FYI

Dimitri


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-1...home-headlines

Grocery Workers Vote to Strike 3 Chains
By Nancy Cleeland and Zeke Minaya
Times Staff Writers

12:42 PM PDT, October 10, 2003

Southland employees of Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons have voted to authorize a
strike after "overwhelmingly" rejecting a labor contract that would slash
health and pension benefits, union leaders said today.

The United Food and Commercial Workers plan to target only one of the chains
beginning this Saturday, said Rick Icaza, president of UFCW Local 770, based
in Los Angeles.

In an effort to stave off a work stoppage, a federal mediator plans to meet
with representatives of management and the UFCW this afternoon.

Icaza is not hopeful.

"The only thing that would prevent a strike would be a miracle, because we
are so far apart," Icaza said.

For the past few days, workers from 859 grocery stores in Southern
California, representing more than 70,000 people, have been voting on a
contract that union leaders have said would burden workers by shifting a
significant portion of health care cost onto employees.

With increased competition from large nonunion retailers such as Costco and
Wal-Mart, the supermarket chains have said they need workers to shoulder the
costs of benefits to remain competitive.

One union leader has described the proposed contract as "ridiculous and
insulting." Picket lines could be up and running as soon as this Saturday.

For their part, the chains said their offer was fair and needed to be
discussed fully.

"We have a proposal that's on the table, and we are waiting to have a
meaningful dialogue about it," said Terry O'Neil, spokesman for Ralphs
Grocery Co., which is owned by Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. He added,
however, "I cannot speculate on what we will do [today]."

If there is a strike, the groceries plan to operate the stores with
replacement workers and management personnel, who are not in the union.

Representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers union announced
the results of the contract vote at a news conference at the Anaheim Hilton
today.

The planned strike has the backing of organized labor throughout Southern
California. Unions throughout the region -- including the Teamsters --
pledged their support Thursday in a show of force that some hoped would push
the three major grocery chains to reconsider their demands.

Talks between the union and the stores broke off Sunday at midnight, when
the previous contract expired. Vons and Pavilions are owned by Safeway Inc.
of Pleasanton, Calif., and Albertson's Inc. is based in Boise, Idaho.

The contract covers seven UFCW locals, from San Diego to San Luis Obispo.
During the last two days, those members have gathered at emotionally charged
meetings to cast ballots on the markets' proposal and on their willingness
to strike.

Local 770 in Los Angeles, the largest of the seven, tallied the results
Wednesday night: More than 11,000 members voted to reject the contract offer
and authorize a strike, while fewer than 200 voted to accept the deal.

The strike sanction, approved by central labor councils in Los Angeles,
Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, was announced after
council leaders met with UFCW officials at the Los Angeles County Federation
of Labor. The sanction tells truck drivers, janitors, deli workers,
refrigeration engineers and other union members who normally work in the
stores not to cross UFCW picket lines.

The support also brings the weight and experience of some of the area's
toughest unions to a fight waged by grocery workers who haven't walked off
the job in 25 years.

"We're going to try to marry the tactics of some of the more militant unions
with the considerable resources of the UFCW," said Miguel Contreras, the top
executive with the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

With 1.4 million members, the UFCW is one of the nation's largest
private-sector unions. During the last year, it has amassed a strike fund of
more than $1 million to cover anticipated supermarket labor disputes
throughout the country.

Contreras also pledged federation resources, including staff members, and
said he would help augment picket lines with political and community allies
and members of other unions, including entertainment celebrities.

"We need to make sure the workers here are victorious," he said. "This is
all about trying to protect middle-class jobs."

Together, the labor councils represent an estimated 1.2 million union
workers in Southern California, Contreras said.

According to UFCW officials, the three grocery chains have sought steep cuts
in benefits and a far lower wage package for new hires. The markets have
declined to release details of their proposal but said that it was generous
in light of growing competitive pressures from warehouse stores and nonunion
markets.

Employees say the proposed cuts are too drastic. Many veteran workers said
they built their careers around the markets because of the promise of
generous health and pension benefits. Clerks and stockers earn as much as
$17.90 an hour with fully paid family medical insurance. Many noted that
they worked only part time and were lucky to put in as many as 30 hours a
week.

"I can barely survive now," said Peter Morgan, who celebrated his 10th
anniversary with Vons at a strike rally Thursday outside the Federation of
Labor near downtown Los Angeles. Morgan, who manages a liquor department at
a West Los Angeles store, said he worked 24 hours a week and earned about
$12 an hour. "I have to borrow money from my friends sometimes just to make
the rent," he said. "If they go through with this, I don't know what I'll
do."

According to the union, proposed cuts in benefits could force workers to pay
as much as 50% of the cost of medical visits, prescription drugs and
hospital stays. The contract offer also would freeze wages for the first two
years of the agreement, with a raise of as much as 30 cents an hour for the
third year, and cut premium pay for nights, Sundays and holidays.


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