Do you cross picket lines?

[winecat]

The employees of our local Kroger chain voted to strike. 

Do you cross physical picket lines?  Answers to the poll are Yes, No, Special Snowflake/depends on the industry.  

[ProfessorArtNerd]

No way. I’m in a union, but even if I weren’t, I wouldn’t

[penguingrrl]

No, never

[af1212]

In all of my 41 years I have never found myself in this situation. I would like to say no I would not but I can imagine there is some scenario where maybe I would.

I’m interested to see how many people have experienced making this choice.

[wildrice]

What do you mean, like shop at the store?

I don't think I would, but I've never actually been presented with this choice.

[sproctopus]

Nope.

I'm also in a union, but when Stop & Shop was on strike a few years ago, we shopped at other stores. It was tough, but I wanted to support them.

[AdaraMarie]

I voted no. Maybe case by case? This is the first time it has been applicable to my life and no way would I cross at King Soopers. I have seen a lot of the same staff at my local store for many years and I fully support them so it feels very personal. My mom was part of a KS strike when I was a kid and I worked at one as a teen too.

[VillainV]

I’ve never been faced with this situation. I also like to think I wouldn’t shop there during a strike, as long as I had other options (ie: if it was the only grocery within 100 miles, it would be a tougher decision).

[seeyalater52]

No, or at least not if I know about the strike. When Kellogg workers started their strike a while back I didn’t know for almost a week and I did purchase products in the meantime that I wouldn't have if I had known.

I would neeeeever cross an actual in person picket line.

[just]

I am very pro-union, and grew up in Europe where Unions are very powerful. I've not crossed lines when at home.

However, recently one of our major local hospitals nurses just won after a 9 month long strike. I would have crossed that if I'd needed to. ETA: I would have crossed as a patient, not as a replacement HCW

[pumpkincat]

A physical picket line? No. But I have bought Kelloggs and Frito Lay products last year without thinking about them on strike until later.

[winecat]

Jan 12, 2022 15:40:07 GMT -5 af1212 said:

In all of my 41 years I have never found myself in this situation. I would like to say no I would not but I can imagine there is some scenario where maybe I would.

I’m interested to see how many people have experienced making this choice.

The same chain had a strike in 1996.  I didn't cross the picket lines then.  I think the news said it was about 6 weeks long.  I heard the union president say that they're also negotiating for the employees of Safeway and another chain that I can't remember.  The management emailed their "final and best" but there was a clause in it that would allow them to walk back the pay to the amount agreed to by the other chains if it is lower than the agreement with their employees.  Shitty fuckers.  

[plutosmoon]

Generally, no, but depending on the circumstances I won't fault those who do. I went elsewhere when stop and shop was striking a few years ago, I spent double for the same items but couldn't sustain the higher budget much longer than a few weeks. There are only the 2 grocery stores within 30 minutes of me. I have the option to drive 45 minutes to a third option grocery store, some people didn't.

Most of those crossing were elderly or using public transportation (very limited in my area), the other grocery store is really challenging to access via public transportation.

[firedancer10288]

Generally no. A few years ago Verizon workers went on strike. There’s a substation basically across the street from my house so I passed workers on the picket line every day for several weeks. But I didn’t cancel my cell or cable service in that time.

[maudefindlay]

45 here and have only seen picket lines on the national news and in movies/TV shows. I don't see myself crossing a line unless it was a medical emergency and the strike was at our hospital.

[winecat]

Jan 12, 2022 15:45:34 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

No, or at least not if I know about the strike. When Kellogg workers started their strike a while back I didn’t know for almost a week and I did purchase products in the meantime that I wouldn't have if I had known.

I would neeeeever cross an actual in person picket line.

In 1996 I didn't have any prescriptions.  I was able to panic fill 2 before the strike and am getting the others transferred to CVS.  I know that there are some folks who will have a very hard time getting to another store but everyone else?  I'm gonna be so pissed at everyone who crosses and doesn't support these "essential workers" who just want enough money to live and decent health care.  Management's first offer was 13 whole cents above minimum wage.  How generous.  

