Dear Faith Leaders and Grocery Worker Support Team,
Good Morning! I hope this email finds you all well. I wanted to give you an update on the grocery worker’s contract negotiation news.
On Monday morning, anxious to hear the results of the third and final strike vote by workers, CLUE-LA headed over to Ralphs on 3rd and Vermont. There, the president of UFCW Local 770 announced that the workers had voted to approve a strike by 90%. However, this does not mean that a strike will happen, but the workers may choose to do so if negotiations don’t produce a fair proposal on the side of the companies.
In fact, a federal negotiator requested that both sides return to the negotiation table this next week on Monday, August 29th. The workers continue to say that they absolutely don’t want to strike, but they will if need be.
This leaves us as clergy and faith leaders with the opportunity and (in my faith) obligation to pray for Monday’s negotiations. Those of us who will be leading religious services this weekend, please- if you are so moved, offer up a prayer for these workers who are in great need of affordable healthcare and fair wages. Don’t forget to also pray for the companies, that they will choose people over profit and respond in uprightness towards their workers.
I have included a prayer that you may choose to draw from. Remember, I am a Presbyterian Christian pastor and so this prayer likely reflects my understanding and my theology. Please feel free to adapt this prayer according to your faith tradition.
Dear God, we call you be different names throughout the ages, in different voices, in distinct languages, but today we unite with faith communities in one voice to ask for your hope in a difficult time.
We pray specifically today for the local grocery workers of Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons who have been working now for over 5 months without contracts. Negotiations will resume on Monday but we have heard of the possibility of a strike. We know God that nobody wins in a strike, but we understand also that the workers need affordable healthcare and fair wages if there are to support themselves and their families.
We pray for these workers, many of whom we see weekly on our trip to the market. We know their faces; we know their names; they are our community. We also ask for the owners and decision makers of these stores, that you may transform their hearts so that they too will negotiate in a just manner that reflects your compassion deep inside. Specifically, we ask that if there is a strike, that these companies will not choose to lock out their workers, causing even more devastation in a time that is already intensely difficult.
We offer this prayer and these concerns to you God and trust that you hear them and hold them close to your heart. Amen.
In closing, I wanted to continue to thank you on behalf of the workers for your continued support. Yesterday I found a link on the UFCW Local 770 in which they had posted the pictures that I had taken of some of you on your delegations. Please feel free to take a look:
in addition, here are some other stories and news clips you may want to read:
In Solidarity,
Peace and Blessings,
Pastor Erin Tamayo
CLUE-LA
etamayo@cluela.org
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