Kerry and company do battle in Trojan country
DOWNTOWN — Striking grocery store workers got a morale boost Thursday afternoon when presidential hopeful John Kerry paid a visit to a Vons parking lot, reassuring the picketers that securing affordable health care for all citizens is his top priority.
“Your fight may end soon, but this fight is just beginning in the United States for everybody,” said Kerry, the Democratic frontrunner this election season.
Though rumors circulated Thursday of a possible settlement to the grocery store strike, none had been announced by presstime. The workers are fighting to maintain health benefits and wages, something the large grocery store corporations had threatened to scale back last year.
Kerry spoke to about 250 strikers and reporters in front of the supermarket at Lincoln Boulevard and Broadway. Last week, 11 activists were arrested at the same store as part of a civil disobedience demonstration designed to show support for the workers.
Tom Hancock, 48, a Vons cashier, said the media attention has been a boost for workers, who are approaching five months of walking the picket line.
“That felt great,” said Hancock, a picket captain. “In fact, it’s the next president of the United States here. He’s on the working man’s side. Things will change with him in office... To tell you the truth, the last four years under Bush we have gotten back to the 80s with a culture of greed.
“With the election of Kerry, I feel like the tide is going to turn.”
That sentiment was prevalent on Thursday, as the event attracted grocery store workers from throughout Los Angeles and the country. Maria Patris, a cashier at a Ralph’s market in Alhambra, addressed the large crowd, explaining how she desperately needs health insurance coverage because she is a breast cancer survivor. While on the picket line, Patris said she is paying $500 a month for coverage, plus several hundred dollars more for medicine.
“Right now, this is the only thing that is important to me — affordable health care,” she said.
Asked why she supports Kerry for the Democratic nomination on the March 2 ballot, Patris replied: “Did you look into his eyes? These are the eyes of an honest, caring person.”
“Did you look into his eyes? These are the eyes of an honest, caring person.” — — MARIA PATRIS Cashier at a Ralph’s market in Alhambra
Also at the event was Los Angeles City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, a co-chair on Kerry’s national campaign. He said he expects Kerry to win California by “double digits.”
“This was a very important day,” Villaraigosa said. “He demonstrated that the working families are at the forefront of his agenda.”
Larry Healy, 52, a former grocery store worker from Pennsylvania, said he and four other union supporters flew to California while on vacation to help Kerry campaign. Healy said his chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers — Local 56 — was the first to endorse Kerry. They threw their weight behind the contender last April.
“We need somebody to stand up for the working people — and George Bush has declared war on the working people,” said Healy, who also campaigned for Kerry in Iowa, New Hampshire and Delaware.
Kerry left the event in a caravan of black Suburbans. Later Thursday, he was to face off against fellow presidential hopefuls Al Sharpton, John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich in a debate at the University of Southern California. The debate was expected to focus on a variety of topics, including gay marriage, social security benefits and federal tax cuts.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 27, 2004. Read the original PDF.