From what details that have emerged in the media, the settlement ending the Southern California grocery strike/lockout is a significant setback for the campaign to maintain access to affordable health care for ordinary families.
It looks like the grocery industry has succeeded in creating a very much inferior benefit and pay system for the upcoming generation of workers in the stores.
This is a heartbreaking loss for working families, especially for people who work in the fast-growing retail sector, but it certainly can’t be blamed on the rank and file grocery workers in California.
They showed inspiring determination and courage in their fight.
A generation ago, this strike would have been a complete victory for the employees. They were able to close down their stores for several months. When those stores were regional, the employers would not have been able to sustain those kind of losses.
But the grocery industry is increasingly a national and multinational industry. The companies decided it was worth taking huge losses in one regional market if they were able to break the back of the union.
The union movement needs to find new strategies to be able to take on much more powerful corporations in this era. What worked well in 1955 doesn't help us anymore.
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