From the Headlines...

Wildfire Coverage Irks Picket Line

Homeowners aren’t the only ones relieved that the raging wildfires in Southern California are under control. They were also the bane of 70,000 striking supermarket workers whose plight was completely ignored by the media for the past week.

“The day before the fires, we had both channel 5 and channel 7 out here,” said Bonnie Mortimer, a check out clerk for Vons Supermarkets in La Canada. “And then all last week, nothing because of those [expletive] fires.”

Anxious for media attention, strike coordinators like Mortimer, and Carl Quinn, a produce stocker at Ralph’s in Burbank, were told by their union to do “whatever it takes” to get press attention. For Quinn, the desperation led to Funny Hat Day.

“The idea was to have us out here picketing in giant sombreros, stove pipe hats, flamboyant chapeaus, that sort of thing,” said Quinn. “I figured it could show the world we can strike for better health benefits and have fun at the same time.”

Despite the enthusiasm, the union effort yielded no press coverage. “Our meat department guys showed up in ball caps and a clerk made some lame hat out of newspaper which ended up blowing away. The hats just weren’t funny enough,” said Quinn. “That and 800 houses burning that day really screwed us.”

The hat event was reportedly the cause of a rift between the Ralph’s workers. Another striker, who refused to be named, said that an altercation was started when Quinn was prepared to enter the market and purchase produce to make a “Carmen Miranda” fruit hat. The incident led to threats of physical assault.

“I was mad at them for not taking Funny Hat Day seriously,” said Quinn. “I mentioned that the store had great bananas just sitting there, and those guys totally flipped out.”

For Bonnie Mortimer and her coworkers, the need for press coverage took a darker tone. Beth Hernandez, of the Pasadena Vons bakery, began a hunger strike October 29th and immediately sent out a press release.

“It was a really fabulous idea,” said Mortimer. “A strike because of a strike – that’s like a double strike. Plus it showed what lengths Beth would go to in order to avoid buying groceries.”

The union had hoped Hernandez would become dehydrated and then hospitalized, leading the press to connect the strike with management’s "deficient" health benefits. Hopes were dashed when Hernandez reportedly “went nuts on Halloween candy” two days later.

“I felt bad for Beth. She went two days without eating and became ill,” explained Mortimer.

Strikers are optimistic that the end of wildfires is good news for them. “It’s awful that they lost their homes,” said Mortimer, “but they need to get over it and move on. It’s our time to be in the spotlight again.”