CTA ads helped strikers defend benefits for all

Recognizing that the fight for adequate health care by California grocery workers is the same battle playing out at district bargaining tables across the state, CTA launched a radio advertising campaign to support the strikers and stop the grocery chains from stripping away the health benefits of their employees.

"This fight is bigger than the 70,000 Southern California United Food and Commerical Workers on strike or locked out of their jobs since Oct. 11. Employee health care benefits are under attack nationwide," says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. "If these companies are allowed to easily strip away benefits from their workers, who will be next?"

"Grocery workers are part of our communities and their children attend our schools," said Kerr in one ad. "We see the strain on their kids every day. These workers are on strike because giant corporations are trying to destroy their health care.

"When some people are uninsured, the medical bills they can't pay end up raising costs for all of us," she continued. "Fair benefits for them mean more stable health costs."

Kerr urged the public to stop shopping at the stores involved because of what the strike meant for "the workers, for their kids, for us all." The Southern California version of the ads targeted Vons and Pavilions stores, which are owned by Safeway; Ralphs, which is owned by Kroger; and Albertsons. The Northern California ads targeted Safeway, Albertsons and Ralphs stores.

"The ads got teachers thinking," says Deborah Harrison, a fifth-grade teacher in Los Angeles and a member of the CTA Board of Directors. "Health care is our issue, too."

Airing on more than 50 radio stations including 11 Spanish-language stations, the ads offered a strategic boost to UFCW. The pressure generated by the fourweek ad campaign, coupled with a potential formal AFL-CIO labor boycott of all Safeway stores, a threat of legal action by the state's attorney general, and criticism from state lawmakers, had an impact. At press time, UFCW and the grocery chains had agreed on a settlement.

At two key events during the historic strike - the Jan. 31 UFCW solidarity rally in Inglewood and a Feb. 23 California Labor Federation news conference in Oakland - CTA Vice President David A. Sanchez, who is featured in the Spanish-language ads, took the podium to pledge CTA support. At the Oakland news conference, where the CLF announced it would urge its 2 million union members to boycott Safeway if a settlement wasn't reached soon, Sanchez said, "Just like Safeway, we have our own bottom line. All families deserve adequate health care. Teachers and their families are proud to be part of the fight to keep it that way."

The personal attacks on CTA by conservative radio talk show hosts and others for airing the ads were a small price to pay for the good they accomplished, says Kerr. CTA's State Council of Education voted to support the UFCW workers and their fight for affordable health benefits. Teachers walked the picket lines with grocery workers, took bottled water and snacks to picketers, and made significant contributions to their strike fund throughout the ordeal.

Estimates are that the three supermarket chains - Safeway, Albertsons and Kroger - have lost as much as $1.5 billion in sales as a result of the strike. Together, Safeway and Kroger Co. enjoyed $9.7 billion in operating profits for 2002. Their combined market share in Southern California is 60 percent.

Striking grocery store workers and members of the public have swamped CTA with expressions of gratitude for the ads.

"I was on my way to the picket line last week at 5:30 a.m. and heard your radio announcement," wrote UFCW Local 324 member Rebecca Barker, a mother of four who was locked out of her job at Albertsons in Lakewood. "It brought tears to my eyes."

"To know we have support from our union brothers and sisters will give us all a lift," wrote Mary Aguiniga, a picket captain at the Albertsons in Arroyo Grande.

And John Conley, a grocery striker who is also a school board member in Palo Verde Unified in Blythe (Riverside County), was so grateful he vowed not to forget teachers in the next round of contract negotiations. "Health and welfare benefits touch each and every one of us. Thank you for caring!"

Even the New York Times saw the historic nature of the battle. In a Nov. 15 editorial, the paper warned that the grocery store owners were wrong to use their concerns about exploitative Wal-Mart supercenter stores coming to the state as an excuse to gouge their own employees. "Wal-Mart likes to wrap itself in American values. It should be reminded that one of those is paying workers enough to give their families a decent life."

"When families suffer from poor wages and lack of health care, that means children suffer, and their grades suffer," says Kerr. "Teachers won't stand for that. Our ads will be remembered for taking a stand for these middle-class families - and against the rising costs of health care that threaten the security of us all."

Mike Myslinski