Blogs Nov 11, 2010 at 2:50 pm

Comments

1
To be fair to QFC, I think you piss in any corn flakes that come near you, don't you?
2
That's right FUCK THE UNIONS!! Just like Reagan did!!

Christ, I read this and thought I was on the Fox News website....
3
$345,426 is awfully high, yes. But it absolutely pales compared to the multi millions a year that CEOs pay themselves, thanks to our broken system of corporate governance.
4
David Dillon, CEO of QFC, makes $2.4 million.

The Union pres makes $350k.

Your average worker is damned lucky to make $30k at their job.
5
They wanna strike, then strike. I'll support them and, uh, McDonald's or something.

This is why we have unions.
6
Dear Matt the Unpaid Intern,
While it is true that $345,000 is gross, it's nothing compared to $70 Million. But really, that is not the point. The real story here is how the workers feel and why they would vote so overwhelmingly to reject the proposals on the table. You could have bothered to talk with some of them, but instead you talked to one representative and read some press releases and created a spectacle of sensationalism. You are not alone in trying to pass this off as "journalism." This is a perfect example of what is plaguing your so-called field.
7
*Edit David Dillon makes $5.2m... The $2.4 million was old.
8
@3 You mean like Kroger's CEO? Who, in 2009 got a salary of $1.2 million, cash bonuses of $1.2 million, and equity awards valued at $4 million ($6.4 million total in a year when the company's net income, as Matt says, was only $70 million)? The part about paying their CEOs too much money certainly isn't bullshit... And Kroger may have only made $70 million last year, but for the first half of their current fiscal year their net income was $636 million, so looks like they're on track to perform at 2008 levels again this year.
9
All you disgusting liberalNazis should just all go off and die so that Unpaid Interns like Baby Libertarian here can continue to lick the boots of their future employers in mass-market journalism. You can bet he won't abide any pesky unions getting in the way of his ascent to the top of the heap, just as Saints Alger and Rand intended.
10
@8 Yes, and I corrected myself. The $5.2m was from 2008.
11
However you rationalize it, a scab is a scab. There are plenty of non big 4 grocerey stores and the stronger the support the faster the settlement. There will be no need to shop at 7-11 if there is a strike.
12
Thank god for U-Scan.
13
Go back to reading your cute little Fountainhead Picture Book, little baby libertarian. I hope the Stranger starts making you work 80/hr weeks with unpaid overtime, and no days off -- then you'll grow to respect unions, you little snot.

(There's no arguing with these people, so it's better to just insult them)
14
Why the hell is anybody spending their money at QFC in the first place?

They've been statistically shown to have higher prices than Safeway, PCC, Town & Country, and even fucking Whole Foods in every category (conventional, organic, brand name, non-brand-name, produce, packaged foods, sale items, non-sale items). Metropolitan Market is the only grocery chain in Seattle that charges more... and at least they don't try to mask their exorbitance.

Are we such slaves to marketing that a big, colorful weekly circular in our mailboxes can convince us that the most expensive store is actually the middle-of-the-road choice?
15
Oh Matt, I assume you work there because you could take all of Christopher's "item" during the interview right?

That's what I though....
16
@14,

I used to live right across the street from QFC, and I only shopped there for convenience, like if it was late at night or I forgot something on my list at Safeway.

Why anyone else shops there baffles me. Many people seem to believe that it is cheaper. I guess marketing is a powerful tool.
17
I hated working in a grocery store, for all the shit that you have to put up with. Everyone has to buy food, including all kinds of crazy, mean, violent, rude, hysterical people. And you do it for relatively meager wages and bad hours. If grocery store workers, of all people, are saying that their contract is fundamentally unfair, I'd listen to them. These people are not in the habit of raising a stink over every little thing.
18
It's not like I'm pro-corporate. Corporations exist in large part because of the state. I'm also not anti-union. People should be allowed to organize. I just like how everyone in the "reality-based community" here is freaking out now because I brought some stats in that might go against orthodoxy. Look in the mirror, guys.

@6 -- Yes, you're right--I should have talked to a QFC worker and not looked up the annual report info because that would have supported orthodoxy. I'm sorry! Oh, and BTW--I used to work at Kroger.

