History of the Workers' Movement: the Struggle for a Fighting Grocery Union
Em Smith
In 1968, the starting wage for a unionized grocery worker in Los Angeles was $3.00 an hour, equivalent to over $31 today.
Today, Kroger workers can make as little as $12/hour. So what happened?
Workers waged a long war in the grocery industry. In 1904, 18,000 meat cutters went on strike in Chicago, despite opposition from the top union leadership in the AFL. Strikes continued through the 1930s-60s. One grocery union president explained, “If you opened a supermarket, you needed a union contract, or you didn’t open. There’d be a picket line in front of your store!”
But by the 1950s, labor militancy was on the decline. The Cold War and the Red Scare had begun.
James Suffridge, the president of the Retail Clerks International Union (a precursor to today’s grocery union, the UFCW), purged communists from the union. The union passed a resolution at the 1947 convention to expel any union member who was even “friendly to” communism!
Sapped of militant energy, unions were sitting ducks when big business (and Ronald Reagan) launched their anti-union crusade in the 1980s. Soon the power of the grocery unions was broken, and Walmart-ization set in.
Grocery union leaders are holding workers back (a tradition since 1904).
In 2022, UFCW leaders in Seattle called the cops on a rank-and-file grocery worker for passing out “Vote NO” flyers at a contract vote. Workers were demanding a $25/hour starting wage from Safeway/QFC (owned by Kroger).
A year later, in 2023, grocery workers at the PCC grocery chain in Seattle launched “PCC Workers United.” The group, led by socialists and supported by socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, were also demanding a $25/hour starting wage under the slogan “$25 to Survive!”
UFCW leaders maneuvered against the group and made a rotten deal with the bosses, with wages starting at just 25 cents above the Seattle minimum wage. Two PCC workers quit the bargaining team and called for a strike. But union leaders were able to convince workers that nothing more was possible.
UFCW has 1.3 million members. A nationwide strike could win far more than a $25/hour starting wage. The union could launch a new party, and fight for nationalization of the grocery industry to make groceries permanently affordable.
Instead, UFCW leaders are sitting back and getting rich: John Niccollai, head of UFCW in New Jersey, took home an eye-popping $760,000 last year. The attacks on union members in Seattle were led by Faye Guenther, a supposedly “progressive” union president who made over $200,000 last year.
Socialists in UFCW need to organize for bold demands: a $30 starting wage, good pensions, and a workers’ party. We need a socialist caucus that can win strike votes (against the leadership!), throw out rotten leaders like Niccollai and Guenther who hold workers back, and break UFCW away from the Democratic Party.
Make the grocery bosses scared again!