Ministers Urge Safeway, Giant to Share Their Success With Employees

 Announce their Support for Workers' Efforts to Win Fair Wages, Health and Retirement Security

WASHINGTON, March 28-- Calling on Giant and Safeway to share their success with the employees and communities that make them profitable, a group of prominent ministers announced that they will actively support 23,000 area workers in their negotiations for a new contract with the supermarket chains. Current contracts with members of UFCW Locals 400 and 27 expire on March 29 and strike authorization votes could take place on April 1.

 "This is a matter of simple justice," said Rev. Dr. Morris Shearin, pastor of Israel Baptist Church, first vice president of the Washington, D.C., NAACP and a member of the board of the national NAACP. "If Safeway

and Giant want to take profits out of our community, they must do right by our community. That means providing their employees with a living wage, good health coverage and pension benefits that empower them to achieve financial independence and give them the purchasing power to boost our local economy. It means providing the staffing to ensure good customer service. It means treating them with dignity and respect."

"We stand with Giant and Safeway workers," said Rev. Dr. Frank Tucker, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. "They are pillars of our community and our congregations, and they have a right to their fair share of the wealth they help generate for their employers. We will not tolerate the disrespect currently being shown them by management."

"Today, we have a simple message," said Rev. Shearin. "If there is a work stoppage, we will walk the picket lines with Safeway and Giant workers. We will urge our congregations to take their business elsewhere. We will make these companies understand that if they refuse to share their success with their employees, they will be taking on not only 23,000 workers but hundreds of thousands of people throughout the Washington and Baltimore communities. Not only would this be a battle they could never win on moral grounds, it is a battle they cannot win on economic grounds."

 "I am deeply honored and humbled that the ministers have so graciously given our members their strong support and we are grateful for their courage and forthrightness," said Jim Lowthers, president of Local 400,

which represents 35,000 members in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and parts of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. "UFCW Local 400 is a community-minded union; we are proud of our cooperation with congregations, civil rights groups and neighborhood organizations. We are all part of the same movement to win social and economic justice and to achieve greater equity in our workplaces, our communities and throughout society.

 "We hope that we can still obtain a fair contract in the dwindling amount of time remaining," Lowthers said. "But if management continues its refusal to be reasonable, we look forward to marching with the ministers

and our many other community allies and to make clear to Giant and Safeway just how badly they underestimated what they would be up against."

Members of Local 400 who work at Safeway will meet at the D.C. Armory at 8:00 am on Tuesday, April 1, to consider whether to ratify a proposed contract or authorize a strike if management refuses to offer a fair

agreement. Members of Local 400 who work at Giant will meet at the same location on the same day for the same purpose, starting at 12:00 noon.