If you read this blog during the 2004 grocery strike, you'd know that I supported the union striking workers. I'll probably support them again next time. But I cannot support their union, which seems to be run by utter morons who couldn't outthink a bag of rocks.
Case in point: Today I received this UFCW broadside in the mail. Apparently, the union is upset that Albertsons is changing hands and the new owners intend to convert some of their dingy low-end stores into upscale Bristol Farms markets. For the most part, these are substandard, unmaintained Albertsons stores in high-income areas and are having a hard time competing because they cater to the wrong demographics. People have choices and they're choosing Ralph's or Vons or Whole Foods. People who shop at Bristol Farms don't shop at Albertsons, ever.
But Albertsons is a union shop, and Bristol Farms isn't, so the UFCW is sending out mailers alleging that Bristol Farms are dirty, rat-infested traps of Satan and one should avoid them like the plague. It comes off like the old Marx Brothers line about "Who are you going to believe, me or your own two eyes", but there you have it. I guess basically what they want to say is that the new Bristol Farms stores will be, behind the scenes, what Albertsons is on its face.
Stupid is as stupid does, and this is pretty dumb. If they want public support next time they strike, this is about the most unlikely way to get it. Time for the rank-and-file of the UFCW to fire the morons that lost them the last strike and are trying to lose the next.
Posted by Kevin Murphy at May 11, 2006 03:32 PM