On Tuesday, Oct. 7 the grocery workers labor union established
picket lines at 97 stores in the St. Louis area. That seems to have
been only the first of many union actions around the nation to
protest health-care benefits, according to an Oct. 14 report in the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Post’s report said more than 70,000 workers in southern
California either struck or were locked out of 859 stores on
Saturday. Another 3,300 workers at 44 Kroger stores in West
Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky voted Monday night to go on strike.

The 10,000 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local
655, who began striking at St. Louis stores owned by Schnucks
Market Inc., Dierbergs Markets Inc. and Shop ‘n ‘ Save Warehouse
Food Inc., have now entered their second week.

A spokesman for those three local companies has said it has not
made an effort to reduce and eliminate health-care benefits–an
accusation union spokesman Greg Denier has made of three other
nationwide grocery companies, Kroger Co., Safeway Inc. and
Albertsons Inc., the Post story said.

The report cited a spokesman at the UFCW’s international
headquarters in Washington, D.C. who said Monday that as many as
100,000 workers could begin picketing grocery stores in the next
few weeks.

Yesterday, the Post reported that on Tuesday several workers in
St. Louis filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board,
alleging that union officials did not conduct a fair strike.

The workers claim that Local 655 organizers did not adequately
check the identification of those who attended last week’s meeting
at America’s Center, downtown, where members voted to strike.

The story cites a labor expert as saying the workers do not have
a case with the NLRB but may succeed with the Department of Labor,
which supervises a union’s democratic processes.

A report yesterday by the Los Angeles Times said Californians
have endured both the beginning of a strike on Tuesday by the
mechanics for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and
yesterday’s walkout of contract bus drivers on 13 routes.

The Times said 10,000 commuters were inconvenienced
yesterday.

The 13 lines, contracted by the MTA by First Transit, were shut
down when the Teamsters Union drivers went on strike over contract
disputes.