Clerks
lack ambition
Gerry
Wachovsky
As
I drive around, passing all the picketers
in front of the grocery stores, I cannot
help but think about how pathetic these
strikers are. Why would anybody in his or
her right mind want to work at a grocery
store for a career? The lack of ambition
demonstrated by some people is especially
troubling to me, and it is my firm belief
that the majority of these picketers are
simply too lazy to get a better job. After
all, that is the beauty of this country
-- if you are dissatisfied with your current
choice of employment, nobody is stopping
you from leaving. It is my hope that after
reading this, you too will see why this
strike is silly.
According
to an Oct. 14 report on the International
Council of Shopping Centers' Web site, www.icsc.org,
approximately 70,000 Southern California
grocery store union employees went on strike
"after negotiations between representatives
for Albertsons, The Kroger Co., and Safeway,
and [the United Food and Commercial Workers
union] officials failed." These negotiations
took place after the supermarkets announced
that they plan to cut health care benefits
because of "a sluggish economy, rising
healthcare costs and increased competition
from nonunion rivals such as Wal-Mart Stores,"
ICSC also states. Based on this, one would
likely assume that the grocery workers had
every right to go on strike, but when one
scratches the surface, even slightly, one
sees that these workers really do not have
it so bad, all things considered.
First
of all, employees for the aforementioned
supermarket chains are the highest paid
in the industry, and according to the UFCW
website, www.ufcw1167.org, it is possible
for employees of these stores to make "up
to $25 an hour," compared to Wal-Mart,
which "typically pays many of its employees
less than $10 an hour." To put this
in perspective, consider the following:
a checkout clerk, whose job essentially
entails standing at a counter for eight
hours a day while he or she passes a barcode
over a sensor and listens for a short 'beep,'
can make over $17 an hour at the three major
chains, which computes to more than $30,000
a year! Granted, $30,000 a year is not huge
by any means, but considering the job and
the experience required (which ranges from
little to none), it is a pretty hefty sum
for an unskilled laborer. No wonder the
strikebreakers, or scabs, as they are commonly
known, are so quick to snatch up applications!
This brings me to my next point.
Grocery
store jobs, not to mention similar unskilled
jobs, are for young people! These jobs have
high employee turnover rates for a reason
-- they are supposed to be used as a means
to an end. Many of my friends have worked
at grocery stores while they went to school
for one reason and one reason only -- to
acquire some spending money. These people
have no desire to work at a grocery store
for the rest of their lives, why would they?
In fact, why would anyone? The answer to
this is simple -- lack of aspiration and
responsibility. Personally, I find it mind-blowing
that in this day and age one would not want
a proper education, whether it is from a
4-year college, 2-year college, or trade
school. Why would anyone stifle their potential
so heavily and work in a totally unskilled
field for the rest of their lives?
Allow
me to tell you all something -- if you do
not like the job you are in, if your benefits
are cut, if you do not feel that you are
being treated fairly, simply leave. Find
another job! For every striker out there
right now, there is a kid who would gladly
take that job to make some extra cash. It
is my hope that the grocery stores do not
cave in and give the union what it wants.
The grocery stores, in the end, have a business
to run, and if that means hiring all new
people and getting rid of these ridiculous
unions, then that is what needs to happen.
It is about time that some people realize
what it means to live in a society based
on capitalism, don't you agree?
Gerry
Wachovksy is a broadcast journalism major
at Cal State Long Beach and can be reached
at SenorBucho@aol.com.
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