This is a special joint edition of Popular Information and Fingers, a newsletter about drinking in America by journalist Dave Infante. Fingers is a must-read for anyone who cares about the business, culture, and chaos of booze. Sign up HERE. In January 2022, as COVID case rates soared nationwide, 8,400 workers at Colorado’s King Soopers supermarkets went on strike for better pay, hours, and on-the-job protections from infection and unruly customers.
As a retired union auto worker, I am in full support of unions. I would not be living now in relative security without my union-won benefits and retirement income.
As far as Walmart goes, I worked in one in my area for about 4 months, and without union protection, I was daily put into situations where physical harm and even death on the job was a distinct possibility.
To clarify, I contracted walking pneumonia while working in the meat department because I had to go into the 0-degree freezer too often. There were pallets of food stacked three high with very little room between them (I almost fell & got trapped with no help coming that I was aware of). If I had I might not be here today because there was no one coming to see where I'd gone and how long I might be unaccounted for.
If there had been a union , I would have addressed this to management and I probably would have if not for the simple reason of knowing that my complaint would have fallen on deaf ears.
On the solution side, why do we have anti-trust laws if we are not going to use them?
We’re already suffering under monopolies like Amazon etc. We have laws to prevent this. It would be really nice to show Americans that we can actually apply our laws!!
Most people are completely unaware of anti-trust laws, the FTC, or what any of it is supposed to do to protect average citizens. They may only hear billionaire interests complaining the "regulation makes things more expensive".
Contacting our reps. and senators to support anti-trust and telling our friends and neighbors about it would help tremendously.
My “representatives” represent corporate interests only. They are installed Repugs doing the bidding of their Puppet Masters. (One was actually installed by his father—Joe Ricketts— and his pal, Charles Koch. Another has direct ties to the Peed Family and Ricketts Family—he doesn’t answer to peons; only to the fascist billionaires.) Contacting any one of them invites a condescending form letter as a response.
That's a tough district to be in. Nebraska has potential though :) The staffers working in senate and rep offices do keep track of calls/letters and keep a count of for/against
so event at the risk of a bad form letter the input still makes an impression.
Get friends/neighbors to do the same.
You can communicate directly to the FTC on many issues:
We used to have two, independent grocery chains. Now we have one owned by Krogers, the other by Albertsons; both are lousy. WHEN and IF the shelves are stocked, the brands are redundant and generic; large portions of the space are given over to cheap clothing and “soap” products. There’s always plenty of candy and junk food. Basics have become scarce—last week, you couldn’t find a scouring powder like Ajax, Comet or Soft Scrub. Frozen veges are hit-and-miss. . . Maybe the corporates are sending their products to Putin’s store to impress Phuker Carlson?
Don't forget to follow the money. One CEO already makes 18 million dollars a year, nearly 700 times the salary of a typical worker. The executives of both companies will reap the whirlwind even further if the merger takes place; it's in THEIR interest. This is capitalism at its worst. Keep your eye on those who look to get even more morbidly wealthy in addition to the workers who will get screwed by anti-union practices. This is yet another example of why oligarchs seek to destroy democracy: they know the people are coming for their money, as well we should. It's our money in the first place. We buy their stuff and pay their profits, while they inflate their prices and refuse to pay fair taxes that benefit all of us.
It's always about the money. Here's an answer I received from a schill PR in another industry that has big profit margins the past few years on CEO and upper management pay.
"Our CEO's pay is only 1.8% of one billion dollars."
I am speechless. I didn't have the fortitude to see how much the rank and file's pay compare in percentage. Math always makes my head spin, but you can bet top dog is way ahead of the rest of the work force.
That's also 18 million dollars. Rest assured the CEO's multiple of base wages is probably close to 700 tmes. If the executive was paid 70 times, the income would still be 1.8 million dollars. You think he could live on that income every year? You betcha!
Very true. But now the Robber Barons know we’re on to them. We are going to get huge refunds. They are running scared. We will get the Supreme Court back! And there’s nothing they can do about it.
That is my heated reply to that braindead apologist. I mean if the CEO being used as the example has a rate of pay that's ONLY 1.8% of a billion, what is mine or your's or anyone else's who isn't one of these parasitic, I mean opportunistic elites?
