(The Associated Press circulated the following story on October 24.)
IRVINE, Calif. — Shoppers are getting frustrated by the grocery clerks strike in Southern California. It’s been going on for nearly two weeks.
One woman says she shopped at three different stores to get what she needed before she finally gave up and crossed the picket line.
Clerks from three different store chains walked out or were locked out October eleventh in a contract dispute involving health care and other issues.
Neither side is negotiating and no talks have been scheduled.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union sued the supermarket chains for failing to pay picketing workers wages they claim are owed under state law.
Tempers on both sides of the picket lines have flared. In Irvine, police took a report about a man who allegedly waved a gun at locked-out employees — and another about two men punching a picketer. In Chula Vista, the California Highway Patrol arrested two striking supermarket clerks for allegedly beating a replacement worker with a bat.