A chilly, high desert dawn was breaking as the workers trickled onto the sprawling grounds of Rite Aid Corp.'s distribution warehouse, a behemoth box at the edge of the Mojave.
Awaiting them outside was a makeshift table set with hot coffee and doughnuts, courtesy of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union. Employees donning yellow union T-shirts briefly savored a hard-won triumph as they continue a bitter, three-year-plus campaign.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, July 15, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 2 inches; 72 words Type of Material: Correction
Rite Aid: An article in the Business section July 9 about union organizing efforts at Rite Aid Corp.'s distribution center in Lancaster implied that the company had fired 46 employees because of their organizing efforts. Rite Aid said the workers were laid off because of a reduced workload at the warehouse facility. A photo caption accompanying the story also misidentified Jeremy Edwards as a Rite Aid worker. He is a union organizer.
"I'm glad to be back. I need the job," said Virgilia Mondragon, one of dozens returning to work after the union alleged they were fired illegally from the Lancaster facility.
Rite Aid's decision last month to reinstate as many as 46 employees dismissed after an acrimonious union organizing drive is the latest chapter in a divisive saga that has made the Lancaster warehouse a national symbol of organized labor's priority: passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, federal legislation that would ease the way for workers to join unions.
According to labor activists, Rite Aid's anti-union onslaught has included intimidation, misinformation and illegal terminations, along with bad-faith bargaining.
Key parts of the Employee Free Choice Act would greatly enhance penalties against employers engaged in unlawful practices, while mandating federal mediation in initial contract talks.
Rite Aid denies any wrongdoing. From management's perspective, the warehouse war in L.A.'s parched suburban outpost epitomizes a misguided and intransigent labor movement pushing impossible demands in the midst of a recession. The drugstore giant boasts that almost one-third of its national workforce of more than 100,000 is unionized -- evidence, Rite Aid says, of its readiness to deal with union shops.
"If the union really wanted an agreement, we would have one by now," said Cheryl Slavinsky, chief spokeswoman for Rite Aid. "But it seems at every turn, the union tries to come up with allegations against Rite Aid to generate public sympathy."
The Camp Hill, Pa., company, with 4,800 stores and annual sales topping $26 billion, is struggling in a tough retail environment, reporting a loss of $98 million for its latest quarter that ended May 30. Its stock, which traded near $7 two years ago, has fallen sharply, closing Wednesday at $1.31.
