Grocery Workers Fight For Pay!
This photo was taken outside of the Ralphs at the corner of Carson St. and Cherry Ave.
April 6, 2022
Mar. 7, 2022 was the day that grocery workers in Long Beach announced their possible upcoming strike. The members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) decided that if a negotiation was not reached by Easter Sunday, the strike would begin. In the Long Beach Business Journal, it was found that approximately 1,000 workers throughout 12 common stores in our city feel like they are being underpaid for the work that they do. Some of these stores include Albertsons, Gelson’s, Pavilions, Ralphs, Stater Bros. and Vons stores. Although we are more affected by the strike in Long Beach, this possible strike is also spread throughout all of Southern California, including about 47,000 workers.
SEGA sophomore Kenneth Heyl shared that he was not aware of the situation. He found the issue unfair and saddening. Another big concern for this strike is how it will affect food prices for the buyers. With the demanding raise, food prices could possibly rise from 2.5-3.5%. Kenneth’s opinion quickly changed. “I don’t want prices for protein bars to go up, I’m greedy,” he stated.
The strike emerged when Ralphs and its union asked for a five dollar increase in the next three years and were denied. All they were offered in return was just below two dollars incremental increase over the next three years. Many workers found this insulting. Andrea Zinder, president of UFCW Local 324 who represents these 1,000 workers said in an interview with Fox News outside a rally, “It [the deal being offered] does not reflect what workers have been through. It does not reflect the fact that Ralphs has made tremendous profits.” This rally was held in Long Beach on Mar. 15 where the union grocery workers and other community members marched outside of a Ralphs for more justified wages. According to the “Will Orange County’s Grocery Workers Strike? Union Claims Unfair Labor Practices” made it clear that Ralphs profits have doubled during the pandemic so with this information is their 60 cent offer a year (a total of under two dollars in the three years) justified, or is a strike the right way to go?
A worker at Ralphs who would prefer to stay anonymous clarified that the strike is optional, but that the union is encouraging them to fight for better pay. He later added, “I definitely think we deserve a raise considering how things have gone up, we need at least a little bit more than what they are giving us.” The worker was unable to provide new insight on what is next, but be sure to stay updated on this evolving fight for justice.
Jess Burchett • May 2, 2022 at 12:50 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
In issue 6/2022, published on Apr 6, 2022, Arianna Garcia talks about how “Grocery Workers Fight For Pay!”. The article talks a lot about how market workers are severely underpaid and when they asked for a raise, it had been denied. Some locals have mentioned that they do not like the idea of the workers getting paid more because then the price of market food might rise. A lot of supermarket workers were going to start a strike and the Union even encouraged it. During the pandemic, Ralphs’ profits doubled. The workers believed that because of this and because of all of the hard work and effort that they have been putting in for the store, they deserve the raise that they have requested. Minimum wage right now in Long Beach, California, is fourteen dollars an hour. Some positions at Ralph’s pay less than that. From a more personal perspective, I’m in the fast food business and starting my job, I have started with eighteen dollars an hour, so the low hourly pay rate absolutely astonishes me. Living in California is extremely expensive. I believe that hourly wages should be able to match this so no one has to live paycheck to paycheck.
Eliz Barsikhian • Apr 12, 2022 at 12:05 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 6/2022 (published on April 6, 2022), Arianna Garcia wrote and article titled, “Grocery Workers Fight For Pay!”. This article states the whole situation with the Ralphs in Long Beach. It explains the possible upcoming strike the grocery workers in Long Beach were planning to take place on March 7, 2022 due to the unfair treatment they were experiencing. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) decided to negotiate with the grocery workers by allowing the strike to take place if a negotiation was not reached by the Easter Sunday deadline. I like how this article showed the whole process of the strike whether it was the Union asking for a five dollar increase for the next three years, or the possible rise of food prices from 2.5-3.5%. It was really eyeopening to see the pros and cons of a strike and it was nice to see the different voices behind this strike whether it’s actual grocery workers affected by the strike, or the president of the UFCW. I think the pros of the strike definitely outweigh the cons. If the Ralphs industry profited during the pandemic, I think a better wage than they are getting currently is justified.
Vanessa Lawrence • Apr 12, 2022 at 10:37 am
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 6/2022 (published on April 6, 2022), Arianna Garcia wrote an article called “Grocery Workers Fight For Pay!”. In this article Arianna speaks about how grocery stores don’t pay their employees enough at all. “…it was found that approximately 1,000 workers throughout 12 common stores in our city feel like they are being underpaid for the work that they do”, that was found in the Long Beach Business Journal. Personally I’ve heard of people getting paid less than ten dollars an hour. They should be paid way more, especially if they are dealing with customers. If they do bring up pay for employees there would be a rise from 2.5-3.5% in the prices of things. Ralph’s union asked for a five dollar increase for the next three years and they were denied and this is when the strike started. Employees say that if this doesn’t change by Easter Sunday they will start the strike. One employee said that they need a raise because of the prices of things now and they definitely deserve a little bit more of what they get. I do believe that they should fight for more money and they should strike.
Hannah Swank • Apr 12, 2022 at 10:31 am
Dear corydon editor
In the article titled Grocery workers fight for pay by arianna garcia published in april 6, 2022 was an eye opener to read about and to learn more about the topic and how long it has been going on for and how the problem started. It was interesting to hear this grocery workers strike for a raise in their salary when previous efforts had no effect. It is also very interesting hearing a quote on how the strike might affect the other counties in the southern california region. One of the things I found that was a little confusing while reading the article was seeing a quote in a different color in the second to last paragraph of the article. A suggestion is that when using a quote from a news website, put down the name of the article and the person who wrote the article as well as when the article was published on the website. Overall there are a lot of interesting things that I did not know about the strike of the grocery workers fighting for better pay.
Sincerely,
Hannah Swank grade 11