The AFL-CIO is taking control of national strategy for the California supermarket strike and lockout, assigning two veterans of labor wars to turn around a battle in which employers seem to have gained the upper hand.
The campaign will be led by Richard Trumka, who played a pivotal role in resolving the West Coast port lockout, and Ron Judd, who orchestrated AFL-CIO protests at the turbulent World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle.
The plan is to pressure the supermarket companies by hounding executives and directors with phone calls and visits, staging demonstrations across the country -- including a pray-in outside the Northern California home of the chief executive of Safeway Inc. -- and persuading major grocery-company shareholders, such as pension funds, to take stands in the union's favor.
"We have our work cut out for us," Trumka, the national labor federation's secretary-treasurer, said in an interview Monday, "but I predict that three months from now, there will be a whole different attitude out there."
United Food and Commercial Workers union officials said they welcomed the AFL-CIO's heightened participation on the tactical side, characterizing the federation's plan as an expansion of a strategy the UFCW had already set in motion.
In fact, Trumka, Judd and other top federation officials had agitated for months to become more involved in strike planning but were rebuffed until recently by national UFCW leaders, according to a national labor strategist familiar with the situation.
The AFL-CIO's intercession comes after two failed attempts by the UFCW to get contract talks back on track. With the Central and Southern California labor dispute in its fourth month and no resolution in sight, tensions among leaders of the seven UFCW locals involved have become increasingly apparent.
Observers weren't convinced that the AFL-CIO's aggressive tactics would bring about a labor-friendly conclusion.
"They've tried a lot of things and there's no progress, so this seems like a completely appropriate thing to try," said Ruth Milkman, director of the UC Institute of Labor and Employment. "I just don't know if it will work."
The UFCW launched a regional strike against Safeway's Vons and Pavilions stores Oct. 11. The next day, Albertsons Inc. and Kroger Co.-owned Ralphs, which are part of the same collective bargaining agreement, locked out their union workers.
