Back Strikers Because You Might Be Next

First of all, I am not employed at any grocery store, but I totally support the strike. This strike is not just about the loss of benefits for grocery workers, it’s about the loss of benefits for all working Americans. We are losing ground every day. Right now the major chains point at Wal-Mart and tell us they can’t compete with a store that has little or no employee benefits. So they want to eliminate dental and cut the medical benefits with employees paying a portion of the premium.

Many of you say, “So what? I have to pay for part of my benefits; it won’t kill them to pay too.” Maybe not, but who’s going to be next on the chopping block? Whom is your employer going to look at when it comes to considering your benefits again?

Somebody needs to stand up and say enough is enough. It is time that the working class of America be heard and supported. That is what this strike is about.

On principle, I have never nor will I ever shop at a Wal-Mart or a Sam’s Club due to their labor practices, and should these major chains succeed I will add them to my “do not shop list.” I hope that all of you hard-working people will join me.

We may not be CEOs but we deserve our fair share!

Janet Hoover

Garden Grove

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After some discussion with my more conservative friends, it is clear their solution to the strike is to lower the pay/benefits of union workers to match that of the nonunion workers at competitive stores. In order to maintain the middle class (created by unions), I suggest the opposite should be done.

We have already seen what corporations will do if the unions or the government doesn’t keep a close eye on them: Enron, Worldcom, Tyco and many others, not to forget the outrageous CEO compensation packages we read about daily including those of these supermarket chains.

Ah, greed, how sweet it is.

Richard D. Curtis

Lake Forest