In the WV, OH, KY area, Krogers has been on strike for 6 weeks.
They went on strike- not for more $$$- - Krogers pays well, REAL WELL - - ever hear of the meat cutter's and grocery checkers who make as much and MORE than nurses?
Well, look no further....than Krogers.
No, the employees went out on strike because......
Krogers has said they must ask their employees to pay a small - - - a very small - - portion of their health insurance .
Krogers employees, in WV, OH, KY do not pay one cent out of their paychecks for health insurance !!
Nurses! Look at your pay stubs....
For ONE person, I am paying $400 a month.
The past four years, I paid between $450- $600 a month for health insurance.... for ONE person.
Hello Krogers employees !!
Health insurance is not a "freebie" that I, the shopper,
wish to confer on you by paying higher prices for groceries and meat, dairy, vegetables in your store.
Management tried REALLY HARD to explain to the union and employees, that the employees must assume part of the financial
responsibility for their health insurance.
Krogers explained that :
Our health care costs have increased 800 % in the last ten years ! We need for our employees to contribute a small amount towards their health insurance.
The employees refused.
Personally, Krogers can reopen manana.....
I refuse to shop there.
WALMART is looking better....Krogers prices were already sky-high.
I refuse to pay at the check-out counter for their insurance.
You can pay for your own, just as the rest of America does.
Rude? Well this whole thread was started out by a nurse being resentful that Kroger workers might not want to have their health benefits eroded away! Instead of her wanting to have better health benefits FOR nurses, she wanted Kroger workers to get less. Now that is RUDE.
And, it is rude to be cheering the likes of Walmart on. The medical system is being walmartted downward every day. One huge size fits all, but badly. It's rude for corporate America to turn OUR America into a country of McDs, Walmarts, shopping malls, prisons, military bases, and 99cent stores.
Just a few corrections and additions and reflections.
Here in So Cal, where the strike is now in its 12th week, workers at only one chain went on strike and the other two chains locked out members of the same union--thus Ralph's, Albertson's, and Von's are all out.
The Teamsters have resumed deliveries to these stores, however, they decline to park their trucks at the loading docks, which management has to do or find someone else to do.
Employees (with no professional training or college degrees) were making up to $17.90/hour (which is more than CNAs and many LVNs make here) before the strike.
The strike is about many details, but the primary one is the simple fact that these employees do not wish to start paying anything at all for their healtcare coverage. (And, again, many CNAs, LVNs, and RNs in this area either do not have healtcare coverage OR pay a lot of it ourselves.)
Wal-Mart has clear plans to open between 40 and 50 stores in Southern California in the next 5 years. They pay much lower wages, of course (and are being offered major tax breaks by the local communities in which these stores are being built), and these supermarkets expect to lose a lot of business to them. The chains will most likely have to close a number of stores. My guess is that they will begin doing so soon, particularly with the money they have lost due to the strike. Regardless, many of these workers will be out of jobs in the near future, whether the strike is "successful" or not. They would do well to be training for something else, rather than marching on the picket line, it seems more than clear to me.
BUT the whole basis for the conflict is simply the fact that healthcare costs have gotten WAY out of control. Nobody wants to pay for it, and some people and some companies CANNOT pay for it. If the costs keep increasing, many more companies will not be able to pay for it in coming years.
THIS is the problem. So what are we going to do about it? What politicians are pushing for national health care or ANY reasonable alternative to the dysfunctional mess we have right now? What taxpayers/voters are going to vote for them, when this most likely would mean a tax increase and/or a change in THEIR OWN healthcare plan? What is actually being done to deal with the root of this problem, other than "study groups," "talking heads," and griping and complaining?
Grocery workers striking (and not giving a damn how much inconvenience and fear they are causing in people who have little choice but to continue using their neighborhood markets) isn't helping. What will help and how much of a pay cut are YOU willing to absorb, if that is part of the solution? It would require a complete overhaul of the healthcare system we have, which would most likely include strict healthcare rationing and a lot more use of non-licensed people and lesser-licensed people as well as increased responsibilities for CNAs and LVNs--things that RNs have been doing up to now.
What are you willing to let/help change in your workplace? This is the same question the grocery workers are, and soon will be, faced with.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem" as the saying goes.
I've lived here all of my life and it's sad to see the familiar faces at the grocery stores striking outside as it gets colder here (even
though cold for us is warm for most of the rest of the country)!
BUT ...
Where do I go for my groceries? To the same store, walking past the strikers. They are being abused by the unions ... you should see the papers out here. The union has cut their weekly striking pay by $75 per week stating that they are running out of money. And how much money did those employees pay into the union? A heck of a lot more than they are getting back. The union leaders are screwing over the employees and they don't care. Why should they? They're still getting paid full pop. Okay, I've digressed.
My point? I work at the hospital where LVN's are paid the same as those people that check you out at the store. The LVN spent money to be trained and keep up his/her licensure. You don't even have to be a high school graduate to work a check-out line. And the LVN's at the hospital? They pay for part of their insurance and for all of the insurance that covers their spouses and family. And the checker? That person is striking because they are being asked to pay $15 per week for insurance FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY! It's ridiculous.
I'll tell you what. When they stop going to the hospital when they're sick to support the nurses in getting higher wages, I'll stop going to the grocery store. Bah humbug.
Grocery Workers' Health Fund May Run Out of Money in Days
By Melinda Fulmer
Any day now, the health fund for union supermarket workers in Southern and Central California could run out of money, jeopardizing medical coverage for about 200,000 people.
