TC Activists-Don't shop at Trader joe's in St. Paul
Go ahead and dumpster dive to your hearts content-but NEVER, EVER CROSS A PICKET LINE!
from Workday MN-
http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4103
Picketing continues at Trader Joe's store
By Rose Friedman
13 July 2009
| ST. PAUL - Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 are picketing the new Trader Joe’s grocery store in St. Paul. | ||
| The store, which opened June 26 at the corner of Lexington Parkway and Randolph Avenue, has drawn criticism from Local 789 leaders, who say the chain’s workers were not given an option to unionize and that the store will detract business from nearby unionized stores. “The grocery dollar is finite; it’s not growing,” said Bernie Hesse, Local 789’s director of special projects.
Hesse has been picketing the store along with other UFCW members since the opening. He worries that shoppers who normally buy groceries at union stores will turn their loyalties over to Trader Joe’s. “This is about $8 million a year that isn’t going to union stores,” he said. Other UFCW members said they were on the picket line to let Trader Joe’s workers know they have the right to unionize. “We aren’t telling them you have to have a union,” said picketer Debbie Pabarcus. “We just want to lay out what we can offer.” Pabarcus said the company’s workers have been friendly. Some have even brought her water on hot days. So far, though, the company has refused to answer questions from UFCW leaders about organizing issues, and Local 789 has not been able to find out what benefits and wages Trader Joe’s employees have. “They don’t buy locally,” said UFCW picketer George Pokorny Jr., “and the money all goes back to Germany. They just aren’t community-friendly.” The community seems to have embraced the new store, however. Hesse was discouraged by the Franken, Wellstone and Obama bumper stickers on many cars entering the store’s parking lot. “We have to get back into the practice of educating people,” Hesse said. “But we’re not giving up.” Rose Friedman is an intern with The Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation. |
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Traitor Joes
Say no to gentrification!
Say no to Traitor Joes!
it's all the unions, I tells ya
Yes, yes, it's all the unions' fault. They are clearly the one and only reason that the economy is fucked. If only they would stop lowering wages, closing factories, exploiting foreign workers, destroying the environment, recklessly speculating on currency fluctuations, and buying influence from both political parties.
Those darn unions!
The union's fault
Yes, it is the union's fault that America has lost millions of jobs. It sucks but I will not buy anything union made. Joining a union is a sure guarantee that the inherent greed of the union will drive your job overseas quick as can be. Drive the socialists out of the union, and maybe, just maybe the unions will prosper again insteat of being the parasite that kills companies.
Just from the purest, idlest curiousity....
...I'd be interested to hear your definition of "socialism". I'm _part_ of the radical left and I don't know anyone who views common-or-garden US unions as socialist.
Did you grow up during the Cold War? I know "socialist" was a common term of abuse then, like "fascist" during the thirties and forties.
I mean, "socialism" has a formal, economics definition. It doesn't just mean "working together to get more money". If that were all, then all those lobbyists in Washington would be socialists, and so would the bankers and the arms manufacturers.
And just a thought--if my choices are "working in a US sweatshop for a dollar a day because I can't possibly have any labor rights" versus "letting my job go overseas so someone else can work in a sweatshop for a dollar a day"--well, that's a pretty sure sign that the system is broken.
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