As the picket signs were being packed away three years ago, Georgene Haubenreisser urged the relatives she had helped steer into supermarket careers to get out of the business.
Haubenreisser herself planned to hang on until she could retire, having already put in 24 years. The matriarch of a family with 10 members who had staked out careers in Ralphs supermarket aisles, she became disillusioned with the grocery industry after the hardships of a 141-day labor dispute that ended in February 2004.
With more strife on the horizon, the Santa Clarita resident is still in debt from the last fight. But she said she would be willing to take another turn on the picket line to protect her wages and benefits, though she probably would have to put her home up for sale.
Her union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, and the Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons chains have been unable to agree on a new three-year contract, leaving clerks and customers to brace for another battle.
"I thought I'd never have to go through this again," said Haubenreisser, now 60 and three years short of the 30 years she wants to put in before retirement. "Unfortunately, I would have to support another strike if it came to that. I can't afford to lose any more salary and benefits -- and we need to try to get some of what we lost back."
The 2003-04 strike and lockout in Southern California cost the grocery chains as much as $2 billion, permanently drove away some customers and left thousands of workers with debts that they are still trying to pay off. The contract that ended the dispute required union members to make numerous wage and benefit concessions and led to the creation of a second tier of workers with lower pay and benefits.
That contract expired March 5, but has been extended twice, and the two sides have been sending signals that raise uncomfortable memories of the last impasse.
Union members have authorized a strike against Albertsons, although a date hasn't been set and no such votes have been scheduled involving Ralphs and Vons. The supermarkets and the union are to resume contract talks Monday. Last Wednesday, the union walked out of negotiations because the chains declared they would lock out union workers if any of the companies was struck. The mutual-aid agreement, similar to one drafted before the last battle, also calls for the chains to provide financial assistance to companies struck by the union.