My answer is that the kind of spin started by W Bush admin of "For us or Agin us" and then went into hyper drive during the Trump admin Alternate Facts and on to the US Congress GOP spurred on by both " utter nonsense/screw you chaos" is also part and parcel in the big corps who got the 2017 tax break. The rich get richer and on John and Jane and Non Binary's backs.
Every penny in the accounts of the morbidly rich came from everyone else. The rich own the Republican Party for the sole purpose of retaining and increasing their wealth. They know that this system will collapse. We are coming for our refunds, in other words tax revenue. We paid for it. They will do anything, kill anyone, destroy any democracy, to defend their hoarded wealth, which WE paid for. They know we are on to them. And they are running scared. A Trump win in 2024 will only hasten their demise. Because they are not only evil, they are STUPID.
I worked for years in the insurance industry. Same dynamics were at play with numerous corporate mergers and acquisitions occurring during my decades of employment. Exec's used the same selling points, claiming it was a "win/win" for customers and employees and that the "economies of scale" from the merger would justify the move. Total BS... The only thing that improved was the exec's salaries and bonuses! Look at the airline, banking, pharma industries and the spate of mergers. Has any of that really helped the consumer -- as they invariably claim?
It's time to slap these people down HARD. Between the profitflation and shrinkflation I now see every time I go to the local grocery store - rising prices and shrinking packages which I know, at this point, have nothing to do with rising input costs for the supplies the manufacturers must purchase to produce their products, and now Albertson's and Kroeger's putting the squeeze on workers in order to avoid sharing a reasonable amount of their profits with the workers who are, after all, the core of the company, it's long past time that we stop allowing corporations doing business in America to regard their workers and customers as just "marks" who's wallets and bank accounts they can clean out at will.
It's far past time we start cleaning out the wallets and bank accounts of the executives, corporate board members, and investors of these companies until the people who work for them can afford a decent lifestyle on what they're paid for forty hours of work per week, and the customers who depend on them can afford to pay for the things they need. When the executives and investors get close to living the lifestyle of their workers, THEN we'll worry about whether we're allowing them to keep enough profits.
"Allowing" by the way, is the right word. The level of compensation for executives, corporate boards, and investors is "allowed" by the way our REGULATED market system is structured (it's never actually been a "free market"), and those structures can be changed by the government at will, just as the structures currently in place were set up by that same government to favor the wealthy.
Unfortunately for the workers at Walmart etc most are now part time workers those most would like to be full time. It’s more cost effective for the company to be able to schedule people somewhat at will and not have to pay benefits. To give them twenty hours one week and four the next, randomly and insist if they cannot work with that then they can leave.
Damn straight. tfg and his minions would be foaming at the mouth, the bit, the bridle and foam would be coming out their "whatever" like no one's ever seen!
I used to work for a small grocer (less than 10 stores) but supposedly he had a "friendly agreement" with the retailer-owned cooperative supermarket nearby not to poach each other's employees. I told the person who mentioned it that it was illegal, he works there, but not in a position of authority. He shrugged it off and said he's confident the two owners have made such an agreement.
I think it's time to break these large companies up just like they did Ma Bell years ago. Capitalism has run amuck and what we have are monopolies that are gouging the heck out of consumers every day, making huge profits at the expense of the American people. But that would take a functioning Congress which we don't have at this time and a news media that is not reporting on why the average person is still not getting ahead and blaming it on President Biden and the Democrats. How many stories have you read in the past two years about the huge profits these monopolies are making? It's so discouraging.
Because I submitted a comment [against the merger] to Weiser's office as a Colorado resident, I recently received an e-mail from Weiser to inform me of the state's intention to continue to oppose the Kroger/Albertson's merger.
As a retired union auto worker, I am in full support of unions. I would not be living now in relative security without my union-won benefits and retirement income.
As far as Walmart goes, I worked in one in my area for about 4 months, and without union protection, I was daily put into situations where physical harm and even death on the job was a distinct possibility.
To clarify, I contracted walking pneumonia while working in the meat department because I had to go into the 0-degree freezer too often. There were pallets of food stacked three high with very little room between them (I almost fell & got trapped with no help coming that I was aware of). If I had I might not be here today because there was no one coming to see where I'd gone and how long I might be unaccounted for.
