Albertsons

[marxstudent]

I was driving home from school today and I saw all these people protesting against Albertsons. Anyone know what the specific problems are?

[truthaddict11]

albertsons and a bunch of other chains out in california locked out thier employees for asking for higher wages. we have albertsons out in florida i havent heard any news on them.

[El jefecito]

Greedy corporate executives decided to cut cost by decreasing the amount of insurance given to its employees (pharmacists, clerks, etc.,) It really bothers me to know of a$$holes that would just disgrace their workers like that. If it weren't for the workers, the executives wouldn't have anything at all. What a disgrace

[Urban Rubble]

Big fucking deal, that shit happens every goddamned day. These protestors are morons, cost cutting is the basis of the Cpaitalist system they all (probably) support. It amazes me how people can be so blind, they protest their shitty corporations, meanwhile ignoring the bigger problem. This shit happens every single day on a much larger scale, protesting a single corporation does nothing. Getting rid of Capitalism is the only way to stop it.

[El jefecito]

Rubble, I bet if you were in the shoes of those workers you'd probably be the first one out there holding signs in the street. Or probably writing your congressman a letter. What would you do if you were in that position. Don't talk out of your ass brother.

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

What is wrong with what they&#39;re doing, Urban? Could they not be communists as well? You&#39;re being a presumptuous, judgemental ass-hole. How do you know that they support capitalism? Just because they&#39;re not protesting capitalism as an econimic system, but rather a single corporation? <_<

I would do the same that these workers are doing. If I were you, I&#39;d join them, but unfortunately nobody around here ever bothers to question a company, much less capitalism. :(

[Urban Rubble]

Rubble, I bet if you were in the shoes of those workers you&#39;d probably be the first one out there holding signs in the street. Or probably writing your congressman a letter. What would you do if you were in that position. Don&#39;t talk out of your ass brother.

Well, first off, I wouldn&#39;t be ignorant enough to choose "cashier" as my life&#39;s work, but that&#39;s neither here nor there. I&#39;ll reply to this and Victor below.


What is wrong with what they&#39;re doing, Urban? Could they not be communists as well? You&#39;re being a presumptuous, judgemental ass-hole. How do you know that they support capitalism? Just because they&#39;re not protesting capitalism as an econimic system, but rather a single corporation?

I said they probably support Capitalism. I think that&#39;s a fairly good guess considering where it&#39;s happenning, I don&#39;t think that makes me presumptuous at all.


I would do the same that these workers are doing. If I were you, I&#39;d join them, but unfortunately nobody around here ever bothers to question a company, much less capitalism.

I question companies all the time, that has nothing to do with it, I know what they are doing is wrong, but the thing is, this is basic capitalism, this is what they defend (again, probably) this is what they get.

O.K, let me say, I do not oppose these people striking, but at the same time, I think it&#39;s pointless. Why is it pointless ? First off, working at a grocery store takes no skill at all, these people&#39;s strike will accomplish nothing because there are thousands of people that will gladly do this work. In fact, these stores aren&#39;t taking applications anymore because so many people have volunteered to fill in. So, these people leaving work is having absolutely no effect on anyone but them and their families.

The reason these people are striking is because their benefits are being cut. This is more the fault of capitalism than the fault of the company. You see, this isn&#39;t a socialist country, they aren&#39;t guarenteed these benefits after their contact is up. The Supermarket business is rough these days, the companies are making cuts because the Capitalist system forces them to do so.

FUCK, I can&#39;t even make a clear point because my fucking brother is downstairs playing the drums and I can&#39;t think. I just had this debate today. I&#39;ll try to make a coherent post later.

Here is my thoughts though: The company is doing this bullshit to save money. Yes, it&#39;s wrong, but that is Capitalism. Until we change our economic system, this won&#39;t change. Sure, they may be successful in changing their company (unlikely) but the problem will remain for millions of others. In a way it&#39;s almost selfish because they protest for more money, but they ignore the fact that millions of other workers have the same thing happen everyday. Albertsons is forced to do these things because the Capitalist market forced them to. They are doing exactly what Capitalism says, "Get what you can and fuck everybody else". That is why I think they should deal with the problem of Capitalism. Protesting a company that is simply following the rules of our corrupt Capitalist country is like putting out a burning couch while your house burns down around you.

Plus, are you aware that the majority of the cashiers that had these benefits are making &#036;17.00 an hour ? That is ridiculous. I make &#036;10.00 dollars an hour at a job where not only do I do ALOT of physical labor, I also have to use my brain. These people stand there and push buttons on a cash register, plus get full benefits, and they think they are getting screwed ? In the U.S that is a fucking great job.

Like I said, this post is completely incoherent and probably distorted my point more that it cleared it.

