Editorial: We cannot afford a grocery strike

Fast forward to today. Negotiations for 30,000 grocery workers in Northern California are underway and both sides are tip-toeing around the 800-pound health-care gorilla sitting in the room.

Increasingly squeezed by the likes of Wal-Mart, grocers such as Safeway, Albertsons and Ralphs have suggested publicly in the past they want to reduce the health care they provide to new workers. That was met with great resistance in Southern California and ultimately led to the four-and-a-month long strike. The grocers are still recovering because shoppers discovered other food outlets such as low-priced Trader Joe's and wholesale retailers when they were avoiding the picket line. Despite cutting prices, the Southern California grocers are still experiencing fewer customers a full year after the strike.

Surely they'd want to avoid a similar situation in Northern California. Lowering the bar, however, is not the way to do it. Passing on the cost of health care to workers will ultimately cost us. A study released in August by the University of California at Berkeley's Institute for Industrial Relations indicates Wal-Mart's wages and poor health care policies cost California's taxpayers $86 million annually since its workers find health care through Medicaid. Wal-Mart, of course, refutes the study and said it is based on old numbers.

Either way, the message is clear. If large employers do not provide health care for their workers, it will force them and their families onto the public dole. With cuts coming from lower tax revenue and state takeaways, this is a situation local governments cannot afford. The public should get involved with the negotiations immediately, get up to speed on the issues and weigh in as soon as possible so a Northern California grocery strike can be avoided.

Today, the Board of Supervisors is passing a resolution in support of fair wages and health benefits for grocery store workers. In the resolution, the board states that, "if the recent contract settlement in Southern California were to spread across the state, the average annual wage for a grocery worker could drop $6,171 ... below what a worker in a two income family of four needs to earn in the Bay Area to reach self-sufficiency."

Reducing worker benefits may keep grocery costs low, but it creates new costs we as a society cannot afford. Grocery workers in California have always received fair wages for their hard work. Now is not the time to change that. We encourage the Board of Supervisors, newly-elected Assemblyman Ira Ruskin or U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos to call for hearings on the issue to truly educate the public and force the grocers to provide fair benefits for its workers.