VA Grocery Workers Confront Boss in Amsterdam

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Earlier this week, two grocery store workers from Richmond, VA traveled all the way to Amsterdam in the Netherlands in the name of workers’ rights. Shaquana Battle and George Miles both work for Martin’s Food Markets, which, along with Giant Food, Peapod, and Stop & Shop, is owned by the Dutch company Royal Ahold NV. The two Martin’s employees (left) went to Amsterdam to attend the multinational grocery retailer’s annual shareholders’ meeting, where along with other labor activists, they had the chance to confront Ahold CEO Dick Boer and the members of the Supervisory Board. The workers also seized this unique opportunity to tell the shareholders in attendance that Ahold, as a multi-billion dollar company and 8th largest food retailer in the U.S, must end its double standard policy and afford all its employees the same rights, no matter where they work. While two out of three Ahold workers in the U.S. enjoy the benefits and protection of a union contract with the UFCW, the company denies the same right to Battle and her coworkers at Martin’s/Giant Carlisle. - excerpted from a longer report on the UFCW Blog; photo courtesy of iHold Campaign