If there had been a union , I would have addressed this to management and I probably would have if not for the simple reason of knowing that my complaint would have fallen on deaf ears.
On the solution side, why do we have anti-trust laws if we are not going to use them?
Oh. Just in CASE we might need them.
But we never will.
CEOs have everything well in hand and ‘under the table.’
The merger will eliminate any competition for grocery prices and inflict much pain on consumers.
We’re already suffering under monopolies like Amazon etc. We have laws to prevent this. It would be really nice to show Americans that we can actually apply our laws!!
We haven’t seen laws used successfully lately.
This really must be stopped!
Most people are completely unaware of anti-trust laws, the FTC, or what any of it is supposed to do to protect average citizens. They may only hear billionaire interests complaining the "regulation makes things more expensive".
Contacting our reps. and senators to support anti-trust and telling our friends and neighbors about it would help tremendously.
My “representatives” represent corporate interests only. They are installed Repugs doing the bidding of their Puppet Masters. (One was actually installed by his father—Joe Ricketts— and his pal, Charles Koch. Another has direct ties to the Peed Family and Ricketts Family—he doesn’t answer to peons; only to the fascist billionaires.) Contacting any one of them invites a condescending form letter as a response.
That's a tough district to be in. Nebraska has potential though :) The staffers working in senate and rep offices do keep track of calls/letters and keep a count of for/against
so event at the risk of a bad form letter the input still makes an impression.
Get friends/neighbors to do the same.
You can communicate directly to the FTC on many issues:
https://www.ftc.gov/policy/public-comments
Hang in there - we support you!
Wow. Thank you. I submitted a comment re: lack of competition and drug costs.
Thank YOU for taking action! I'm putting this in front of my family too :)
Peed? Ricketts? Appropriately named.
I know, really!
Once again spot on reporting. Thank you.
We used to have two, independent grocery chains. Now we have one owned by Krogers, the other by Albertsons; both are lousy. WHEN and IF the shelves are stocked, the brands are redundant and generic; large portions of the space are given over to cheap clothing and “soap” products. There’s always plenty of candy and junk food. Basics have become scarce—last week, you couldn’t find a scouring powder like Ajax, Comet or Soft Scrub. Frozen veges are hit-and-miss. . . Maybe the corporates are sending their products to Putin’s store to impress Phuker Carlson?
And if they are allowed to merge....
Definitely something to rally the neighborhood about!
Don't forget to follow the money. One CEO already makes 18 million dollars a year, nearly 700 times the salary of a typical worker. The executives of both companies will reap the whirlwind even further if the merger takes place; it's in THEIR interest. This is capitalism at its worst. Keep your eye on those who look to get even more morbidly wealthy in addition to the workers who will get screwed by anti-union practices. This is yet another example of why oligarchs seek to destroy democracy: they know the people are coming for their money, as well we should. It's our money in the first place. We buy their stuff and pay their profits, while they inflate their prices and refuse to pay fair taxes that benefit all of us.
It's always about the money. Here's an answer I received from a schill PR in another industry that has big profit margins the past few years on CEO and upper management pay.
"Our CEO's pay is only 1.8% of one billion dollars."
I am speechless. I didn't have the fortitude to see how much the rank and file's pay compare in percentage. Math always makes my head spin, but you can bet top dog is way ahead of the rest of the work force.
That's also 18 million dollars. Rest assured the CEO's multiple of base wages is probably close to 700 tmes. If the executive was paid 70 times, the income would still be 1.8 million dollars. You think he could live on that income every year? You betcha!
Did we ever REALLY have one?
ROBBER BARONS rerouted all of the plunder to a few families who still own most everything that wasn’t ours/theirs in the first place
Very true. But now the Robber Barons know we’re on to them. We are going to get huge refunds. They are running scared. We will get the Supreme Court back! And there’s nothing they can do about it.
On your bandwagon(!)
And for this, we are going to lose our democracy?
WTF does that have to do with anything?
That is my heated reply to that braindead apologist. I mean if the CEO being used as the example has a rate of pay that's ONLY 1.8% of a billion, what is mine or your's or anyone else's who isn't one of these parasitic, I mean opportunistic elites?
