(The Associated Press distributed the following article on October 30.)
WASHINGTON — About 85,000 grocery workers nearing their third week off the job without paychecks are getting a financial boost from the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions.
Organized labor will announce a special emergency strike fund today to help workers on picket lines in Southern California, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri keep their homes and feed their families.
The fund will be used to aid workers facing emergency financial situations, such as evictions or defaulting on mortgages.
Grocery store workers from Kroger Co.’s Ralphs, Safeway Inc.?s Vons and Albertsons Inc. — have been on strike or locked out since Oct. 11. No Miami Valley stores are affected.
The union objects to the supermarket chains’ demand that employees pay more of their own health-care costs.