EDITOR: I read the column by Cindy Hernandez in the Jan. 23
edition of the Morgan Hill Times on
“A grocery worker’s view of benefits, jobs.”
EDITOR:
I read the column by Cindy Hernandez in the Jan. 23 edition of the Morgan Hill Times on “A grocery worker’s view of benefits, jobs.”
In it, you made the statement: “These companies are very profitable. Safeway generated more than $10 billion in profits last year.”
Now, I don’t know where you learned to read a balance sheet or, in fact if you ever did. In any case, the fact is that Safeway earned no where near “$10 billion” in profits last year.
In fact, their total revenue (let alone “profit”!) was less than $10 billion. In fact, I think if you look, you’ll find that they didn’t have a net profit at all, but rather a loss of close to a half a billion dollars. (for reference, look at http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=SWY)
I’m pointing this out because it’s misleading and dishonest stories like that give the labor movement a bad name. People aren’t that stupid … they tend to figure out when they’re being lied to, and hold it against the position that presented them with the falsehood.
Steve Baute, Morgan Hill
