Cook: Automation will lead to severe displacement of grocery workers

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David Cook

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United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 655 President David Cook joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the impact of automation on grocery store workers and a fewer number of entry level jobs available to members of the working class.

Cook said there is a higher level of automation throughout the customer service process, particularly in grocery stores and the service industry. He expressed concern over the lack of social outcry and questioned what the future will look like for workers displaced by automation.

Cook also discussed a recently signed Collective Bargaining Agreement between the UFCW and Schnucks. He called this CBA the best contract in the union’s history and explained how it includes a new flexible job classification that allows for on-demand scheduling, similar to a gig worker, but with all the rights and benefits of a full-time employee.

Cook also talked about a survey by the nonprofit Economic Roundtable, which found more than a third of Kroger employees are food insecure.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

Cook: Automation will lead to severe displacement of grocery workers

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