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Late at night, a solitary picketer outside the South Boston Stop & Shop
By adamg on Fri, 04/19/2019 - 12:16am
Roving UHub photographer George Carroll Jr. reports that at 11:50 p.m. on Thursday, in the cold and rain, he spotted Geoff Applegate maintaining a solo picket outside the Stop & Shop on East Broadway in South Boston. The store wasn't open to the public but, Applegate told Carroll, he was there in case the company tried making a delivery.
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Comments
Thumbs up
I am not a huge union fan myself but the dedication of these workers, both on strike and when they were at work, is admirable. My fridge is empty and will probably be so until resolution as I see my friends out there every day as I go to work and come home.
BTW is every George Carroll in Boston just a generally cool person? I see that along with the photo came some food.
get hip to class struggle unionism.
The union need not be a bureaucracy it can be a site of working class Muti-racial solidarity again.
Revive the legacy of the early IWW.
Striker
He’s not working, might as well do something to stay busy.
A humans value is not related to their production
But all productive value is created by labor.
God bless them
They are not going to win but at least they will go down fighting. Kudos to Deb Goldberg, Ed Markey, and Uncle Joe Biden for supporting the workers yesterday when every other pol was trying to get their 5 minutes of fame in the collusion delusion sage.
Why?
Why do you say they are not going to win?
Because the owners
Have the two most important items in a labor struggle Time and Money. Time and Money are two items the workers most of whom are part time can't afford. I applaud their courage for standing up to the schoolyard bully but the bully will win in the end.
Really?
Profits are about 4% after taxes. Not sure they have time OR money.
Insurance
It's a huge company with insurance for these sorts of events.
Not to say S&S's owners won't take a hit, but it's not nearly as bad as it might seem. It's more of a hardship on those striking.
What the Union has is support of the community which isn't always the case. I'm not sure I agree with them but I won't cross the line.
Where did u hear that?
You can buy strike insurance, but how do you know they did? On their margins it may or may not be a good investment. Have you seen this reported somewhere?
I agree, this one might get interesting.
Supermarkets are places where the consumer has the easy option to go somewhere else with little to no inconvenience. And consumers are staying away. Plus this is an easier union to get behind. They are looking for small things and aren't getting paid much to begin with.
And Unions will often supply some income, although I'm not sure this is the case here. The Grid workers were allowed to collect unemployment and also got a union check.
In most places, for many people, perhaps
I admit: I was a Stop & Shop regular. So now, instead, I just drive to Shaw's in Hyde Park, the Star Market in West Roxbury or even Roche Bros. in West Roxbury, no problem. And the Wegmans on Rte. 9 isn't all that far away, really (and there's also America's Food Basket and the supermarket whose name I can never remember on the Roslindale/Mattapan line).
But that's because I have a car. Now imagine you live at the Mildred Hailey Apartments, without a car, but right next to the JP Stop & Shop. Where's the nearest supermarket you can easily get to? And no, the Whole Foods doesn't count.
To answer your question
Star Market, accessible via the Orange Line at Back Bay Station. Of course, the small Roche Brothers is just 3 stops further away, but literally accessible directly from the fare gates.
easy for you to say....
...not so easy for some to do.
Imagine having to ride the T with groceries for a family of 4 or 5. Perishables that, even in an insulated bag, will be defrosted by the time you get home. And with kids in tow. Not my situation now, but what a struggle it was.
Today, I am lucky enough to have a car. Two years ago, I did not. As a person with physical limitations; grocery shopping is always a struggle. Having to take the bus and/or subway made my life miserable. I could not purchase what I really wanted to on a regular basis because I could not carry my groceries. Having a collapsible grocery cart was a minor help - but I could barely get myself on the bus let alone the damn cart.
So, sometimes there are options. But sometimes the options are not viable....
I guess my counter is
How are they hauling a week’s worth of groceries for 4 to 5 people from Stop & Shop to their apartment now? Remember that the store’s carts are, by city ordinance, not to be taken beyond the parking lot.
