out, it's exactly what you agreed to and paid for! If you buy into the load of horse poop the UFCW bosses have been trying to sell you, you have no one to blame but yourselves when you no longer have a job; I suspect there are at least two unemployed Coloradoans (and likely some out-of staters willing to move) waiting for every job the UFCW Local 7 members throw away.

You're getting some bad advice from Ernie, Kania, John and the rest of the bosses. Ask them how much of their comfortable salaries they're going to give up to help you out when you're unemployed and can't even collect unemployment.

Any organization that needs Federal and State protection to simply stay alive needs close watching!

It's 10 o'clock - do you know where your money is?

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