Trustees who oversee the health plan say the joint union-company fund will be empty by the end of the year because the three supermarket companies in the 9-week-old labor dispute have not made their payments to the fund for November and December - about $40 million a month.
... the prospect of losing medical coverage has heightened anxieties for many striking and locked-out workers, particularly those in need of medications and treatments.
Amber Scott, a seven-year Vons employee, choked up Wednesday when talking about her health-care needs. The 31-year-old Long Beach woman said she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease last year and must go regularly to her doctor for checkups and undergo tests to monitor her condition.
Of more concern was her 3-year-old daughter, Bleu, who has cystic fibrosis. If they lose their health benefits, she said, it will cost her $5,000 a month for prescription medicines to keep Bleu's lungs clear and allow her to absorb the nutrients in the food she eats.
Losing their union-sponsored, company-paid health benefits would leave few options for Scott and others with preexisting conditions. They would have an unusually hard time finding a carrier on the open market that would sellthem health insurance. Even then, the cost would be prohibitive.
Comment: Is there anyone out there who believes that our current, highly inequitable, fragmented system, which includes employer-sponsored plans, is better than a universal, cradle-to-grave system of social insurance?
There are complaints about nuisances in countries with universal health are systems, but denial of essential medical services is not one of them.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Originally posted by NurseHardee
Rude? Well this whole thread was started out by a nurse being resentful that Kroger workers might not want to have their health benefits eroded away! Instead of her wanting to have better health benefits FOR nurses, she wanted Kroger workers to get less. Now that is RUDE.
And, it is rude to be cheering the likes of Walmart on. The medical system is being walmartted downward every day. One huge size fits all, but badly. It's rude for corporate America to turn OUR America into a country of McDs, Walmarts, shopping malls, prisons, military bases, and 99cent stores.
I have GOT to agree w/you here. the poster is "usually union"
hmmm yea, until it does not suit her.
interesting how we pick and choose what suits us well. but no one wants to pay.
More than 90 percent of our associates have health insurance, about half through Wal-Mart and half through other sources like spouses or parents.
We strive to make our health plan affordable and not a burden to
taxpayers. That's why we pay approximately two-thirds of the cost. Like other employers, we face escalating health care costs, leading to adjustments in premiums...
This crisis needs a national solution.
SUSAN CHAMBERS
Senior V.P., Benefits and Insurance Administration
Wal-Mart Stores
Bentonville, Ark.
We shouldn't gloss over the statement by Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart Senior V.P. for Benefits and Insurance Administration, that "This crisis needs a national solution."
The call for a national solution is a clear call for leveling the playing field. Establishing equity in health care is a compelling
Comment: Is there anyone out there who believes that our current, highly inequitable, fragmented system, which includes employer-sponsored plans, is better than a universal, cradle-to-grave system of social insurance?
There are complaints about nuisances in countries with universal health care systems, but denial of essential medical services is not one of them.
I swear, this is the one thing that makes me squeamish about moving back to the US. I don't think anyone should pay out of pocket for healthcare anymore than I think we should pay for the air we breathe. I do think it should be a benefit of employment (and I am willing to get a smaller hourly rate to make it doable). Call me a commie-pinko if you like, but that's just the way I feel. I also don't see why people always complain about how much OTHER people get. Smacks of sour grapes to me.
Back to the original post "health care is not a freebie"
Of course its not, however it is part of your compensation and if I have been able to negotiate a noncontributory health plan then that is just that. Its not free health care its just what I agreed to work for and the employer agreed to pay me. Now the employer wants me to pay, out of my agreed to salary a portion of those costs. This is nothing other then asking me to reduce my compensation for the same amount of work. How many of you would agree to work for less money?
Back to the original post "health care is not a freebie"
Of course its not, however it is part of your compensation and if I have been able to negotiate a noncontributory health plan then that is just that. Its not free health care its just what I agreed to work for and the employer agreed to pay me. Now the employer wants me to pay, out of my agreed to salary a portion of those costs. This is nothing other then asking me to reduce my compensation for the same amount of work. How many of you would agree to work for less money?
Finally, someone has hit the nail on the head. When any of us start a job, you do agree on a compensation package. Would any of you agree willingly to a paycut? I don't think so. To be angry because someone doesn't pay for health insurance and you do, is sad. If your company doesn't provide free health insurance and that is a benifit you want, then quit and go find a company which will provide you with the compensation package you want. Why are so many nurses willing to work at a job they only ***** about. Life is to short to be unhappy.
Finally, someone has hit the nail on the head. When any of us start a job, you do agree on a compensation package. Would any of you agree willingly to a paycut? I don't think so. To be angry because someone doesn't pay for health insurance and you do, is sad.
I agree. My husband and I pay about $200 a month for health insurance. But we still support the Albertson's and Vons workers who are on strike in California for the same health insurance payment issues.
Even though it's a pain sometimes, we have shopped elsewhere and will continue to do so until the strike is over. We're all in the same boat, whether you pay for health insurance or not.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid the unions won't win on this one, simply because, unlike nurses, these workers are easily replaced. And there are signs that the union is cracking a bit since the strike has gone on much longer than expected.
NurseHardee
71 Posts
Rude? Well this whole thread was started out by a nurse being resentful that Kroger workers might not want to have their health benefits eroded away! Instead of her wanting to have better health benefits FOR nurses, she wanted Kroger workers to get less. Now that is RUDE.
And, it is rude to be cheering the likes of Walmart on. The medical system is being walmartted downward every day. One huge size fits all, but badly. It's rude for corporate America to turn OUR America into a country of McDs, Walmarts, shopping malls, prisons, military bases, and 99cent stores.