What a bunch of hackish union thugs! “Dozens of protesters rallied Thursday outside a CVS pharmacy in downtown Santa Ana, their grievances against the drugstore giant summed up by an expired box of infant gas medicine,” according to the O.C. Register.
It figures that these union creeps were trying to buy fart pills!
“The protest was part of a national campaign to spotlight what critics of CVS – including California’s attorney general – have described as a persistent problem with outdated products on its shelves.”
California’s Attorney General? You mean the union sycophant Jerry Brown?
“The group reported in December that it had surveyed nearly 300 CVS stores around Los Angeles, and found at least one container of expired infant formula, milk or eggs for sale at 43 percent of them.”
Let’s do the math here. Forty three percent of 300 means that 129 stores had “at least one” container of expired materials. But is this unique to CVS? I think if you were to audit union-run supermarkets you would probably find problems there too. I don’t know about other folks, but I always check expiration dates when I shop for groceries.
Moreover, “in a statement, CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said company policy requires that items be removed from the shelves before they reach their expiration dates. But, he said, the typical CVS pharmacy has more than 100,000 items on its shelves, and “no process this labor-intensive is immune from error.”
“The Santa Ana protest, like the national campaign, was organized by an alliance of labor unions called Change to Win.”
“The Santa Ana protest, like the national campaign, was organized by an alliance of labor unions called Change to Win.”
At last we arrive at the truth. This lame protest had NOTHING to do with expired products. These union thugs are indeed looking for a change – according to CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis, “the union group had singled out CVS “after we refused to waive our employees’ right to vote confidentially in union elections.””
Think about that for a moment. Why would workers want to waive their rights to vote confidentially in union elections? This is all about pressuring workers to vote union – and taking away their privacy!
Furthermore, if the unions succeed in forcing CVS to go union, what will that do to their prices? They will go up of course. And who will be screwed by that? The public – during a recession no less.
At the end of the day this is what the greedy union activists are all about. The reality is that CVS stores offer good jobs to students and retired folks. But if all you aspire to is a union retail job then I have a bit of advice for you. Get a life! You will never earn a great living in retail, period. Go back to school, learn a trade or start a business. Stop wasting time trying to force stores to go union!
Thoughout U.S. history corporations hired thugs, usually called “detectives” from “detective agencies” formed for the purpose, to violently break up employee meetings and prevent workers from forming a union to seek better pay and protection from abusive managers. The only “union thugs” that I’ve ever heard about occurred when organized crime tried to take over some of the unions, like back in the Jimmy Hoffa times.
Art, seriously consider your last paragraph and substitute farm worker for retail clerk. Would you really promote the disbanding of farm worker unions, telling them to get a life and go back to school?
SAHS Teacher,
There is a reason why Assemblyman Jose Solorio’s family isn’t picking beans anymore.
Such work is hard and often degrading. There is no future in such work.
Farming work is crucial, and substantially different from retail work. Farming is hard and you have to know what you are doing. Anyone can learn to ring up items at a store.
Farms continue to find ways to use machines to harvest their product. Therein lies the future of that industry.
Those farming don’t want their kids to get stuck doing that ad infinitum. And no one should want to get stuck in a lifetime of dreary retail work.
In this economy you have to keep learning and keep moving.
Twenty years ago I worked in graphic design and marketing. I left that field and went to work in the refineries. And I went back to school and earned two degrees.
I now have a great career in occupational safety. Was it easy? No! But it sure was worth it. I easily earn twice what I made in my former career.
Such is life. You evolve or you get left behind…
Art! You hit nail on the head, almost … glancing blow … with your statement,
“Farms continue to find ways to use machines to harvest their product. Therein lies the future of that industry.”
Aggie engineers, like at UC Davis or UC Riverside, develop modern harvesting methods … but only if farmers will buy them. In the US, as long as farm worker wages are low, it’s more economical to use cheap labor than to invest in modern ag technology. In Europe, where farm labor costs are high, farming technology is far more advanced than here. Farming is honest, fulfilling, and essential work — it should provide a decent living which one shouldn’t aspire to leave.
A lot of Americans like to dance around with a finger in the air singing “we’re number one!”, but when it comes to treatment of common working people, this country has slipped to the 19th century.
SAHS Teacher,
I agree. A 17 year old died this year working on a farm, with no shade and no water.
She was an immigrant.
These abuses are intolerable.
As we speak, organized labor is seeking federal legislation via Congress and the new Democratic Administration in Washington to eliminate employees’ rights to a secret ballot for representation elections and substitute a form, or card, that the employee would sign. Employers tend to see the proposed system as opent to intimidation by fellow workers and union organizers, whereas union advocates see their effort to organize made easier and more open. The legislation in question is HR 1404 and S 560 and commonly referred to as Card Check. It was recently reported in Business Week that this legislation is a top 2009 priority for organized labor. So, CVS may soon not have any say about the issue.
Art, funny enough both of the signs that you replaced the words on are being held by people I brought with me to this event. The one on the left hates unions and the one on the right is almost a psychologist. Haha random observation. Also you fail to mention that another significant portion of this protest is about CVS treating stores in lower income areas of color significantly differently then stores in middle to upper income white areas. For example all 3 stores in Anaheim had condoms locked up and expired baby formula. Would you ask a CVS clerk to hand you the condoms you need Art?
