United Food And Commercial Workers International Union

Five years ago, the union representing Southern California supermarket workers was a mess. The union locals were nearly bankrupt, members were quitting by the thousands, and the workers had just swallowed some of the biggest concessions ever in the recent Southern California labor movement. The 141-day strike and lockout that ended in 2004 turned grocery shopping into chaos, frustrated shoppers and brought the United Food and Commercial Workers union to its knees.

A labor agreement this week between supermarket chain Stater Bros. and unionized workers threatens the two-tier wage system at the heart of a bitter labor dispute that crippled the Southern California grocery industry three years ago. Stater and the United Food and Commercial Workers union declined to provide details of the contract, pending a vote Wednesday by 14,000 Stater employees. But people familiar with the agreement said it would end the tiered wage scale and improve health benefits.

A few hundred employees at a massive Smithfield Foods Inc. hog slaughterhouse missed work Monday after a union called for a walkout to protest the company's decision to not make Martin Luther King Day a paid holiday. But it was difficult to tell whether the workers didn't come to work because of the union or because of other reasons, Smithfield spokesman Dennis Pittman said.

Members of six union locals that represent more than 13,000 employees of Stater Bros. approved a three-year contract with the grocer, the union said Thursday. The United Food and Commercial Workers plans to use the pact as a model for talks with three larger grocery chains in Southern and Central California that were involved in a 4 1/2 -month strike and lockout three years ago.

Shoppers usually swipe their club cards to gain discounts at the big supermarket chains. Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers union will ask customers to use the cards to show support for grocery employees. The union plans to set up information tables in front of 16 Albertsons stores in Southern California as it seeks to win customers' sympathy as contract talks are underway.

Gelson's has become the second Southern California supermarket chain to reach an agreement with its workers union, removing the threat of a strike at another regional grocer as talks continue with the three national players. The Gelson's contract follows a deal last month between Stater Bros. of Colton and the United Food and Commercial Workers. Union officials say the contracts give them ammunition in negotiations with Supervalu Inc.'s Albertsons chain, Safeway Inc.'

The contract for 65,000 Southern California grocery workers is likely to expire in a little more than a week without a new pact. But the prospect for an imminent strike, a possible work stoppage or prolonged negotiations remains a big question mark. The current contract expires March 5. "It would be an uncertain state of affairs," said Michael Shimpock of SG&A Campaigns, a Pasadena media and political consulting firm hired by the local unions to speak about the talks. Steven Burd, Safeway Inc.'

The union representing 65,000 Southern California grocery workers reached an agreement with the major supermarket chains to extend for two weeks a contract that was set to expire Monday night. Almost no substantive negotiations have taken place in the weeks leading up to Monday's original contract expiration date. But now the two sides have agreed to meet on dates to be determined by federal labor mediator Linda Gonzalez.

With the help of a federal mediator, the union that represents 65,000 Southern California grocery workers and the three major supermarket chains agreed to a second extension to a contract that was set to expire two weeks ago. This latest extension will last until April 9. It will run day to day after that and will have a 72-hour notice-of-cancellation clause that can be invoked by either party.

Just a day after agreeing to extend contract talks for three weeks, the union that represents 65,000 Southern California grocery workers targeted Albertsons for a strike vote Sunday. Union officials say that despite the extension, negotiations are moving at a "glacial pace" and they need leverage to reach an agreement with Albertsons, Vons and Ralphs, the region's largest supermarket chains.