Grocery Strike and the Fading Middle Class

Re “Striking Home,” Opinion, Dec. 7: The grocery strikers have had the widespread support of the community throughout Southern California, but at a heavy cost to them and their employers. Harold Meyerson convincingly argued that Wal-Mart -- and not Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs -- is the problem.

When this strike is settled, Wal-Mart will be an even more powerful force with far more shoppers than before the union action. The coming Wal-Mart superstores will force the closure of more and more Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs. What good are free benefits if they result in fewer and fewer jobs? The striking workers need to march to Wal-Mart and be as forceful in convincing customers there not to cross the picket lines.

Michael Braun

Bakersfield

*

Meyerson’s call to action ignores two critical issues underpinning the dying middle class. First, the middle class itself demands ever-cheaper goods and services, without regard to quality. Wal-Mart would not exist if people did not shop there. Second, as a workforce, we have lost some of the ethic of justifying higher wages by continually improving ourselves and upgrading our skills. If each of us does not renew this drive, wages will continue to shrink in proportion to the reduced value we provide to employers. By calling on the best that is in each one of us, we can revive the middle class and remain a great nation.

Bryan Stone

Los Angeles

*

Meyerson illustrates L.A.’s past, disrupted present and sad future with perfect clarity. He may have missed one early industry that brought laborers and skilled craftsmen to this city. My father arrived more than 80 years ago to find his “career” working for the studios. Double shifts, hard work and, finally, the Affiliated Property Craftspersons Local 44 earned him the security and middle-class life our family enjoyed. Many Republic Studio employees built and bought their homes in Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Van Nuys and North Hollywood. What an old-fashioned concept -- being able to afford working and living in the same area and enjoying excellent health benefits.

Sandy Wightman Behlmer

Sherman Oaks