Mar. 14, 2004 - 16:06 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Half Day

We had a long day today, started early and we just got home. There will be many more of those in the near future I think. Not a job per se but a labor of love.

Can't call it Sunday lupper, just a very late Sunday Brunch

WHATS IN A NAME

? Do you like your name ?

A. - Yes, it is the one given me at birth. You can call a piano a carrot, but you can't eat it. So why should I desire to change my name ?

? Are you named after anyone ?

A. - Yes, my father. It took a few fisticuffs to keep my schoolmates from jeering at Juuunyerrr. I am a junior and proud of it.

? Do you have a nick name ? If so what is it ?

A. - Two, one in elementary school which was "Double Ugly," one in mature life, "Doug."

? If you could change your name, what would you change it to ?

A. - I already have a good one, it has lasted going on to 84 years soon. Don't see any reason to change spots now.

? What is the most interesting name of your friends or someone you know ?

A. - Thomas Alexander. How can one lose if named after Thomas Jefferson and Alexander the Great ?

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Things noted in a The Denver Post Sunday edition (the only one in town on Sunday). Titled, "Wal-Mart success spurs union battles." by Brian Tumulty of Gannett News Service

"After an unexpectedly long, 4 and 1/2 month strike in Southern California, the unions ultimately delayed but did not prevent a two-tier salary and health insurance structure in which new hires will be treated less favorably."

"Supermarket chains such as Safeway, Albertsons and Kroger have provided decent middle-class jobs in cities and towns across the nation. Officials of Cincinnati-based Kroger, which owns King Soopers stores (In Denver), boast that their supermarkets commanded a No. 1 or No. 2 market share in 43 of their major markets last year. At the same time they warn that Wal-Mart Supercenters have achieved a No. 3 market share or better in 22 areas where Kroger competes.

Joe Hansen the president of the 1.1 million-member United Food and Commercial Workers Union said, "Nonunion supermarkets and discount chains pay lower wages and are putting intense competitive pressure on the unionized supermarket chains."

"Wal-Mart is a creator of people who don't make very much money," Hansen told reporters during the three-day AFL-CIO winter meeting. "We think in basic terms, that every employer ought to be forced to pay for health care," Hansen said. "There is no union solution. It has to be political."

"Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the nation with 1.2 million employees. "We certainly would not be able to fuel the kind of growth that we anticipate if we were not a desirable employer with competitive wages and benefits," said Christi Gallagher, a spokeswoman for the Bentonville, Arkansas - based company. And contrary to organized labor's complaint about a lack of access to health care, she said, "All employees are eligible for health insurance covering 80 percent of their bills with premiums of $15.25 every two weeks for single employees and $66.25 for families."

"The average unionized supermarket employee in Southern California earns about $40,000. One published report regarding the new contract said new hires will earn about $23,000 annually after five years of experience. The old contract also provided for automatic time-and-a-half pay on Sundays and premium pay for working nights. Even more importantly the employer paid the entire cost of health insurance, and employees had only inexpensive co-pays for doctor visits and prescription drugs. That will change under the new pact so that by the third year, single parents will pay about $10 a week for health insurance and families $15 weekly. New hires will pay more.

The contract covers about 60,000 employees who went on strike last Oct. 11 against Safeway Stores operating as Vons and Pavilions or who were locked out a day later at Albertsons and Ralphs stores owned by Kroger."

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Not being an expert, all I can do is compare and conjecture. In 1990 a journeyman where I worked could earn around $30,000 a year, we got time and a half for anything over eight hours and for anything over eighty hours in a week, double time for work on Sundays and/or holidays. Our corporation also supplied paid health care with mild co-pays. Although the union struck in Southern California for 4 and 1/2 months it seems to me that the best one can do under the new contract is after five years wages can increase to $23,000 a year, new contract - looks like the overtime is gone and premium pay for night work too, as well as paying more for health care, new hires especially. So even though the unions fought the good battle, that is about all they could get -- not staying even but all employees losing.

I wonder if the folks working for Wal-Mart can afford their health care ?

Thing that bugs me is that Wal-Mart is building new stores as fast as they can -- and are even trying to get property condemned so they can build places they want to. It looks to me that if you have a store selling anything when Wal-Mart moves into the area sooner or later you will be out.

Looks like over the years the union new-hires will be low paid in comparison to the older workers and the older workers retire.

Guess I won't patronize Wal-Mart anymore.

So, with a late Sunday Brunch, I am only behind a Half Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . �

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