My answer is that the kind of spin started by W Bush admin of "For us or Agin us" and then went into hyper drive during the Trump admin Alternate Facts and on to the US Congress GOP spurred on by both " utter nonsense/screw you chaos" is also part and parcel in the big corps who got the 2017 tax break. The rich get richer and on John and Jane and Non Binary's backs.
No Exec is worth 18 million a year, IMHO.
Every penny in the accounts of the morbidly rich came from everyone else. The rich own the Republican Party for the sole purpose of retaining and increasing their wealth. They know that this system will collapse. We are coming for our refunds, in other words tax revenue. We paid for it. They will do anything, kill anyone, destroy any democracy, to defend their hoarded wealth, which WE paid for. They know we are on to them. And they are running scared. A Trump win in 2024 will only hasten their demise. Because they are not only evil, they are STUPID.
I worked for years in the insurance industry. Same dynamics were at play with numerous corporate mergers and acquisitions occurring during my decades of employment. Exec's used the same selling points, claiming it was a "win/win" for customers and employees and that the "economies of scale" from the merger would justify the move. Total BS... The only thing that improved was the exec's salaries and bonuses! Look at the airline, banking, pharma industries and the spate of mergers. Has any of that really helped the consumer -- as they invariably claim?
You know who REALLY is good at explaining these machinations???
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Just listen to a few of her interviews…
The fact that this is being represented by the crooks…I mean companies, as a benefit to workers and customers is quite audacious!
It's time to slap these people down HARD. Between the profitflation and shrinkflation I now see every time I go to the local grocery store - rising prices and shrinking packages which I know, at this point, have nothing to do with rising input costs for the supplies the manufacturers must purchase to produce their products, and now Albertson's and Kroeger's putting the squeeze on workers in order to avoid sharing a reasonable amount of their profits with the workers who are, after all, the core of the company, it's long past time that we stop allowing corporations doing business in America to regard their workers and customers as just "marks" who's wallets and bank accounts they can clean out at will.
It's far past time we start cleaning out the wallets and bank accounts of the executives, corporate board members, and investors of these companies until the people who work for them can afford a decent lifestyle on what they're paid for forty hours of work per week, and the customers who depend on them can afford to pay for the things they need. When the executives and investors get close to living the lifestyle of their workers, THEN we'll worry about whether we're allowing them to keep enough profits.
"Allowing" by the way, is the right word. The level of compensation for executives, corporate boards, and investors is "allowed" by the way our REGULATED market system is structured (it's never actually been a "free market"), and those structures can be changed by the government at will, just as the structures currently in place were set up by that same government to favor the wealthy.
Unfortunately for the workers at Walmart etc most are now part time workers those most would like to be full time. It’s more cost effective for the company to be able to schedule people somewhat at will and not have to pay benefits. To give them twenty hours one week and four the next, randomly and insist if they cannot work with that then they can leave.
See what happens when a Democratic president appoints folks who are anti-trust and pro labor. No way would TFG and his ilk block this merger.
You are absolutely correct.
Damn straight. tfg and his minions would be foaming at the mouth, the bit, the bridle and foam would be coming out their "whatever" like no one's ever seen!
If you needed another reason to vote for Bob Ferguson, this is it. Washington state was in the cross-hairs of this merger too.
I used to work for a small grocer (less than 10 stores) but supposedly he had a "friendly agreement" with the retailer-owned cooperative supermarket nearby not to poach each other's employees. I told the person who mentioned it that it was illegal, he works there, but not in a position of authority. He shrugged it off and said he's confident the two owners have made such an agreement.
I think it's time to break these large companies up just like they did Ma Bell years ago. Capitalism has run amuck and what we have are monopolies that are gouging the heck out of consumers every day, making huge profits at the expense of the American people. But that would take a functioning Congress which we don't have at this time and a news media that is not reporting on why the average person is still not getting ahead and blaming it on President Biden and the Democrats. How many stories have you read in the past two years about the huge profits these monopolies are making? It's so discouraging.
Enjoyed this post. Good job to both newsletters in involved.
Because I submitted a comment [against the merger] to Weiser's office as a Colorado resident, I recently received an e-mail from Weiser to inform me of the state's intention to continue to oppose the Kroger/Albertson's merger.