Hundreds Of NAACP Delegates Rally & March Today In Support Of SoCal Grocery Workers
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, left, is introduced by National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP board member, Willis Edwards, during the 102nd Annual Convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Monday, July 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Hundreds of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) delegates from the 2011 NAACP Convention will assemble in downtown Los Angeles this afternoon to march in support of 62,000 Southern California grocery workers.
Following contract expiration, grocery workers struggle to maintain healthcare for themselves and for their families.
“The issue here is that Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons made $5 billion in profits last year, and they are trying to force cashiers, butchers, and baggers to pay 50% of their salary in order to maintain their health care,” says Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
NAACP delegates will be joined by hundreds of grocery workers, community supporters and elected officials. Marchers should gather across from the L.A. Convention Center at Olympic Boulevard and Francisco Street at 2:30pm today. Marching begins at 3:30pm and ends with a 4pm rally at Ralphs in downtown.
“L.A. labor will join the delegates of the National NAACP Convention to march in the streets of downtown L.A. tomorrow to show our support for grocery workers and their families because if a person works hard in this country, he or she should be able to take a sick child to the doctor,” Durazo says.
