(cross-posted from Working Californians)
We have gained an amazing new partner in the fight for a fair contract for the grocery workers. Brave New Films, of “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Living” fame has created a new online campaign to help tell the story of the grocery workers and collect pledges from customers not to shop at the Vons, Raphs or Albertsons if they force a lockout or a strike. Here is the first video:
You can sign the pledge here.
This is only the first of a series of worker profiles to help tell the story of working under a two-tier wage structure, or going without health insurance, not getting a raise for four years while the CEO’s salaries rose 216%. As Robert Greenwald put it in a conference call, this is a campaign to “convince the gang of three that fairness is a value”. He wants to “hold their feet to the fire until that happens.”
Brave New Films is giving these loyal and hard working employees a voice, like Charles Bingham, who is featured in this first clip. Charles was born with an eye condition and he developed an infection while working at Ralphs. Unfortunately, he was hired after the the strike and thus, despite having worked for the company for over 8 months, did not have health insurance. He ended up going to the hospital, but left with a $8,000 bill, forcing him to declare bankruptcy. His debt has now caused him to have to move out of his studio apartment and into a hotel. If he had been cover like all workers were before the strike, this never would have happened.
Then there is Javier Ybarra, who has seen the power of his pay check demising over the years and now finds it “tragic” to work beside colleagues who are earning even less than him. He works pay check to paycheck and “I scratch my head as I look over to my colleagues and wonder how they do it.”
They now half jokingly refer to the lower tier workers as the B-Team, because it is second class. Those post strike hired workers find a hard time being motivated to work hard compared to their coworkers who are making more. They are now earning just a few cents over minimum wage. They could go elsewhere, but as one worker on the call put it, then somebody else would just get hired. It could be his son. Instead he said defiantly, “somebody has to stand up and say something about that.” He is standing up and now has an outlet for his voice.
Go watch the video and send it around to your friends and family. I will be sure to post all of the new videos as the come out and track the progress of the “Supermarket Swindle” campaign.