Grocery Strike

Grocery and union negotiators were expected to reach the two-week mark today in their nonstop bargaining to end the California supermarket strike. The talks began Feb. 11. The federal mediator supervising the negotiations has imposed a news blackout on the details, but the extended duration of the bargaining has prompted some experts to suggest that there could be a deal soon. The United Food and Commercial Workers union struck Safeway Inc.'s Vons and Pavilions chains Oct. 11. Kroger Co.'

Libya, and Obama Re "Libya rebels pour into capital," Aug. 22 Republicans still worship Ronald Reagan, crediting his politics and rhetoric with bringing down the Soviet Union: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Here's an excerpt from President Obama's remarks to the Islamic world on June 4, 2009: "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition.

The 70,000 striking grocery workers received a much-needed morale boost when the Teamsters union announced it would honor their picket lines. But the Teamster action has an even broader significance: It suggests a return to labor's roots and the rebirth of labor solidarity. Though it isn't unprecedented to have one union respect the strike of another, union solidarity hasn't been seen on this scale for quite a while.

Fears of a supermarket strike this summer in Southern and Central California evaporated Tuesday when the region's largest grocery chains and the union representing 65,000 store employees reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract. The accord would make up some of the ground the United Food and Commercial Workers union lost in a bitter, lengthy walkout and lockout 3 1/2 years ago.

Libya, and Obama Re "Libya rebels pour into capital," Aug. 22 Republicans still worship Ronald Reagan, crediting his politics and rhetoric with bringing down the Soviet Union: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Here's an excerpt from President Obama's remarks to the Islamic world on June 4, 2009: "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition.

Re "Grocery Dispute: What Do Workers Get in the Bargain?" Oct. 26: Ray Uhler took the time to write his opinion of the grocery strike but neglected to do the same for checking the facts. I have been a grocery clerk for more than 25 years. While it is true that a journeyman clerk can earn more than $17 per hour, the majority of us do not. In order to keep our benefits, we have accepted several changes in the division of labor that allow clerks to work as checkers a percentage of the time at a lower pay rate.

A threatened strike by 70,000 Southern California supermarket workers was delayed indefinitely today as marathon negotiations continued past a union deadline and into a fifth consecutive day. Negotiators for the union representing grocery clerks and meat cutters adjourned mediated talks with the Food Employers Council at 4:30 a.m., said Bob Bleiweiss, a United Food and Commercial Workers Union spokesman.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have convened a grand jury to investigate whether managers at some Ralphs grocery stores violated federal criminal laws during the five-month Southern California grocery strike, the chain's parent company said. Kroger Co. said in a regulatory filing that it was cooperating with authorities.

Re the supermarket strike: This is not about win or lose; this is about compromise. If there is no talking going on, nothing will happen. Like a bad marriage, if there is no communication, there will be a divorce, and everyone suffers. So, my hope is that all the leaders who are responsible for this long-standing strike will put their egos aside and think of all the people affected by their actions, so they can communicate and work diligently to end this strike. Vicky Fong Los Angeles Why blame Wal-Mart for the reduction in workforce benefits?

Re "Grocery conflict rooted in last strike," April 23 Your article says it all -- there is a right time and a wrong time to strike. Now is definitely the wrong time for grocery store workers to go on strike. Grocery stores are facing increased competition from nonunion stores, and when people go to shop elsewhere, as they did last time, many won't come back. Your article points out that Tesco, a British retailer, will be opening the first of hundreds of stores in Southern California and the southwestern United States soon.

Re "Grocery conflict rooted in last strike," April 23 Your article says it all -- there is a right time and a wrong time to strike. Now is definitely the wrong time for grocery store workers to go on strike. Grocery stores are facing increased competition from nonunion stores, and when people go to shop elsewhere, as they did last time, many won't come back. Your article points out that Tesco, a British retailer, will be opening the first of hundreds of stores in Southern California and the southwestern United States soon.

Re "Ralphs to Pay $70 Million for Illegal Hiring Scheme," July 1 The cowed words of Ralphs President Dave Hirz and the $70 million in fines and restitution are but small payment for having so publicly humiliated and fiscally destroyed unionized grocery workers, not just here in Southern California but, because this was such a precedent-setting strike, throughout the country. The payments will not begin to equal the money that Ralphs and other grocery stores will save, here and elsewhere, as a result of the contract that the union was finally forced to sign, nor will it make the national labor movement whole for the illegal and unfair tactics used by the grocery stores.

The Teamsters union violated federal labor law when it attempted to discipline 54 workers who refused to participate in a "sympathy strike" during the bitter Southern and Central California supermarket labor dispute, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled.

Nearly 10 months after the end of the bitter Southern California grocery strike and lockout, the three companies and the union that waged the longest labor standoff in U.S. supermarket history are still in turmoil. Profits at Albertsons Inc., Safeway Inc.'s Vons and Pavilions stores and Kroger Co.'s Ralphs are being pinched by the price cuts they've made to woo shoppers alienated by the 4 1/2 -month dispute.

Mayor James K. Hahn has picked up a series of key endorsements from Los Angeles' powerful organized labor movement as he works to put to rest questions about the strength of his reelection prospects. Seven locals of the Service Employees International Union, which together represent about 350,000 city employees, home-care workers, janitors and others in the Los Angeles area, announced Thursday that they will support the mayor.

Kudos to Michael Hiltzik for finally saying what others have been afraid to admit: The leadership of the grocery workers union bungled the Southern California strike and hurt its members ("Costs of Dispute Hang Over Grocers," Golden State, Aug. 5). Refusing to recognize the realities of grocery competition and the threat posed by new nonunion retailers, the union leadership kept its members away from their jobs and paychecks for 141 days. When it was all over, they emerged with a contract no better than what they could have had on Day One. All the while, interestingly, union leaders kept drawing their paychecks.

Re "Striking Home," Opinion, Dec. 7: The grocery strikers have had the widespread support of the community throughout Southern California, but at a heavy cost to them and their employers. Harold Meyerson convincingly argued that Wal-Mart -- and not Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs -- is the problem. When this strike is settled, Wal-Mart will be an even more powerful force with far more shoppers than before the union action. The coming Wal-Mart superstores will force the closure of more and more Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs.

The California grocery strike has entered its fourth month, and there is no end in sight. Workers are still picketing stores, the shelves are understocked, and profits are dwindling. Talks between the grocery chains and the United Food and Commercial Workers union have failed to resolve the mutually harmful conflict. Why? If the union's demands are outrageous, why can't the stores walk away?

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have convened a grand jury to investigate whether managers at some Ralphs grocery stores violated federal criminal laws during the five-month Southern California grocery strike, the chain's parent company said. Kroger Co. said in a regulatory filing that it was cooperating with authorities.

Citing the grocery strike in Central and Southern California, Vons and Pavilions owner Safeway Inc. said Tuesday that its fiscal first-quarter profit plunged 73% from a year earlier. The results were worse than analysts expected and added to the pressure on Chairman and Chief Executive Steven Burd, who is under fire from several public pension funds. In the quarter, which ended March 27, the labor dispute wiped out $122 million, or 27 cents a share, of the company's profit.