LOS ANGELES: Bishop decries health care crisis, supermarket conditions in underserved areas

By Pat McCaughan, March 22, 2007 [Episcopal News Service] Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles has called the erosion of grocery worker benefits and working conditions "shocking."

Bruno's remarks were included in the March 20, 2007 report of hearings held by a Blue Ribbon Commission of religious leaders, health care experts, medical experts and other activists into the supermarket industry.

"What we found is shocking, both in terms of the crisis in healthcare and the state of the stores in underserved areas," Bruno wrote for the commission, formed at the request of the Los Angeles Grocery Worker and Community Health Coalition.

Central to testimony from community activists, grocery workers and industry representatives was also a new study from the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education which showed a 40 percent drop in health care coverage for Southern California grocery workers. Supermarket industry officials declined to attend the hearing.

Bruno and the panel called upon L.A.'s three major unionized supermarket chains -- Kroger Co., Supervalu Inc., and Safeway Inc. -- to provide affordable quality health benefits, to fulfill commitments to rebuild in inner city neighborhoods, and to prevent the "Wal-Martization" of the industry.

Further information about the report is available here.

-- Pat McCaughan is senior correspondent for Episcopal News Service and associate rector at St. Mary's Church in Laguna Beach, California.

» Respond to this article

Browse by Topic:

Browse by Topic: 2009 »   Anglican and Global Relations   Children, Youth and Young Adults   Congregational Ministries   Ecumenical and Inter-Religious   Education   Ethnic Ministries   Executive Council   FEAST: Faith, Environment, Action, Science, Technology   General Convention   House of Bishops   Liturgy and Music   Millennium Development Goals   Peace and Justice   Presiding Bishop   Program, Budget and Finance   Women and the Church