(The Long Beach Press Telegram posted the following story by Nicholas Grudin and Kristopher Hanson on its website on October 14.)
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Union leaders warned Monday that the Southern California supermarket strike will last “as long as it takes” to win a better offer, and grocers showed no sign of backing down.
Teamsters officials indicated they would step up support for supermarket workers if the strike goes on for long but analysts predicted public support will wane if the dispute is protracted.
Despite sparsely populated parking lots and aisles at many Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons markets where pickets were in place, some shoppers have already crossed the lines for the comfort and convenience of their neighborhood store.
“Consumers, reluctantly or not, will go back to the stores that are convenient to them,’ said Andrew Wolf, a market analyst for BB&T Capital Markets.
Added Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.: “If this goes into a second week, then consumers will start to say, ‘enough of this, we’ve got lives to lead.”
Vons and Vons’ Pavilions employees struck late Saturday, ending two months of contract negotiations despite a last-ditch federal mediation.
By Sunday, United Food and Commercial Workers picket lines surrounded nearly 900 Southern California stores, as Ralphs and Albertsons employees were locked out in a show of unity by the major supermarkets, which are now operating with temporary employees.
In all, about 70,000 supermarket employees walked out, after 97 percent of them voted to support the strike last week. The last such grocery store strike in Southern California was in 1978, lasting five days.
The current dispute lies in proposed employee contributions to health benefits, abolishing premium Sunday pay, cutting retirement benefits and imposing a two- tier wage system distinguishing new-hire wages from others, union and supermarket officials said.
Health plan issue key
Union leaders say the health plan reform would save the supermarkets $1 billion, but the companies will not discuss any potential savings.
Gary Rhodes, a spokesman at Kroger Inc., which operates 470 Ralphs supermarkets in California and Nevada, said that the chains were asking union members to contribute only $15 a week toward the cost of health-care coverage for a family.
“Like every other company, our health-care costs are soaring,’ Rhodes said. He said that competition in the retail grocery business was already fierce and that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which is not unionized, has announced plans to build as many as 40 superstores in Southern California.
“We think it’s reasonable to ask our employees to share in a small portion of those costs going forward,’ Rhodes said. “Even after a worker pays $5 a week for an individual or $15 for family coverage, we’re still paying by far the lion’s share of health-care costs for our employees.’
“They’re talking about cutting our benefits in half,’ said Rick Icaza, president of UFCW Local 770, which has 15,000 grocery workers on strike in Los Angeles County. “This could mean the loss of vision coverage, dental, even pension benefits. That’s how draconian this is.’
Icaza said that in addition to the weekly assessment for medical coverage, the companies want to impose co-payments and deductibles, which employees do not pay now.
He said the companies also want to create a two-tiered wage system, in which current employees would keep their salaries but new workers would come in at $2 to $3 less per hour. “That’s just an incentive for them to get rid of the old-timers,’ he said.
No negotiations have taken place since Saturday night.
“There are no talks going on right now. We are waiting for the employers to call us the ball’s in their court,’ said Ellen Anreder, a UFCW spokeswoman.
The same came from the employers.
“It was the union that walked away from the table,’ said Terry O’Neil, a spokesman for Ralphs. “The ball is in the union’s court.’
Teamster officials said Monday that the union, which represents warehouse workers and tractor- trailer drivers, was preparing to expand its support of the grocery workers’ strike as early as next week.
“It’s going to happen,’ said Jim Santangelo, president of the Teamsters Joint Council 42 in El Monte. “That really affects the companies, big time.’
Teamsters park trucks
Teamsters drivers refused to cross picket lines Monday, parking their trucks and forcing store managers to drive them in for unloading. Some Teamsters also refused to cross lines at warehouses.
The stalemate leaves consumers either crossing picket lines or going to independent and smaller markets like Trader Joe’s, which has stores in Bixby Knolls, the Long Beach Marketplace, the Cerritos Towne Center and in San Pedro.
“I won’t cross the picket line,’ Long Beach resident Tom Knowlton said while loading several grocery sacks into his car outside Trader Joe’s in the Marketplace. “I’ll shop here until the whole thing is over. It’s no big hassle, I’ll just change my pattern a little bit.’
