Nov. 01, 2004 - 20:22 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Not Free

Two items in Sunday's The Denver Post. One in the "Denver & The West," section and the other in the Business section. In the Denver & The West section the article is by Claire Martin a Denver Post staff writer and the Business section article is by Kristi Arrellano Denver Post staff writer.

The Business section article in part: Root of food fight: health costs

Grocery talks reflect national trend to make workers pay more

"The grocery business stands as one of the few retail sectors historically offering family-supporting wages and benefits. But the latest offer from Colorado's big-three unionized grocers calls for more than 17,000 workers to begin bearing an increasing portion of those costs."

"It's a tough pill to swallow, they say -- and it could contribute to a potential strike at midnight Wednesday."

"Three workers interviewed last week by The Denver Post pay nothing for their health coverage. All fear the impact of the companies' proposal, which carries the potential for their monthly health premiums to rise to hundreds of dollars within the next several years, despite modest wages."

"The effort by Safeway, King Soopers and Albertsons to roll back benefit costs is but one volley in a nationwide battle. More companies are cutting back on health-care benefits or asking their employees to chip in more. Lucent Technologies said recently that would ask its retirees and those of spin off Avaya to start contributing premiums of between $200 and $700 a month."

Claire Martin's article, in part:

Root Of Food Fight: Health Costs

rather than interviewing employees is based mostly on interviews of customers.

"With union workers and corporate representatives still at odds, grocery shoppers considered the possiblilty of crossing a picket line Saturday."

"I wouldn't cross," declared Louis Pernell, who was buying bottled green tea for his wife. But Brandi Burke, who brought her toddler Anthony, along on her weekly grocery trip to the same store, shook her head. "I don't have enough time to go to another store," she said flatly." Nearby, Ramona Garcia expressed mixed feelings. Old enough to remember when a fryer cost less than $2, she said she thinks grocery prices are exorbitant. "Would I cross a line ? I probably would, but I don't blame these people for going on strike," she said. Linda Sikkema said she and her husband already discussed changing their routine in the event of a strike. "We would start going to stores like Costco and not patronize the stores that are causing the problem," she said. "And we'd probably start getting even more of of that Italian take-out from Spinelli's Market. it's not inexpensive, but it's sure good."

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My opinions. I keep running into the idea expressed by people on the street and in stores that employees of these establishments get their health care free. Not true. Health care obtained by union bargaining is the same as wages - except there is no time and a half for overtime. Basically, the union says, instead of X-much raise we will take this much less if you include health care. The money spent on their health care is in lieu of wages I would say.

The development of places like Mall Wart and Sostco originally was based on people bagging their own groceries, lugging them to their cars and buying in huge quantities. Nowadays, there is little difference between the "discount" stores and the super markets. EXCEPT it appears to me that the "discount" stores pay their help less and offer fewer benefits by beating suppliers down on prices of their suppliers. And now, if asked they will send a bagger out with a customer to push his buggy and unload it into his car. And of course buggies. Once a sign of "Super Market," the big discount stores have fleets of them and jockeys to retrieve them and put them in service again. It appears to me that eventually our country will be one big supermarket,, with no competetion. Meanwhile the workers will get less in wages and benefits and the management will then start raising prices -- just like in other areas that this has happened.

I keep remembering a science fiction story I once read where the word TANSTAAFL surfaced -- "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." And truly there isn't. Groceries cost more at the supermarkets because of the services they provide, which is more and much better than the "discounts" even though they try to imitate the supers. And eventually the workers at the "discounts" will begin to band together and demand better pay, better and safer working conditions, health care and things like the others have.

But all that is academic to me. I am looking at myself and Heather. We have company supplied health care, which was promised me for as long as I live, company paid. Promised me and others in a package of among other things to continue to pay for health care at the level we were covered while we worked in order to get us to retire. What will happen to Heather and I ? Even $200 extra a month will break us. What will happen to those of us who cannot possibly afford that kind of health care ? Yeah, right, we'll go to the county and try to stand in line, deal with all the extraneous paper work trying to prove that we exist and deserve to be noticed. That is after we have been evicted because we couldn't afford health care and rent - house payments or whatever.

It has long been my idea that our company felt it would be cheaper to pay retirement and health care than it would be to pay wages to that number of people. And I guess it did, until the price of health care was jacked up by the providers.

Similar to other things perhaps, only the rich will be able to afford to be sick, we peons will have no choice but live up to our duty to cease to exist.

They are the ones wearing blindfolds with corks in their ears who say things are Free . . . . . . . . . .

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