[VI Koba]

Rubble... so what if working at a grocery store takes no skill at all.. someone has to distribute groceries.. how about moving rocks at a construction site? That doesnt take much skill either.. It&#39;s very elitist to judge people because their work requires no skill.. there are tons of unskilled jobs that are vital to society. What if there were no janitors to clean the floors? Or no people to pick up the garbage outside your house? The world relies upon unskilled labour just as much as it does skilled labour. According to your logic agricuture workers deserve nothing because it doesnt take skill to pick crops.. where would be be then???

Also.. whose fault is it that there are thousands willing to do this work? I think you need to seriously consider why we have unemployment and whether its the fault of the people who work there. The point of view your making is that you want these people to be uncle toms and just say yes sir to capitalist oppression because they can easily be replaced just as slaves could easily be beaten into submission... why should these people be beaten into submission?


You blame capitalism but not the company... the company is a representative of capitalism, they are one in the same. Capitalism is a collection of the ruling bourgeoisie, this company is one of those rulers. This company isnt making cuts because capitalism forces them to do so... you are passing the blame on a non existent person.. this company IS capitalism. Their benefits were cut because the capitalists (in this case the company owners) want MORE profits.

I agree with you that until we change the system this wont change... but now its a question of how do we go about changing the system.. we cant wave a magic wand and have a revolution... Revolution has to start somewhere, even if it starts by a bunch of petty bourgeoisi protesting against their jobs.

I think you miss the point on protesting... I dont think protesting is aimed to have corporations become socialist... I believe protesting is to allow your voice to be heard and stregnthen your movement so that you can demand and achieve justice.

Who cares if they make 17&#036; an hour.. does that mean that they cant be oppressed? It&#39;s perfectly normal and OK to rebel against an oppressive authority.. no matter how much or how little you make. Perhaps these cashiers are payed this much because they organize and make their voices heard. I cant believe how elitist you are being because &#39;they push buttons&#39;. Like I said before.. someone must push these buttons and that shouldnt make them lesser than you or make them your personal peons.

[El jefecito]

Rubble, yes being a cashier doesn&#39;t take the highest level of skills but that doesn&#39;t make them disposable. Pharmacists, management, and other highly trained (and educated) are more complicated jobs. But that doesn&#39;t make them stand out in the grocery hierarchical system. (At least not to me, but from your view it does.) The grocery companies are cutting health insurance and penion benefits (that&#39;s what you live off when you retire if you didn&#39;t know Rubble). And of course you know retirees can&#39;t live off that worthless Social Security. Seriously Rubble, stop talking out of your a&#036;&#036; brother.

[Bradyman]

Rubble, how can you attack organized labor? I do agree with you that the root of the problem is Capitalism and not the company, but someone has to make a stand somewhere. The US unions need as much help as they can get, for only like a fifth of the laborers in this country are unionized and to berate their attempts is to disrespect many of the beliefs people on this board stand for. Now, many of these grocery store workers might not be the most educated group, but by uniting together to ensure their services helps them understand what power they have when organized. So if their attempts work out in the end, other masses of labor will learn about the power that they wield and prehaps many will stand up for the injustices in America. Until then, support the workers or they will surely fail.

[Urban Rubble]

I am not attacking them for striking and protesting, I simply think they are being unrealistic. With a job such as grocery store clerk, if you decide to strike, they can fill those positions instantly. It&#39;s not the same as Boeing workers striking, they are skilled workers who cannot be replaced so easily. In this case I think they are only hurting themselves because the company will not have to bend.

[VI Koba]

Well you know Rubble.. it is indeed easy to replace these workers... that is why a line needs to be drawn and anyone who crosses it gets a broken nose.

Seriously.... there is nothing impractical about striking no matter how easy you are to replace and this is why back in the haydays of mass strikes these workers would be protected. For instance... when the International Brotherhood of electrical workers went on strike a few years back... any union truckers wouldnt deliver product to their places of work or anything. Electrical workers are harder to replace but irregardless.. it is this solidarity that can garantee them their rights...

And what would happen if the trucks didnt show up at the grocery stores? Its rather hard to sell green meat thats a few weeks old dont you think?

It is for this reason that labour unions are generally reactionary.. they only include one sector of the workers.. the true power of the proletariat in in solidarity and unity.

[bluerev002]

A bunch of people are protesting against Ralphs because their taking away their health benefits so they can compete with Wal-Mart. cuz everyone is going over to work at wal-mart cuz they pay better. So Ralpshs wants to compete with that. :o

[FatFreeMilk]

I don&#39;t know that part of this strike was about competition with walmart :o

A friend of mine was trying to take advantage of the lack of emplyees in Albertson&#39;s due to the strike, and tried to steal a gallon of orange juice on sunday :huh:

[Urban Rubble]

The reason they made these cuts is simple, Wal-Mart, while only being in the grocery market on the West Coast for 3 years, has managed to rise to the top. They sell something like %30 of the country&#39;s groceries or something. The owners of the other stores make cuts because they don&#39;t want to lose money themselves, which is acceptable business practices in a Capitalist society.