@13 -- "(There's no arguing with these people, so it's better to just insult them)" Thank you for that wonderfully revealing insight into the mind of a shitty debater.

@15 -- It was a phone interview!
19
I shop at Whole Foods so why should care what people who smoked pot thru' high school want do? How hard will it be to replace $10/hr potheads or are they pretty much the bottom of the hiring barrel?
20
as someone with a master's degree who has been forced by the market to work at safeway for 10c above minimum wage... we deserve better. besides the bad hours and low wages -- working for someone who is making $120k + bonuses managing the smallest safeway i've ever been in is no walk in the park.
21
"working for someone who is making $120k + bonuses managing the smallest safeway"

An MFA isn't really a degree.

Work hard and maybe in 20 yrs you can be manager.
22
I'm a member of UFCW 21 (don't work at any of the big 4s, thank god) and most of you are all bringing a tear to my eye. Thanks for the support.

Happy workers means better service and a better shopping experience for all. And a good contract means happy workers!
23
I wish they assigned staff to this story. I'm looking at what accepting the contract would look like right now and it's a raw deal for people who's hours have been cut already. It also includes things like "Cut time and a half for working 6 days a week."

It's all very grim.
24
@22, I'm so glad my self-scan machine will be happier under a good contract.
25
@18: You missed my point entirely, just like you missed the story.
26
uh, don't workers at unionized grocery stores make more than minimum wage plus 10%? If that's true, then the union isn't doing much for the employees...I was under the impression union grocery store employees start at $15ish an hour with decent raises for seniority.
27
@26 When my dad was a union clerk in a Safeway in the 70's he made a living such that he bought a house and fed the whole family. Now that is not the case. It's not because "the union isn't doing much for the employees" it's because of the many corporate tactics to undermine unions. This can only be reversed by workers standing together and fighting back; that's what seems to be happening here. Good for them.

@22 Stay true!
28
What are the secret corporate tactics, bhowie? Are they tactics like giving such absurd compensation packages to not-even-as-good-as-their-Japanese-counterparts auto workers in Detroit that it's impossible to make an American car without a bailout every twenty years?

Things do sort of suck today. Our economy is reaping the "benefits" of an unsustainable sham post-war prosperity. We aren't going to get the same deals your dad got.

But I don't really expect you to care about any of this. You're all wrapped up in this workers vs. bosses, blood-from-a-stone bullshit. Maybe you should get into sports--it's got all of the competitive excitement without any disruption to my grocery services.
29
@28: You are funny. Speaking of bullshit: That claptrap about the compensation packages bringing down down Detroit is a complete lie. Oh, but you're a "journalist," so you should know that, right? No, you'd rather ape the talking points of someone getting rich off of you.

It's not about some abstract competitiveness, it is real life for millions of working people. Maybe someday you will have to learn about that the hard way and your pathetic little ideology will go right out the window.
30
Sorry for the "down down" mistype.
31
unpaid arsewipe @28: you need to re-read and dial back your stupidity and rhetoric a few notches... bhowie didn't say anything about "secret" corporate tactics --that is your inference-- it was "many corporate tactics to undermine unions" which sounds about like what they do as matter of course. fwiw, you only harm your own quixotic libertarian quest by attacking such blatantly false strawmen.
32
Aww, it does my heart good to see the readers of Slog standing up for working people! You know, y'all are pretty okay.

Matt, I think bhowie and other commenters are right: You missed the story here. Nobody takes a strike vote lightly, so when people vote 94% to walk out, something big is at stake. That's what the story oughta tell us: what's at stake. Your half-sentence ("reduced hours and cuts to pay, health benefits, and pension plans") isn't really adequate. Maybe the specifics aren't important to you, but they clearly are important to the union members. Your column inches would've been better spent investigating what exactly is on the table, what will be its impact on the employees and their families, and why folks are taking this decision to strike -- rather than on (pretty irrelevant) anti-union smears straight out of any management anti-union campaign playbook.
33
I thought I'd read some dumb stories on SLOG over the years, but this story by Unpaid Intern takes the cake. What a jerk. Can't wait 'til the internship is over so he can take a permanent job with Glenn Beck.
34
@28 What did that even mean? Workers vs. bosses, blood-from-a-stone bullshit? I think you have scenarios in your head, little tableaus* that can neatly sum up any situation so that you don't have to gain any real understanding of what's going on. Trying to be funny by being flippant isn't as charming as you think it is, either.

