The 70,000 striking grocery workers received a much-needed morale boost when the Teamsters union announced it would honor their picket lines. But the Teamster action has an even broader significance: It suggests a return to labor's roots and the rebirth of labor solidarity.
Though it isn't unprecedented to have one union respect the strike of another, union solidarity hasn't been seen on this scale for quite a while. In the midst of a knock-down, drag-out economic struggle, the cooperation between these two unions could breathe new life into organized labor and transform the way strikes are waged.
Even before the Teamsters decision, the strike was buoyed by strong public support. To start, grocery workers are neither distant or anonymous. They are friends and neighbors, familiar faces, people you see every time you stop by a market. They are people the public can identify with. Close to two-thirds are women -- many single mothers -- and more than a third are Latino, Asian or African American. They aren't getting rich on the job; at an average wage of $12 to $14 per hour and 30 hours of work per week, many are barely getting by. They are on the picket lines because they are fighting for their health-care coverage -- a demand that is also pretty easy to identify with.
Unions then built on this support in a way that reminds us labor is still a movement. Miguel Contreras, head of the Los Angeles Central Labor Council, has pulled together people from different religious, ethnic and community organizations.
Religious groups ranging from Baptists to Muslims have thrown in their support, initiating a week of walking prayer that brought religious leaders to the picket lines. The International Longshore Workers Union pulled 3,000 members off the San Pedro docks to hold a union meeting in front of an Albertson's store. Unionized janitors staged a three-day hunger strike over Thanksgiving, and the entertainment unions also held rallies.
All of this support was important, but it was the Teamster decision to honor these picket lines that clearly upped the ante. More than 8,000 Teamsters have abandoned 10 state-of-the-art distribution centers and delivery routes to 860 stores throughout Southern California, choking far-flung supply lines. The supermarket chains responded by bringing in replacement workers, but it is not so very easy to replace thousands of skilled workers overnight. The replacements will probably get more effective if the strike continues long enough, but valued customers are getting comfortable shopping elsewhere -- a long-term disaster for businesses that depend on loyalty and service.
