Grocery Workers Mobilize for Giant/Safeway Bargaining

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Demanding that Giant and Safeway “share the fruits of our labors,” UFCW Local 400 stewards and activists are mobilizing for the start of bargaining tomorrow on a new contract affecting 17,000 workers in the metro Washington area. “Our hard work over the past 30 years has built Giant and Safeway into the industry leaders in the Mid-Atlantic,” Local 400 President Tom McNutt told stewards and activists on Monday. The grocery giants – who together have nearly 60 percent of the Washington market -- “have the ability to pay,” McNutt said. “We don’t have the ability to make concessions. Our families are suffering. Theirs aren’t. So we will work 24/7 to improve our contract — to make sure they share the fruits of our labor — or they may find their fruit rotting and unsold.” During a daylong meeting last week, Local 400 stewards put the final touches on a strategic campaign to mobilize thousands of members for direct action, reach out to community allies, inform customers and the general public about the issues at stake in the negotiations, and launched a new website, occupygiantandsafeway.org. With support from the Community Services Agency, they also discussed how members can prepare for a strike, should one become necessary. McNutt argued that there are larger issues at stake in the contract negotiations. “It’s about whether retail jobs will be middle class jobs,” he said. “It’s about whether we, the 99 percent, start getting our fair share of the prosperity that right now flows only to the top 1 percent.” Safeway CEO Steve Burd made nearly $11 million last year, while Dick Boer, CEO of the Netherlands-based Ahold, which owns the Giant brand, collected $2.7 million in total compensation. - photo by Kaveh Sardari