Are there big problems with the union? Sure. You mentioned how obscenely compensated the president and other officials are. And that is true and it's wrong.

Even with that red herring, provided by you, flopping around; I'm glad the union is doing it's job and I'm glad members voted to reject the proposed contract. Even though it may mean complications to my grocery service too. Namely, no money to buy any until this nonsense is resolved.

Even if the it were all ideology (which I firmly assert it's not), at least the workers have the courage to take action on it, which is more than can be said for you, Mr. Giving-the-Boarder-Guards-Dirty-Looks-is-as-Saucy-as-I-Get.

*(I really had to resist writing "Well, you can tableau me." Not quite the tone I'm going for. I will save it for another time, yessssss.
35
"...to keep liquor stores private."

Huh? Did anyone even proofread this drivel before slapping it up on the website?

Also, 'twentysomething self-styled libertarian unpaid intern' is still funny, and makes about as much sense.
36
@21 funny. i have a MSW. go figure...

but thanks for the encouragement to stay at safeway for 20 years. appreciate that.
37
Most of you have no clue. I've worked in this business for about 20 years. This is back breaking work. Ive got a handful of friends who walk funny now, bad feet and bad backs and shoulders and carpel tunnel syndrome. Yet this isnt about more money. Its about keeping what we have earned over the years. The cuts they want to make will take $3000-4500 out of our pockets every year. Cutting our Sunday pay, taking away Holiday pay and benefits and cuts to pension. I dont want to strike, but I voted for it, because we cant let corporate greed steamroll us, they are preying on our fear. How many of you are saying, Oh we should be glad to have a job. We are glad, but again, we cannot just let people rape our pockets and use the economy as an excuse when the grocery business is more busy then ever. The economy will bounce back, corporate needs to figure out other ways to make some cuts, like maybe stop buying $500 mahogany shelves or $750 cherrywood tables etc.
I also get a kick how many think so many people who love to have our job. You have no idea what bullshit we put up with and the emotional stress dealing with 500 customers a day on top of the physical stress involved. You should be applauding our balls for sticking up to corporate greed in these tough times!
38
Most of you have no clue. I've worked in this business for about 20 years. This is back breaking work. Ive got a handful of friends who walk funny now, bad feet and bad backs and shoulders and carpel tunnel syndrome. Yet this isnt about more money. Its about keeping what we have earned over the years. The cuts they want to make will take $3000-4500 out of our pockets every year. Cutting our Sunday pay, taking away Holiday pay and benefits and cuts to pension. I dont want to strike, but I voted for it, because we cant let corporate greed steamroll us, they are preying on our fear. How many of you are saying, Oh we should be glad to have a job. We are glad, but again, we cannot just let people rape our pockets and use the economy as an excuse when the grocery business is more busy then ever. The economy will bounce back, corporate needs to figure out other ways to make some cuts, like maybe stop buying $500 mahogany shelves or $750 cherrywood tables etc.
I also get a kick how many think so many people who love to have our job. You have no idea what bullshit we put up with and the emotional stress dealing with 500 customers a day on top of the physical stress involved. You should be applauding our balls for sticking up to corporate greed in these tough times!
39
I don't participate anymore really but having done this work for a while and gotten to know the UFCW I feel compelled to chime in as people are defending the UFCW head's ridiculously large salary.

For those who didn't notice, $350K is a lot of money. Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars. $350,000.00. I have a nice job now that pays all my bills, and I make a bit over 1/10 of that. Many of you make maybe 1/5 or 1/4 of that.

Does the UFCW head really need that much to make a few administrative decisions each month? There's responsibility, yes, but so much so that you're paying a glorified paper pusher and political advocate 2-3 times as much as a full-time lawyer? Especially given that his salary and the salaries of his high-level subrodinates (really, a retired assistant making $305K?) is a big reason minimum wage grocery clerks are paying $45-50 a month (when they make a paltry $150 a week) to subsidize bloated salaries like his?

