Reply #10: Well, first, there's usually no pickets at Ralphs' ; the union [View All]

[Snow]

pulled them some time ago. And, yes, it is very frustrating. I think the union thought they were striking Vons, Pavilions, and Ralphs instead of Safeway and Kroger.

Major non-scab markets? Hmmm. Well, there's Statler Bros? Dunno if they're union or not; don't go to them myself. Mostly we go to Trader Joe's, and to a local Mexican chain called Farm Fresh, and to a coupla Asian groceries. Trader Joe is not union but by all accounts treat their employees well. The ethnic chains are not union either but not what I'd call scab, either, although they generally don't pay as well as the big outfits. Usually their employees are recent immigrants who feel like they're doing pretty well. Some of the big Korean markets in Korea Town have a number of hispanic employees stocking or running the butcher counter. These guys speak damn good Korean! Don't know where or how they learned it, but Korean is one tough language, and here're these guys, looking like your typical latino grocery worker guy, taking orders at the butcher counter, recommending fruits & veggies, even advising on how to cook stuff, in pretty darn good Korean. Coulda knocked me over with a feather! By the way, I'm an old Korea Peace Corps vol & my wife is a former Peace Corps language teacher - that's how I knew these guys were doing okay with the language.