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Safeway STRIKE solidarity action: shop and Awe
SUPPORT THE STRIKE with DIRECT ACTION.
Creative support action can take solidarity beyond the boycott!!
Creative support action can take solidarity beyond the boycott!!
Solidarity action for grocery workers!
This is an action you can do on your own or in groups (more fun). It is easy, legal (basically) and will have a significant effect if enough people do it.
Go into your local Safeway/Albertsons/Ralphs. If you have to cross a picket, explain (quietly) that you are not shopping, but are going to make a statement in support of the strikers inside the store.
Get a shopping cart, and wander through the aisles, and fill it up with random groceries grab one of everything and toss it in a big pile in the cart. Stuff that spoils soon is better.
Walk out of the store. While it is easy to take stuff off of shelves, reshelving is a real pain in the ass. The SCABS working Safeway are being paid to do someone elses job from them. Messing with them like this makes them less able to do the job of the workers they are filling in for and will co$t the store manager greatly as a well packed basket could take on the order of 30 minutes to reshelve.
Go with friends if you want, and you might enhance the action in the following way:
Go up to the checkout, and have them scan a couple of hundred bucks of groceries in (and do this in multiple checkout lines) and then ask, "Waaaaiiit just a secoond... Arent Safeway workers on strike. You are all a bunch of SCABS arent you? And then walk out. Warning: DO NOT CALL THE PEOPLE IN THE STORE SCABS UNLESS YOU ARE SURE THEY ARE. If the workers in the store arent on strike, then make a comment about remembering that there is a boycott of safeway, and walk out.
This action can be done where there are NO SCABS as well, such as in N. Cal, in a solidarity with the S. Cal strikers.
This is an action you can do on your own or in groups (more fun). It is easy, legal (basically) and will have a significant effect if enough people do it.
Go into your local Safeway/Albertsons/Ralphs. If you have to cross a picket, explain (quietly) that you are not shopping, but are going to make a statement in support of the strikers inside the store.
Get a shopping cart, and wander through the aisles, and fill it up with random groceries grab one of everything and toss it in a big pile in the cart. Stuff that spoils soon is better.
Walk out of the store. While it is easy to take stuff off of shelves, reshelving is a real pain in the ass. The SCABS working Safeway are being paid to do someone elses job from them. Messing with them like this makes them less able to do the job of the workers they are filling in for and will co$t the store manager greatly as a well packed basket could take on the order of 30 minutes to reshelve.
Go with friends if you want, and you might enhance the action in the following way:
Go up to the checkout, and have them scan a couple of hundred bucks of groceries in (and do this in multiple checkout lines) and then ask, "Waaaaiiit just a secoond... Arent Safeway workers on strike. You are all a bunch of SCABS arent you? And then walk out. Warning: DO NOT CALL THE PEOPLE IN THE STORE SCABS UNLESS YOU ARE SURE THEY ARE. If the workers in the store arent on strike, then make a comment about remembering that there is a boycott of safeway, and walk out.
This action can be done where there are NO SCABS as well, such as in N. Cal, in a solidarity with the S. Cal strikers.
For more information:
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articl...
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The strike hasnt moved to N Cal yet. Its just a boycott up here. So DONT DO ANYTHING THAT MIGHT HURT WORKERS.
STRIKES hurt workers. They are painful times, when workers make sacrifices necessary for their survival. Noone wants the situation to be what it is.
The action described here will not hurt workers (unless they are verbally abused in the process). Personally, I think anger should be directed at management rather than scabs, where possible, but hey, a scab is a scab.
Reshelving sucks, but it doesnt "hurt" workers anymore than a picket line outside, or any more than failing to return your shopping cart to the little corral at the supermarket... It makes the cost of doing business more expensive for Safeway, the corporation, and that is a good thing (its what the boycott is all about - hitting them in the pocketbook).
The action described here will not hurt workers (unless they are verbally abused in the process). Personally, I think anger should be directed at management rather than scabs, where possible, but hey, a scab is a scab.
Reshelving sucks, but it doesnt "hurt" workers anymore than a picket line outside, or any more than failing to return your shopping cart to the little corral at the supermarket... It makes the cost of doing business more expensive for Safeway, the corporation, and that is a good thing (its what the boycott is all about - hitting them in the pocketbook).
While your action "shop and awe" may be a good idea in southern california, it doesn't seem to be quite so wise in northern california, where union members would be affected and have to reshelve those items. it may not hurt them, so to speak, to put all those items back, but it seems like there are more productive courses of action...like joining a picket line at a store near you, creating one where there isn't an already established one, or even delegating management and making a scene in that way.
in struggle - upton
ps - maybe i am wrong about this, but if i was a union safeway worker i wouldn't be too happy if folks did this...then again, it creates some mindless work for them to do, so...
in struggle - upton
ps - maybe i am wrong about this, but if i was a union safeway worker i wouldn't be too happy if folks did this...then again, it creates some mindless work for them to do, so...
a boycott is a strategy that will result in less customers, hence, less work for the union folks still on contract.
on the other hand, these direct actions inside the store will cause more work for them.
being that its union folks being paid by the hour, the second form of solidarity probably hurts them less.
does it mean the boycott shouldnt be done? i dont think so, i think the boycott is great too. anything that costs the bosses money is good, and hassling management doesnt cost the bosses money, cause thats what management is being paid for - to deal with hassles. thats where they want the attention focused, not at the grassroots through direct action.
on the other hand, these direct actions inside the store will cause more work for them.
being that its union folks being paid by the hour, the second form of solidarity probably hurts them less.
does it mean the boycott shouldnt be done? i dont think so, i think the boycott is great too. anything that costs the bosses money is good, and hassling management doesnt cost the bosses money, cause thats what management is being paid for - to deal with hassles. thats where they want the attention focused, not at the grassroots through direct action.
Go into a store and trash it and the workers may get more hours but they will for some reason also be pissed off at you. Think of any job you have had. Pissing off workers will only hurt one's cause (especially if that cause is supposed to be supporting the workers).
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