Judging by the number of full Roche Brothers bags I see on the Orange Line, it is done. Getting groceries from Roche Brothers, down the elevator to to Orange Line outbound, then up the elevator at Jackson does not seem odious in Adam’s theoretical.
Personally-owned "granny carts"
are useful for this purpose, whether you are walking a block from Stop & Shop to Mozart Street, or hauling your groceries on the Orange Line from Roche Bros. or the Prudential Star Market.
You're absolutely right on this
And it's unfortunate that car-less folks (which are increasing in number every year if not day) only have one (or sometimes none) choice as to where to get their groceries in certain neighborhoods. I live in Allston near the bFresh (owned by S&S) and if I didn't own a car, my choice would be in and out and done at bFresh in 30 mins or a 30 min walk each way to one of the two traders joes down here. If I couldn't afford the time to do that, or if I wasn't physically able to walk down, and carry my groceries all the way back, I would only have the one choice.
Two Choices
Order groceries.
You know there's a massive 24
You know there's a massive 24-hour Star Market at Packard's Corner, a five minute walk or one stop on the B line away from bFresh, right?
Not 24 hours anymore
Some time in the last few months, Star began closing all of their former 24-hour stores at midnight.
In Allston, you have another choice
Star Market at Packard's Corner. (I'd take the Green Line "B" or #57 bus instead of walking.) Maybe also Star Market on Western Avenue.
Youre right!
totally forgot about that one, which is too bad since they got the booze
For different people, different challenges, different options
My community's S&S has lots of non-driving seniors living nearby. They roll their granny carts down the sidewalk a few blocks 1-3 times a week. The next nearest by foot or bus is not so close for their physical abilities.
Some folks can get by on canned and boxed goods plus bread and milk at the 7-11. Some folks can order from Roche Bros online (not Peapod -- that's S&S!). Some can make a single big trip via taxi or Lyft once every few weeks, so the cost isn't tremendous. Some have a neighbor or family member with car, and they can go together.
Some will be more inconvenienced than others. For some, what seems like a relatively small inconvenience is a big burden. That's all true. Some are even weighed down with the problems of a Bourque.
If the only people who break the picket line are those with severely limited options, the strike will be a success. Which is to say, if nobody drove to Stop & Shop to buy groceries, that'd be just fine with UFCW.
It's hitting the island of
It's hitting the island of Nantucket really hard. The only two supermarkets on the island are Stop & Shop. There is a Cumberland Farms but that is limited in what they offer. (And before someone cries about all the wealth on the island. Right now it is just the regular people who live there year round trying to eek out a living in one of the most expensive places to live in the world.)
Hopefully this is resolved soon and the workers get what they need to make a living wage.
Been thinking along those lines myself.
Also, the company is based in the Netherlands. Do they give a fig about New England problems?
Whatever the resolution, I predict that they will take the opportunity to close smaller stores and under-performing stores.
Deb Goldberg
What did Deb Goldberg say? I am curious because as you know her family owned Stop & Shop prior to 1994. Its a bitter subject with them about what happened.
Joe has a terrible record for working people
He has been at the leading edge of the neoliberal assault on the working class, pushing for more beneficial policies for financial capital and cuts for the poor consistently through his career. He is not a friend of the working class. Beware the false friend.
BFresh
BFresh must use a distribution facility that is has the same union workers.
I walked thru Bfresh in Davis yesterday to go to Dunks. Their produce department is pretty sparse right now as are the meats. Just about anything fresh is sparse..
Bfresh is owned by Stop and
Bfresh is owned by Stop and Shop, so yes same union.
well yeah
I know that.
It was just an observation going into the store.
Were he a federal worker on furlough....
He'd be spending his days driving Uber, babysitting or doing yard work for hire. No surprise he took the evening shift here
Market Baskit 4 Lyfe
stop and shop is trash even despite all this drama
Shout out to Geoff Applegate.
Shout out to Geoff Applegate. Keep the faith.