Hunger Strike Against Cub Foods Ends As Clergy and Elected Officials Promise To Intervene

By Susie Madrak

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I thought you might want an update on the original story on the Cub Food hunger strike in Minneapolis. Local politicians and clergy have intervened to end the strike, and promised to work to negotiate some kind of settlement between the chain and the underpaid, overworked cleaning contractors:

Supporters of floor cleaners who work at Cub Foods ended a 12-day hunger strike against the supermarket chain Wednesday.

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL), a labor advocacy group that coordinated the hunger strike, said cleaning workers and their supporters agreed to end it after religious leaders and elected officials said they'd press Cub for a solution.

"We're absolutely not ending the struggle," said Veronica Mendez, a CTUL organizer.
Mike Siemienas, a spokesman for Cub's owner, Eden Prairie-based Supervalu, said "Cub Foods appreciates the involvement of elected officials and community leaders to end the hunger strike."

Cub, like most local grocery chains, doesn't directly employ floor cleaners; they work for contractors.

"It is our hope [the workers] will reach out to the cleaning companies to discuss any concerns," Siemienas said, adding that Cub met with CTUL in 2010 and said essentially the same thing.
CTUL says the stores are the problem's root: Cleaners' wages and working conditions have been eroded by stiff competition between cleaning firms for supermarket contracts.