UFCW Local 648 to San Francisco: Don't shop at Bristol Farms!

This store has plenty of good samples put out for people to take. And it's not against the boycott to take them. Just don't BUY anything. Happy sampling. (If you want to sample on stuff that's not on sample trays, watch for security.)

I don't have anything against anyone who is employed by the UFCW to stand on the picket line. it is a job like any other. this is not a picket line, though. none of the people standing out front are workers at the grocery store. nobody seemed to ask them if they wanted the ufcw to stand out there. a few months ago, i asked one of the "picketers" what the workers thought about the picket, and he answered me "some of them like us, some don't. i really dont care".

It seems we have lost the idea of what a union is-it is an association of WORKERS to improve their own working conditions. This is a group of people paid by union bureaucrats who would like to have more people under the UFCW contract, whether that helps these workers or not.

It seems that the UFCW is more interested in negotiating with the management of the grocery store than in empowering the workers to advocate for themselves.

from,
a wobbly

There is so much wrong with the nature of work, labor, and protest today. I wrote this story "to get something out and try to understand it-- when almost nothing ever gets written." I found it interesting that this UFCW sponsored action is taking place within a block of the San Francisco Chronicle. A check of archives at sfgate was pretty depressing. The only citation for UFCW was a mention in a man's obituary last year (he had once been an active member). I agree strongly with Michael Parenti, Norman Solomon, and others who repeatedly instruct us that newspapers myopically have business sections but lack labor sections. I thought the statements in the audio were heartfelt and particularly informative-- to anyone whatever their viewpoint. News at UFCW's website is not heartening-- as of this date there hasn't been updated on news at their own site since 2005. http://www.ufcw.org/press_room/ufcw_in_the_news/index.cfm Meanwhile-- union leaders and politicians suck up to each other in a dance that more often than not freezes workers out. http://tinyurl.com/2fzuzl http://tinyurl.com/2ebqjw Thanks for the info about free samples-- doubtless crumbled cookies and increasingly miniturizing cheese squares. Symbols, I think, of the rewards more American workers have come to expect in a society that excels at exploiting them.

Here is a corrected photo with improved caption.