There
are times when I get up on my soapbox and talk about issues. I guess it's time. I know I've been silly in this
discussion about fair wages, only because it's a no win situation we've been
fighting for and against for as long as I can remember. Yes, I think everyone
agrees that it seems like no one makes a living wage, that's the crux of this
whole problem - Because large corporations are the greedy bastards they are, as
well as real estate companies jacking up the prices so that no one can buy a
home any more without more than one job, or living with family and
friends. We get caught
in-between; its catch 22 when buying and selling. We want a little profit, but real
estate brokers want that selling profit, which is nice for the seller, but bad
for the buyer. It’s hard to
re-buy, when you, the homeowners don't get a little profit on
the deal. I've been at both
ends of these negotiations. Inflation, the man made evil.
I've
been involved in a Lock-out, which was caused by another market chain, in
another state, going on Strike. The
President of that chain was a greedy lunatic, and wanted to take AWAY the
precious things his workers had worked for all their life. Health Insurance! We didn't want more; we just wanted to
keep what we had had worked for, for years. Strikes aren't always what they
seem. We were forced to
stand outside, day and night, summer through winter, holding a damn Locked-Out
sign for five months. Patrons
didn't know what that meant, they only saw us as the greedy ones, trying to
force “their market” into giving us more money, causing the consumer’s prices
to go up…..and that was far from the truth. I spent five months, along with my
fellow employees, re-educating these people. Even our Union was new to this kind
of “Lock-out” situation; it was a learning experience all around.
Independent
markets, who weren't under the same contract, or were financially too small to
participate, were exempt from this whole mess, and some of these companies
volunteered to hire some of our workers on a temporary basis until the
strike/lock out ended. But
by the time it was over, we lost, not won. Holding out during this time, cost millions
of dollars, lives, families and homes, no one was exempt from the hardships
that affected each of these people. The
President of the Arizona chain was determined
to break the Union
Corporations
hate the Unions, because they negotiate to give workers a fair income, and it
may, in projection, put a minor scratch in the corporation's profit margin, but
it’s just enough of a small margin to affect THEIR Corporation’s profits. We wouldn't want them to have to forgo
buying that villa in France
It's a sham, all the smiles they train
their employees to wear for the outside world, when on the inside you’re
hurting. I worked for one
chain, Food 4 Less, when I first started in the business, and it was family
owned, but still Union . They treated their employees like
family. We were a
subsidiary of the Yucaipa Corporation. We
were all happy, for a time. Then the corporation started
buying other market chains, like Alpha Beta, Ralphs, and then ended up
selling what they bought to another corporations, and that corporation sold
again, and again, until it's now all owned by the Kroger Corporation; bigger,
and bigger and bigger, until employees just become a nameless speck on the
wall.
This
is why small, independent businesses are the best, where employers treat their
employees with respect, not a bargaining chip.
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