WHEREAS, More than 60,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union are either on strike or locked out of almost 900 stores, stretching from central California to the Mexican border, constituting the longest major strike in the history of the retail food industry; and
WHEREAS, On October 12, 2003, Albertson’s locked out the UFCW, after an unprecedented number of its workers, over 95 per cent, voted to fight their employers' demands to take away health benefits; and
Whereas, Albertson’s – the owner of Acme Markets, the Philadelphia region’s largest grocery chain – and its CEO Larry Johnston, have threatened to cut workers health care benefits although Albertson’s profits rose 100 per cent to 2.8 billion dollars; and
WHEREAS, Albertson’s proposal would effectively eliminate affordable health benefits in the future, by immediately cutting the benefits of new hires and inadequately funding benefits for existing employees, leading to either massive cuts or unbearable co-pays; and
Whereas, The voters of the city of Philadelphia overwhelmingly passed a resolution affirming that affordable health care is a basic right of all Americans; and
Whereas, Albertson’s/Acme has continually misled its customers about the causes of this massive labor dispute, a dispute that is about the future of affordable health care for over 60,000 unionized workers and their families; and
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, To call upon Albertson’s, the owner of Acme Markets, to settle the more than 100 day old lockout of its workers in Southern California in a way that maintains their hard-won health benefits, and further urge Albertson’s, and its CEO Larry Johnston, to not try these benefit-destroying tactics in Philadelphia.
FURTHER RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be furnished to United Food and Commercial Workers, AFL-CIO, and Larry Johnston CEO of Albertson’s/Acme, as recognition of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.
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