Strike One

My aspirations of an NFL season marred (or by my estimation enlivened) by scab players have been dashed, as you are aware if you have been following the news. I think it would have made for a fun, unique season, but it was not to be. Considerably more likely now is something which I had no interest in seeing happen, but isn't that always the way? This will not be fun or unique. It will just make life harder, and it will reveal again where the real power lies in our society. What I'm referring to is a likely work stoppage among the unionized grocery stores of California.

It has been quietly building for some time. Don't ask me who's starting it or what anybody wants out of it, but what I know is that we are likely to be dealing with scab cashiers, stockers and the like. We may also have to cross picket lines to shop at those chains if the unions aren't too lazy, but we do retain the option of shopping at non-union shops, some of which are more fashionable these days anyway. It's also worth noting that the stores do a poor job of shooing away solicitors from their property, so picket lines will not be a new annoyance.

How long such a labor dispute might drag on is unclear. I suspect that few people hold a sentimental attachment to grocery store employees the way they might the glamorous, famous athletes of the NFL. They might be fed up though by entire stores of new, inept employees, and picket lines probably would drive away some business. It might not amount to enough to make management cave in any case. I recall a hotel in Chicago whose union staff was on strike and picketing the entire duration of my college years there.

At least we can count on automated checkout lanes. Probably we can count on them. I have to imagine that machines will have no sympathy for the plight of human workers struggling for better conditions, but the one amusing thing that could come out of this would be checkout machines manning the picket lines shoulder to shoulder with their living, breathing comrades. It's quite unlikely and even implausible, but I guess I'm a dreamer.