Steve,
That is funny!
I don’t need condoms. I got fixed already. Four kids was enough for me!
As for the other issue you raised, it was not noted in the newspaper. But really is that much of a surprise? That is just business as usual.
Art, you said, “As for the other issue you raised, it was not noted in the newspaper. But really is that much of a surprise? That is just business as usual.”
I’m confused: Which issue is, in your opinion, business as usual?
– “CVS treating stores in lower income areas of color significantly differently then stores in middle to upper income white areas.?
– “expired baby formula”?
You also say 129 stores had “at least one” expired product, and excuse it by quoting a CVS spokesman to the effect that it’s too hard to rotate product… including infant “fart pills”. Well,sir –
I worked retail, including as management, for more than 30 years, and I learned a few things:
– Walk your store daily, noting good things; and bad things that have to be fixed – and assign those fixes to associates – then follow up.
– Always rotate your stock, and pull outdated stuff off the shelves.
– Do not depend on your customers to do your research for you. If you have outdated stock, do not offer it for sale.
– Do not denigrate your customers. They are your paycheck.
– Do not denigrate your coworkers. Their cooperation is necessary for you to continue receiving your paycheck – and maybe a bonus.
– Plan ahead: The infant who needs what you jokingly call “fart pills” is suffering physical discomfort, and maybe pain. If the medicine his/her parents buy is ineffective or harmful, the parents will not buy more from your store, and probably from any other stores in the chain – and they will tell the kid why.
– That’s enough for now…
Kerr,
In general, many retail operations appear different in poor areas. Sometimes that is because of the residents in those areas. Bathrooms will be marred, for example, with graffiti.
And sometimes these operations are forced to do business in very old buildings, so of course they don’t look as nice.
As for the expired products, which I pointed out were few and far between, statistically, do you have empirical evidence that they were dangerous or poor-performing? I doubt it.
At the end of the day this entire brouhaha is about taking away a worker’s right to vote in private in union elections. That is shameful!
Doesn’t anyone read the expiration dates on what they purchase?
READ the employee free choice act. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1409:
It allows EMPLOYEES to CHOOSE whether they want a secret ballot or to join a union more quickly by signing authorization cards then verified by a neutral third party (clergy member, arbitrator, etc). It also PUNISHES EMPLOYERS who break the law when workers try to join a union. There is no economic penalty now for doing so.
BlissD,
Toyota is non-union – and their workers make more than the guys at GM.
Do you think ANYONE at Toyota would want to be a union guy at GM instead?
I don’t think so…
Art,
– Where did you get the info that Toyota pays better than GM? If that is so, why are Southern US Senators who have Toyota plants in their states insisting that GM and Chrysler LOWER their pay & benefits to the same rates as Toyota? Whose pockets are they in?
– We were supposedly talking about “customer service”, not about the age of the buildings or average income of the customers. Do poor customers deserve poor service because they’re poor?
– I’d say that if “nearly 300 CVS stores” were surveyed, and 43 percent of them had expired infant formula, milk, or eggs for sale, it’s not an insignificant statistic. That is empirical evidence of sloppy or uncaring store management… or greed.
– As for your last statement, re-read BlissD’s comment, above. In many instances, companies do all they can to stop or win union-choice elections, including the use of various types of intimidation, including hiring “corporate thugs” and firing union supporters; then, when the employees vote to join unions, the companies stall the 1st contract negotiations for as long as possible – sometimes for years. THAT is shameful!
cook,
I usually read expiration dates, but maybe not everybody does all the time, like when a mother rushes in to buy Art’s “fart pills” for her sick kid. In any case, the store shouldn’t have expired merchandise on its shelves.
Kerr,
I wonder how many expired products are in the union stores? I doubt you have a baseline comparison to offer.
And we don’t know if these products are dangerous or ineffective.
The fact is – this entire argument is a smokescreen to cover up your attempts to take away workers’ privacy.
Never mind employers who intimidate those trying to unionize, everyone knows that the biggest thugs in the workplace are union goons.
Ok, Art, fess up…tell us your ‘this is why I hate the unions’ story. You can’t even accept good points by your readers! Tell us what happened to you that made you hate the union…I just think I need to hear that story so I don’t just keep on thinking your an irrational person when it comes to the union issue.
art, are you going to respond to my question or hide?
16,
I don’t hate unions – but I don’t like it when they get too greedy.
I actually belong to a union, as a teacher at Cerritos College. But I joined of my own volition.
I have seen union thuggery up close as a longtime activist against project labor agreements.
I just got fired because the unions are coming here in Florida.They couldn’t stand it if I was a union member as I wanted breaks for pharmacists on a 12 hour shift.
i think cvs should go union…they should force them to Pay More!
Yes I work for cvs and while the company buys new chains in hawaii and puerto rico its store managers get raises and bounus’ while the workers get a 2% raise its a crock
This opinion was obviously written by management for CVS and clearly shows the author does not possess even the slightest inkling of what goes on in an organizing campaign – well, actually he does, from the bosses point of view.
Damn, this is the shit that Art was writing when I was in jail? Thank God I never saw it … till now……
OK. Anything THIS year that says “admin” was put up by me (and doesn’t contain much original writing which is why I don’t use my name.) Anything from BEFORE this year that says “admin” is NOT by me!