(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Gary Gentile on October 28.)
LOS ANGELES — More than half of striking pharmacists at Vons and Pavilions stores in Southern California have crossed picket lines to return to work as the grocery strike shows no sign of ending.
Meanwhile, in the region’s 3-week-old transit strike, which has stranded the half-million people who daily ride trains and buses, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority began mailing what it termed its last, best offer to striking mechanics and planned to distribute copies on picket lines Wednesday.
As of Tuesday, 87 of the 143 pharmacies in Southern California Vons and Pavilions stores were open, staffed in part by non-union pharmacists from stores in Texas and Northern California, Vons spokeswoman Sandra Calderon said.
Since the start of the grocery strike Oct. 11, when 70,000 grocery clerks from three companies – Kroger Co.’s Ralphs, Safeway Inc.’s Vons and Albertsons Inc. – went on strike or were locked out in Southern and Central California, 120 union pharmacists have crossed picket lines to return to work, Calderon said.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union confirmed that pharmacists have returned to work, and said Vons’ efforts to call pharmacists back was an attempt to demoralize the union.
UFCW spokeswoman Barbara Maynard said pharmacists were a relatively easy target because they are health care providers whose first concern is the welfare of those who depend on them for prescriptions.
“By nature it’s different for them,” Maynard said Monday. “It’s like a doctor on strike.”
Maynard said the union has been encouraging customers to transfer their prescriptions to fully union pharmacies, such as Rite-Aid.
“We believe our fight is not inside the store,” she said. “Our fight is keeping customers outside of the stores.”
All of Albertsons’ pharmacies have remained open, with the exception of six stores that are next to Savon pharmacies, which are owned by Albertsons, company spokeswoman Stacia Levenfeld said.
Most of Albertsons’ pharmacies are non-union, she said.
A spokesman for Ralphs did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
No new talks have been scheduled in the grocery strike, which centers in large part on concerns about health care coverage.
In the transit strike, the MTA on Tuesday mailed a summary of its “last, best and final offer” to the 2,085 active and 841 retired members of the Amalgamated Transit Union. The MTA planned to distribute the document to striking workers on picket lines Wednesday in hopes members will pressure their leadership to call a vote on the proposal.
A representative of the union did not return calls seeking comment.
The MTA has declared an impasse in the talks, saying it sees no point in further negotiations. The agency estimates that the two sides are $98 million apart on the key issues of wages and health care benefits and said that no more money would be offered.
The decision does not effect its negotiations with the United Transportation Union, which represents bus drivers, but no new talks were scheduled.
The bus drivers presented a counterproposal to the MTA’s offer Sunday and are waiting for a state mediator to schedule new talks, UTU spokesman Goldy Norton said.
In a possible signal that even more labor disputes could roil the region, nearly 2,000 union members rallied Tuesday at a county administration building. The Los Angeles County workers, protesting stalled contract talks and proposed increased employee contributions to health plans, held signs that read “We’re drawing the line.”