You can call it chump change compared to the QFC CEO's $2.4 mil, but does that factoid justify the fact that the head of an organization that allegedly fights for the rights and living wages of employees paid so little that half of them are on food stamps is paying himself three hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year?
40
39: You are totally right. It is gross that anyone in an organization of working people should make that much money. I don't think anyone here is defending that, I certainly don't. My point (I'll just speak for myself here) is that by focusing on this right now we are deflecting the discussion from what it is that the members are fighting for.
41
Several people have already pointed out the total compensation for top executives at Kroger. Either the original poster (Matt Luby) did not bother to look up the figures or did look them up and knew that, in the multi-million-dollar range, they did not fit with his story (that union claims of excessive CEO pay were "bullshit"). Either way, poor reporting. In addition, the figures on company earnings Luby reports are very deceptive. Almost the entire difference between the 2008 and 2009 figures are accounted for by a "goodwill impairment" adjustment (of over $1 billion) in the 3rd quarter of 2009. (Kroger declared that the intangible asset of "goodwill" for its Ralph's stores was about $1 billion less than previously, and so posted this as a one-time "loss.") Otherwise, the figures show the company's sales and profits have been remarkably consistent. Again, either Matt Luby did not know this or chose to report misleading figures.
42
You're going to go through the same grocery/food-services cycle Los Angeles went through six years ago. The article said that it is hard to see where it all leads, and I say BULLSHIT! Simply look it up.

This is another example of how (relatively unskilled) jobs that used to provide lower-middle class lifestyles to a large segment of our populace are disappearing. Just like our manufacturing base 20-30 years ago, service industries are being gutted. It's all a part of globalization.

We continue to see the decimation of the middle class and a steady slide towards Second World status. Our economic indicators resemble those of Latin America more than Norway, Singapore and Switzerland.
43
Rainmaker @38, I'm sorry to hear that you're in grocery/sales. The long term outlook for you and your coworkers is pretty bleak. The LA strike went on for months, and in the end, the workers lost the wage battle, lost many of their benefits, and were reduced to part-time status. Tens of thousands of LA families have been put right above the poverty line.
44
I'm a local 21 member at one of the "independents" and regardless of how well the union bosses get paid (the president of local 21 makes about 150k a year) I still do better being a union member.

Unpaid intern, if you want to link to union staff salaries, do so at the DOL's website and not union-bashing "union facts" website. It makes your bullshit pretty apparent.

Thanks to all the commenters who support the workers. Peace.
45
Matt the Intern,

I wish I had had the benefit of a Union backing me up when my employer decided to slash my hourly wage by $10/hr with longer hours and an expected pay cut again in 6 months time. All of this as I held a signed contract in my hand that had promised otherwise.

Nothing makes your workers feel more appreciated, let me tell you.

You have no real understanding on this issue. I recognized many sentences of your piece from other published articles on the subject. Your piece lacked any accurate originality and you seemed to play more to your own literary audience.

Having said that, I can say that the UFCW 21 President is not a mere pencil pusher. He is often working hours far longer and later than you would imagine. He is passionately involved in his work, having worked within this industry for over 30 years, starting as a produce stocker in the 1970's.

It's called valuing the people that work for you, especially over a period of time, rather than simply worrying about whether you can get the Cougar Mountain cookies you love at your local QFC or not.

It is as though everyone has forgotten that there is power in the people.
This is what a union stands for.
46
Matt the Intern,

I wish I had had the benefit of a Union backing me up when my employer decided to slash my hourly wage by $10/hr with longer hours and an expected pay cut again in 6 months time. All of this as I held a signed contract in my hand that had promised otherwise.

Nothing makes your workers feel more appreciated, let me tell you.

You have no real understanding on this issue. I recognized many sentences of your piece from other published articles on the subject. Your piece lacked any accurate originality and you seemed to play more to your own literary audience.

Having said that, I can say that the UFCW 21 President is not a mere pencil pusher. He is often working hours far longer and later than you would imagine. He is passionately involved in his work, having worked within this industry for over 30 years, starting as a produce stocker in the 1970's.

It's called valuing the people that work for you, especially over a period of time, rather than simply worrying about whether you can get the Cougar Mountain cookies you love at your local QFC or not.

It is as though everyone has forgotten that there is power in the people.
This is what a union stands for.
47
Sorry, double post.

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