Kroger strike imminent
Well, the Kroger grocery store strike in Northern Kentucky and greater Cincinnati is looking like it might happen this weekend. This strike also affects grocery store employees in my hometown in Eugene, Oregon. At issue for the Kroger employees are health care expenses (!) and fully funded pension plans.
I once crossed a picket line. It was by accident. After being a life-long supporter of striking workers, banning restaurants because of their shitty treatment of employees or discriminatory hiring and firing practices (still have never set foot in a Cracker Barrel) and generally taking a stand against corporate greed even when no one knows it but me, I found myself in San Francisco during the hotel and restaurant workers strike several years ago. For one reason or another, I was at some swanky hotel in the city and when we pulled into the tunnel for valet parking, the noise from the striking workers was deafening. Clanging bells, drumming drums and singsong chants reverberated everywhere. I was shaking so hard that the scab, actually a member of management filling in for the valet, had to help me out of the car. Damn, that sucked. And I still feel bad about it today.
Kroger workers are holding a rally today at 5:30 in Fountain Square to share their demands. There’s supposed to be an online petition at Grocery Workers United that we can sign to show support but I can’t find it.
What you can do: Tell your Kroger store manager that you support store workers and want them to have a fair contract. I told my Kroger store manager that I didn’t want to shop somewhere where the employees weren’t treated fairly. He nodded and gave me a tired smile that said he didn’t like what was happening, either.
I once crossed a picket line. It was by accident. After being a life-long supporter of striking workers, banning restaurants because of their shitty treatment of employees or discriminatory hiring and firing practices (still have never set foot in a Cracker Barrel) and generally taking a stand against corporate greed even when no one knows it but me, I found myself in San Francisco during the hotel and restaurant workers strike several years ago. For one reason or another, I was at some swanky hotel in the city and when we pulled into the tunnel for valet parking, the noise from the striking workers was deafening. Clanging bells, drumming drums and singsong chants reverberated everywhere. I was shaking so hard that the scab, actually a member of management filling in for the valet, had to help me out of the car. Damn, that sucked. And I still feel bad about it today.
Kroger workers are holding a rally today at 5:30 in Fountain Square to share their demands. There’s supposed to be an online petition at Grocery Workers United that we can sign to show support but I can’t find it.
What you can do: Tell your Kroger store manager that you support store workers and want them to have a fair contract. I told my Kroger store manager that I didn’t want to shop somewhere where the employees weren’t treated fairly. He nodded and gave me a tired smile that said he didn’t like what was happening, either.
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