2 out of 3 Kroger workers struggle to afford food and housing, survey finds. 14% are homeless

[Demovictory9]

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-01-11/2-out-of-3-kroger-workers-struggle-to-afford-food-housing-survey-finds

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Fourteen percent of Kroger workers are homeless now or have been during the last year, according to the report.

Three-quarters are food insecure, meaning they lack access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life, according to the definition set forth by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s seven times the rate of food insecurity in the general population. Fourteen percent of workers report getting food stamps or food from a food bank or community donation program.

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Jeanne Olsen, a service deli employee, takes the bus from her home in La Crescenta to the Ralphs where she works in La Cañada Flintridge. Then, at 9 p.m. after her shift ends, she walks four miles home because she can’t afford a car, she said.

Olsen, who is supporting an 18-year-old son, supplements her income through recycling, which earns her an extra $100 to $150 in a good month.

“I pick up every can, every plastic bottle that I find and I have my family, extended family save for me and friends too,” Olsen, 59, said. “And I have to devote part of my apartment to that recycling … But without that I would not be able to be eat.”


Olsen works six hours a day, six days a week, and made $14.90 an hour last year. Her pay rose to $15.90 at the start of the year.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

1. Their union is very weak, apparently.

My elderly neighbor used to work for a nearby Kroger, and she told me they had to clock out during breaks. Yet the time clock was located at one corner of the store, and the break room was at the other end. So the break would be over by the time she'd walk to the break room and back. Then management said it was "impossible" to place the time clock next to the break room, when it was suggested by several associates.

The pay rate of the woman in California is currently better than mine, by the way, but I don't live in high-cost California either. So it's pretty easy for me to stay afloat with that income. Not that I'm doing well for someone who majored in math and physics like I did, or with an IQ in the top 0.1% according to the California Test of Mental Maturity years ago (proctored by a local Mensa chapter).

[bluecollar2]

2. I'd love to see that CBA

I can't believe that a grievance can't be arbitrated under the wages, hours snd conditions of work clauses.

[Busterscruggs]

3. Surely

That super intellect could be used for something great? We have so many brilliant people here and so much wasted talent. I think you could go to kroger corporate and show them your math prowess to help everyone else

[Buckeye_Democrat]

6. I'm content with my current job...

... making various tools for a small tool-maker.

I had a job offer, soon after graduating, to work under a PhD physicist at Los Alamos Laboratory in NM doing "mathematical modeling". One of my physics professors was his friend and strongly recommended me for that entry-level position.

I turned it down because my parents, in their 40's when I was born, were developing health problems around the time that I graduated. So I felt like I'd be abandoning them, given how all of my older siblings lived farther away (at that time) with their own families. So I stuck around this mostly blue-collar city to work in a factory instead. After awhile, I seemed to be "typecast" as a factory worker despite the degree.

I graduated 28 years ago, by the way, so I don't even care about trying to use that degree at this point. My main concern is a healthy work environment until I can retire.

The supervisor at my current job has an engineering degree from the University of Illinois, which has been a breath of fresh air for me. She's "wasting" her education too, but she's my favorite supervisor that I've ever had. Smart, hard-working and kind! Those attributes are sorely lacking in most of the factory bosses that I've had over the years.

At some places that I've worked, I was doing my regular duties and some of the work that was supposed to be done by my idiot manager as well. Then they'd waste time bullshitting with whomever was willing to listen. My current manager would be ashamed to behave in such a lazy, parasitic manner.

[jimfields33]

4. 15.90 is what has been asked for by our party for awhile now.

They listened to us. I’m glad they pay what we demanded.

[Jose Garcia]

5. She's making 90 cents an hour more than CA's minimum wage

Last edited Wed Jan 26, 2022, 11:45 AM - Edit history (1)

After deducting union dues, it may be less than minimum wage.

So what exacty is she getting from her union?