(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Alex Veiga on October 29.)
SAN DIEGO — Two federal lawsuits have been filed on behalf of 70,000 striking Southern California grocery workers in an attempt to keep three supermarket chains from ending payments into their employees’ health care fund.
The United Food and Commercial Workers international union contends the chains – Kroger Co.’s Ralphs, Safeway Inc.’s Vons and Albertsons Inc. – are contractually obligated to continue paying for employees health care at least through the end of the year, and for some, through March.
The companies have told the union they won’t be making any more contributions to the health fund, according to the lawsuits filed Wednesday.
The benefit plan could be insolvent by mid-December if the companies don’t cover the benefit claims incurred by the grocery workers in November and December, the union said.
The union considers the companies’ stance a breach of contract and asked the court to order the chains to keep up their payments and resolve the matter through an arbitrator.
“These employees earned eligibility for October, November and December, and some beyond that, and whether the contract expired or not, employers are obligated to pay,” said Michael Four, an attorney for the UFCW.
An Albertsons spokeswoman hadn’t seen the lawsuits and declined comment. Calls to the Ralphs and Vons were not immediately returned Wednesday.
Grocery clerks went on strike or were locked out on Oct. 11 after both sides were unable to agree on a new labor contract. The key issue: How much money workers would have to pay toward their health care coverage.
The employees’ health benefit fund is administered by a board of trustees made up of representatives of the companies and the union. It provides medical benefits for more than 200,000 employees and their families statewide, paying about $45 million in claims monthly, according to the lawsuits.
Employees qualify for coverage as long as they meet minimums for the number of hours worked per month. Currently, the fund has about $31 million in reserve left.
The companies had made their last scheduled payment of about $40 million on Oct. 20. Union officials said Wednesday they don’t expect the supermarket chains will make their next scheduled payment, covering October claims, on Nov. 20.
“They have every obligation to live up to this,” said Connie Leyva, president of the UFCW Local 1428 in Claremont.
Neither side has returned to the negotiating table since the start of the walkout, which has affected more than 850 stores from San Luis Obispo to San Diego. No new talks were scheduled.
Meanwhile, in a separate strike, about 2,000 bus mechanics Wednesday received a a so-called “last, best and final” contract offer from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The agency, in hopes of bringing the more than two-week-long strike to a close, mailed copies of the offer to employees or handed them out to workers on picket lines.
The contract, covering three years and nine months, offers a retroactive annual wage increase of 1 percent and 2.5 percent increases in 2004 and 2005.
The agency also offered to pay $4.7 million to the workers’ health care fund, which is in danger of bankruptcy, but on the condition that the union and the agency co-manage the fund. Currently, the union runs the fund.
The proposed medical benefit requires active and retired employees to pay pretax monthly premiums equal to the difference between the MTA’s contributions and the cost of the plan.
The MTA was offering to increase its monthly contributions per employee retroactively in 2003 by 14 percent to $607. Fifteen percent increases in 2004 and 2005 would raise the agency’s contributions to $698 and $803, respectively.
“Considering our fiscal situation, it’s a pretty generous offer,” said MTA spokesman Marc Littman. “We’re urging them to ask their leadership to bring it to a vote.”
The strike, which began Oct. 14, has paralyzed the nation’s third-largest transit system. About 6,000 bus and train operators also walked off the job in support of the mechanics.
Calls to the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents the mechanics, went unanswered Wednesday.