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Public Employee Press
The
World of Work
Grocery strike settled
By GREGORY N. HEIRES
Over 70,000 grocery workers struck
for four months in Southern California. In the February settlement, they
held onto their health-care benefits and beat back a proposal that would
have forced current employees to pay up to $95 a week for premiums.
But under the United Food and Commercial Workers pact, employees will
eventually contribute to their health care and new employees will assume
a far greater burden to receive health benefits. Employers will contribute
$1.10 per hour toward the health-care of new workers while continuing
for now to pay $3.80 an hour for existing workers. The settlement also
establishes a two-tiered wage system that will bring in new workers at
a substantially lower rate than current employees.
The employersSafeway, Krogers and Albertsonscited
competition from Wal-Mart to justify deep cutbacks in health benefits.
In recent years, the retail giant the nations largest employer,
with 1.2 million employees has made a big push into the grocery
business.
The average supermarket employee makes $10.35 an hour, but sales clerks
at Wal-Mart got only $8.23 an hour in 2001. Because of their low wages,
many of Wal-Marts employees cannot afford to enroll in the companys
health-care plan.
Wal-Mart is a notorious anti-union company that has faced lawsuits over
unequal pay, discrimination and required off-the-clock work. Even an internal
audit found extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations
requiring time for breaks and meals.
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