Category: Labor

By Todd Walters

May Day is a global day of action to recognize and uplift working people. Here in San Diego, it’s a moment to reflect on our progress and renew our fight for fairness, respect, and dignity on the job. At UFCW Local 135, our members are standing strong and united— whether they work in grocery stores, healthcare, cannabis, or anywhere else.

They’re ready for the fight. And they’re rising together.

Our grocery members—more than 7,000 strong—are currently in contract negotiations with Vons/Pavilions, Albertsons, Ralphs and Stater Bros. These workers kept our communities fed through the pandemic and beyond. Now, they’re demanding a contract that reflects their hard work and the rising cost of living. Alongside our sister locals across the region, we are part of a powerful 65,000-member strong Southern California grocery bargaining unit. Together, we are demanding real raises, improved staffing, and better benefits. We’re not backing down—Grocery Workers Are Rising.

Unfortunately, we’re also facing major roadblocks at the bargaining table with one of the grocery companies: Stater Bros.

Originally posted March 31, 2009

César Chávez is one of the greatest labor leaders and human rights activists in the United States history and the world. He fought for a better life for migrant farm workers, and founded the first successful farm workers’ union. César was the president of the United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO.

César Estrada Chávez was able to accomplish his goals through the philosophy of non-violence that he inherited and followed from leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King.

Two US District Court judges have now ruled that thousands of fired federal employees must be reinstated within the next week. First, a district judge in San Francisco issued a blistering blast and now a Maryland district judge has ruled basically the same. Here is a report from NPR on the California ruling:

By Chris Arnold and Emily Feng / npr / March 13, 2025

Thousands of federal employees fired by the Trump administration must be offered job reinstatement within the next week, a U.S. district judge in San Francisco has ruled, because he said they were terminated unlawfully.

“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that is a lie,” Judge William Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said before issuing his ruling from the bench.

The Thursday decision marks a significant stand against President Trump’s sweeping efforts to remake the federal government. The White House has appealed the decision.

The local ACLU in San Diego has joined a lawsuit against the Border Patrol along with other state affiliates by the United Farm Workers and residents of Bakersfield for border agents’ unlawful raids in the Latino areas of Kern County.

Formerly called the ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties, it joined the lawsuit with their Southern California and Northern California affiliates, a lawsuit whose story played out in the media. In short, in January 2025, Border Patrol agents based at the United States-Mexico border traveled more than 300 miles north to Bakersfield to launch “Operation Return to Sender”.

This was a weeklong sweep through predominantly Latino areas of Kern County and the surrounding region to indiscriminately stop, detain and arrest people of color who appeared to be farmworkers or day laborers, regardless of their actual immigration status.

Southern California Grocery Workers Are Rising for Fair Wages and Better Working Conditions

By Todd Walters, President, UFCW Local 135

For too long, the hardworking union grocery workers of Southern California have been overworked, understaffed, and underpaid. These essential workers, who showed up day in and day out during the pandemic to keep our communities fed, now find themselves struggling to make ends meet. With inflation driving up the cost of living at an alarming rate, it’s time for major grocery corporations—Kroger/Ralphs, Albertsons/Vons, Stater Bros., and Gelson’s—to step up and provide the fair wages and benefits that these workers have earned.

Southern California UFCW Locals are gearing up for what will likely be the toughest round of negotiations in decades. Bargaining with Kroger/Ralphs and Albertsons/Vons kicks off on February 13, with Stater Bros. negotiations beginning on March 6.

By Arturo Castañares / La Prensa San Diego / Feb.3, 2025

Democrats and labor unions, which are usually united in campaigns, are facing off against each other in a contentious special election to replace San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas, who resigned unexpectedly just weeks after winning a second term.

Three elected Democrats are among the seven candidates who qualified to run in the April 8th Special Election called by the four remaining County Supervisors.

Vargas, 52, who was elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ District 1 in November 2020, won her re-election in November 2024.

District 1 includes the South Bay areas of San Ysidro, Nestor, Otay Mesa, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, National City, Barrio Logan, Logan Heights, and areas of San Diego to North Park.

But on December 20th, just two weeks before the date to assume her second term, Vargas announced she would not attend the January 6th meeting to be sworn in.

Within days of her announcement, several potential candidates emerged to run for a seat that has only been open for election without an incumbent once before in more than 50 years.

Who Will Labor and Business Choose? Candidates Include IB Mayor Paloma Aguirre, CV City Councilmember Carolina Chavez, CV Mayor John McCann and S D City Councilmember Vivian Moreno

By Michael Smolens / San Diego U-T / January 12, 2025

The race to replace Nora Vargas on the county Board of Supervisors is shaping up at warp speed.

But while some familiar dynamics are emerging, much remains unsettled.

For one thing, the remaining four supervisors have not yet called a special election to fill the vacancy in South Bay’s District 1, though that is expected soon. The board has the option to appoint a replacement but virtually no one thinks that will happen, given the even partisan split on the board.

Once again, the county faces an election where the partisan control of the board is at stake.

Ever since Measure E failed, the one-cent sales tax, City Hall observers and critics have been carefully watching what Mayor Todd Gloria and the City Council do in terms of the budget and any potential cuts. Reportedly, there’s more than $1 billion budget deficit over the next five years.

About a month ago, Axios San Diego published a post that was astounding because it encapsulated ideas and concerns of Michael Zucchet, head of the Municipal Employees Association, who made a presentation to the council’s budget committee around that time. (Zucchet used to sit on the City Council representing what’s now District 2, Point Loma and OB, so he’s well aware of how the budget process works.)

Zucchet’s main issue was the astronomical growth of nonunion managers over the last decade, who earn higher pay and give the mayor more flexibility over their employment.

Simply put: there’s just too many middle managers. Check these numbers out.

By Jake Johnson and Eloise Goldsmith / Common Dreams / Dec 19, 2024

The Teamsters launched what the union described as “the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history” on Thursday morning to protest the e-commerce behemoth’s unlawful refusal to bargain with organized drivers and warehouse workers across the country.

Workers in New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco, and other locations are expected to participate in Thursday’s strike, with more facilities prepared to join if Amazon’s management doesn’t agree to negotiate contracts with unionized employees.

The union said Wednesday that Teamsters locals are also “putting up primary picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.”

Local Union Calls It a Victory for Consumers and Workers

By Alina Selyukh / NPR KPBS / December 10, 2024

Kroger and Albertsons saw their $24.6 billion merger blocked on Tuesday by judges in two separate cases, one brought by federal regulators and the other by the Washington state attorney general.

What would be the biggest grocery merger in U.S. history is now in legal peril after over two years of delays. The companies could choose to continue their legal appeals or abandon the deal. They await another ruling in a third lawsuit in Colorado.