Defeating Wal-Martism

As those of us who live in Southern California are now painfully aware, the grocery workers strike against the Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons supermarket chains has now gone past its 100th day. And the prospects for an early end to the strike are nowhere in sight.

The strike itself is is causing a lot of consumer grief, since many shoppers are reluctant to cross picket lines. There is a reason for this. Many long-time shoppers tend to shop for groceries in the same locations and they get to know the grocery workers they have been dealing with. Shoppers tend to look upon grocery workers as family , sort of, and are sympathetic to the strikers dilemma. This is especially the case since many grocery workers are faced with serious cuts in their health-care benefits. And the costs of health care hit a responsive chord with many shoppers. Many grocery workers work not so much for the money, but for the health care benefits they need for their families and dependents.

Another significant part of the workers grievances have to deal with the lowering of the wage scale for new hires. Which means, basically that under the plans put forth by management, conceivably two workers doing precisely the same type of job at the same time could be receiving different wages. This is something hardly conducive to good employee-management relations on the job. And it is something no self-respecting union can tolerate.

Health and wage benefits are a make or break issue with the labor unions. This strike’s outcome could set the trend for labor-management relations in all industries in America which are currently using union labor. But health care is really the biggest issue with all parties to the strike.

Most grocery workers are reasonable on the issue of health benefits.   You learn this from talking to the picketers at the various store locations. They know that health cost are rising and that they will have to pay a bit more for their health care.

While most workers are more than willing to do give a little, so as to get a contract and return to work, the hard-nosed position of management is making this impossible.

Management’s position is pretty simple, they’re feeling pressure form Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart pays low wages and limited, if any benefits to their grocery workers.

The supermarket chains feel they can only compete with Wal-Mart by lowering wages and health-care benefits.

Drastically lowering  them.

Which is the essence of something I call Wal-Martism.

The Wal-Martists’ manifesto is simple. Wal-Mart shall become as large and profitable as possible, largely by skimping on employee wages and benefits. Then, it will go into new locations and compete against local stores by offering lower prices, based on super-low employee costs. Competing stores cannot possibly match Wal-Mart if they employ union labor, so competing chains will  either try to weaken the union by offering impossible terms when contracts come up, or  simply lock out the union completely.

What that means basically, is that Wal-Mart will be the model for any new employee wage and benefit structure. And if the workers don't like it; that’s too bad.

The way things look now, store management feels that it is in such a position of power, that it does not have to negotiate with the grocery workers unions (United Food and Commercial Workers-- UFCW) in good faith, but simply assume a take it or leave it approach and just wait things out.   Ultimately they feel they have to take this position or simplyh be forced out of business by the new Wal-Mart "Supercenters" as is happening in the Midwest.

To a certain extent, the problem of health care costs will be taken care of by 2006 in California by a new law which mandates that certain employers employing a certain number of employees must provide 80% of health care costs. This will destroy at least part of the advantage that Wal-Mart now enjoys, but in the meantime, health care remains the sticking point in negotiations.

This law will level the playing field a little so that existing grocery stores chains don’t feel that have to skimp on health benefits in order to survive.

Wal-Martism, unless it is curbed by legislation mandating employer-paid health care for all employees, will result in forcing many workers out of the middle-class and into the ranks of the working poor. A clear reversal of the American dream.

Unchecked Wal-Martism, will not only weaken the union movement but will lead to what amounts to a monopoly in the supermarket industry.

Do we really want this?

Punditwalla--