Southern California grocery workers authorize a strike amid contract negotiations [Breaking]
Battered by two years of pandemic stress, tens of thousands of Southern California grocery workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if supermarkets don’t meet their wage demands as negotiations on a new contract resume in the coming weeks.
Ralphs has begun hiring temporary workers to prepare for walkouts. In a statement, the company said its stores will remain open despite the vote. “No one wins in a strike — not our associates, not our company, not our communities and not the union,” it said. Employees at other large companies including Amazon and Starbucks are seeking to unionize. And labor shortages are plaguing industries across the country as staffers switch jobs for higher pay. Inflation is surging to record levels in California and across the U.S.
In the Los Angeles area, a living wage — defined as the minimum income for a worker to meet basic needs — ranged from $19.22 for a single person without children to $34.01 for families with two working adults and three children in 2020, according to the latest data in a living wage calculator created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Non-union markets such as Amazon-owned Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are fierce competitors. And non-union retailers such as Walmart and Target have expanded their grocery businesses in recent years. When the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach passed ordinances last year requiring chains to offer several months of hazard pay, Ralphs closed five markets saying they were “financially unsustainable.”
“Working 28 hours a week doesn’t pay the rent,” she said. “It’s not going to put food in your kids’ bellies.”
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