Dozens of motorists circled the Marketplace Trader Joe’s parking lot in search of a space while shoppers pushing carts created a constant stream into and out of the store.
At the much-larger Albertsons across the street, a lone shopper made his way to the front door, where dozens of sign-waving picketers urged him to shop elsewhere.
The Albertsons parking lot sat mostly vacant.
The scene repeated itself at the Ralphs store a block north, where a spattering of shoppers made their way in and out as picketers chanted slogans and waived signs reading “Locked Out.’
Many of the shoppers at Trader Joe’s said they were patronizing the store and dealing with the long lines inside to avoid the labor dispute playing out across the street.
“I won’t be going over there for awhile,’ Seal Beach resident and Trader Joe’s shopper Lisa McInerney said while motioning to the Albertsons. ‘It’s not a real big hassle yet, but if it drags on a long time, then I’ll probably go back. I’ll consider going somewhere else, though.’
Picket lines respected
Business appeared slow at many Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons markets in Long Beach and surrounding cities as shoppers chose to honor the picket line and patronize markets not involved in the contract dispute.
Many Trader Joe’s customers on Monday said they were encouraged to shop at the store by picketers.
“I was going to Albertsons across the street, but (strikers) pointed me over here,’ Long Beach resident Bobby DaVari said as he loaded a few grocery sacks into his sedan outside Trader Joe’s. “I’m not going to go there until the workers get what they want and the whole thing is settled. Actually, this is better because now I know where Trader Joe’s is and I can just come here to shop.’
Although check-out lines at markets like Trader Joe’s, Costco and Stater Bros. tended to be a bit longer than usual, most customers said it wasn’t that much of a hassle.
Some even expressed gratitude at the picketers for encouraging them to shop at other markets, where they found bargains on produce, meat and other edibles.
“I’ve never seen so many people in there,’ Long Beach resident Wolf Thiele said outside a Costco market in Signal Hill. “But I don’t mind. I get better deals on my apples here anyway.’
Others, however, said they avoided the markets simply to avoid picketers.
Eldean Hemmings of Seal Beach said she avoided a Ralphs supermarket on Pacific Coast Highway because she didn’t want to be “hassled’ by picketers.
“I didn’t want to be bothered,’ Hemmings said while unloading groceries in a nearby supermarket not involved in the strike. “I think those unions are stupid, and I don’t want to get into an argument with (picketers).’
Cypress resident Joe Estrada said the picket line does not affect his decision to continue shopping at his favorite Albertsons store near Willow Street and Long Beach Boulevard.
Interim cashiers falter
“It doesn’t bother me and the picketers haven’t hassled me,’ Estrada said after exiting the store with a few groceries stuffed into a plastic bag. “I’m not going to change my habits. I’ll only go somewhere else if they close the store completely.’
Still, Estrada said that the “workers in there don’t know what they’re doing and they’re a little bit slow, but they’re still learning. I’ll come back.’
Some shoppers had a change of heart after talking with picketers.
Following a brief conversation with a young woman holding a picket sign, Long Beach resident Greg McKeon said he would not patronize the store for the duration of the strike.
“I’ll find somewhere else to shop until (strikers) handle their business,’ McKeon said. “I just came here today to pick up one item. I didn’t know.’
McKeon was then pointed in the direction of a nearby Food 4 Less on Willow Street in Signal Hill.
“Thanks, and stick with it,’ McKeon said to the picketer as he left.
The Southern California strike isn’t the only current labor action in the supermarket industry.
Other union action
Union workers at 44 Kroger Co. stores, Ralphs’ parent company, in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky voted Monday to strike after rejecting the company’s contract offer.
And in Missouri, 10,000 United Food & Commercial Workers members have been on strike in the St. Louis area since Oct. 7.
Kent Wong, director of the Center for Labor Research and Education at UCLA, said if the strike lingers, shoppers will develop relationships and habits at other stores and ditch the big three altogether.
“People do have relationships with their supermarket checkout people, their meat people and their produce people, but it will be interesting to see how long the support will last.”