[scm1011]

Here's where I admit I resumed buying buying Cheez-its after 2 weeks of the Kellogg bullshit. I would never cross a physical picket line, or eat at Chik-Fil-A, and I rarely shop via Amazon unless presented with no other choice, but Toasty Cheez-its are one of the few joys in my life in the dumpster fire of a world and I'm giving myself a pass.

[bcv513]

No way. My grandfather drilled that into us as kids that we never cross a picket line.

[mskitkat]

Daughter of a teamster. Absolutely not.

[TR]

Add me to the "I've never encountered this" group. I'd like to say I wouldn't. I can't imagine crossing a physical picket line unless, like others have pointed out, it was something like a medical need.

[devonpow]

I’ve never even seen an actual picket line…..is that weird? I’ve seen protestors outside of big construction sites with the giant inflatable rats, but that’s not a location I would go into (obviously).

I can’t imagine in what scenario I would cross one, but who knows?

[isabel]

No, I won’t be shopping at King Soopers until the strike is done. I’ll go to Safeway, which I don’t love because per my Nextdoor, people are pro-Safeway because of their lax mask/vaccine requirements. But I’ll support the union employees by not going there.

I also heard a radio ad this past weekend from King Soopers that was just filled with bullshit about about how great they are to their employees. It was such a turn off.

[devonpow]

What happens during teacher strikes? (I’m in MA and our teacher unions are very strong but are not allowed to strike). I guess I could see sending my kid to school still? Is school open during strikes with subs?

[jewel]

If I can avoid it, I don’t cross picket lines.

However - our local healthcare system (Kaiser) had several recent strikes. I felt terrible driving through the picket line but my kid needed urgent medical care, that I couldn’t put off and couldn’t do elsewhere.

[stemmie]

Nope. I never have. I might have made a concession when the local hospital's RNs went on strike to protest poor staffing early in the pandemic if my mom or DH needed care (her docs and his cardiologist are there)- for myself I would have driven elsewhere.

I did not buy Kellogg's products while their workers were on strike; DH missed his Frosted Flakes.

[7costanza]

The cleaning service my old work building used had protesters/strikers our front for months several years ago and I walked through them every day. I think the building management just hired a different company? Our offices definitely still got cleaned during that time.

I can’t remember ever having to cross a picket line to enter a store, but wouldn’t if I encounters it.

[mcmel]

I did go to work during a teacher strike. The entire strike was a mess and so unorganized at our school that I didn’t know (nor did some of the organizers) what it was actually for and if/when it would actually occur.

Doing a no call/ no show to my job was something I couldn’t stomach in my early 20s so I went to work. I’m not proud of going but it is what it is.

[7costanza]

Jan 12, 2022 16:07:37 GMT -5 devonpow said:

What happens during teacher strikes? (I’m in MA and our teacher unions are very strong but are not allowed to strike). I guess I could see sending my kid to school still? Is school open during strikes with subs?

I remember school being cancelled a couple times growing up because of teacher strikes, and the first day has been pushed back in other districts. I don’t think they generally have enough subs to keep schools open, and I’m not sure how excited most subs would be to take those jobs.

[mcsangel2]

Ordinarily, I won't. But I did once - it was 15+ years ago (so post internet but pre smart phones) and DH and I were on vacation out of state. We needed groceries and the only grocery store we knew the location of/could find our way back to the hotel from where we were had workers striking. I still remember this and feel terrible about it to this day.

[dirtyred]

One in seven Kroger employees had experienced homelessness in the last year. Kroger is the fourth largest private employer in the country and is ranked 17 on the Fortune 500. They could absolutely pay their employees a living wage.

No way would I cross that picket line.

ETA: The Kroger CEO earns 909x the median company worker.