Companies Owe Workers for Success

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/20/18448701.php

Companies Owe Workers for Success

UFCW 8’s contract with the major supermarket employers is, without question, the finest deal for food workers in the entire country. We have always led the way in wages, benefits and working conditions.

We have historically set the industry standard and we are going to do it again together.

Our members are well aware of the threat that Wal-Mart and other non-Union retailers pose to our Union market share.

We also know about the health care crisis in which spiraling costs are squeezing Union-negotiated benefit plans from coast to coast.

Employers constantly complain of these twin devils whenever they negotiate with UFCW local Unions across the country. They insist that competition and health care costs are forcing them to hold wages and benefits in check.

Annual Profits Skyrocket

That’s what they tell us. But the facts that these companies report to their shareholders tell a different story. Their annual profits are skyrocketing, increasing at rates above 60 percent.

In California — thanks in part to UFCW-backed campaigns to raise public awareness — Wal-Mart is frustrated in its efforts to smother the landscape with Supercenters. Nationally, companies like Kroger, Safeway and Albertsons are fighting back successfully, often gaining market share in competition against Wal-Mart.

FULL story at link.