Striking grocery workers in New England are getting a boost from politicians like former Vice President Joe Biden—and from religious leaders as they head into Passover and Easter. Biden spoke at a rally Thursday, telling the workers that “This is morally wrong, what’s going on around this country, and I’ve had enough of it, I’m sick of it and so are you.”
”How can they make that money, buy back all that stock and tell you they’re gonna cut your wages?” Biden said, specifically addressing a key issue in the strike, in which Stop & Shop workers are being pressed to take pension and healthcare cuts, as well as cuts to Sunday and holiday overtime pay for part-time workers, even as Ahold Delhaize, the chain’s parent company, has gotten a big tax cut from Republicans and is putting billions of dollars into stock buybacks.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and state Treasurer Deb Goldberg, whose family founded Stop & Shop and ran it until the 1980s, also spoke at Thursday’s rally. Sen. Ed Markey attended the rally, having spoken at another rally last week; Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke to striking workers last week as well.
Rabbis around New England have also boosted the strikers by telling their congregations that food bought by crossing a picket line is not kosher for Passover. “The food that you’re buying is the product of oppressed labor and that’s not kosher,” according to Boston Temple Hillel B’nai Torah Rabbi Barbara Penzner. ‘‘Especially during Passover, when we’re celebrating freedom from slavery, that’s particularly egregious.”
from Daily Kos http://bit.ly/2Xqftvt
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