Vons crew on brink
of strike
By Jesse Phelps

Workers at Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons supermarkets throughout Southern California are preparing to strike, according to union representatives.

If the union is unable to reach a new collective bargaining agreement with the chains in a last round of negotiations slated for Friday afternoon, picket lines will form in front of Ojai's Vons location by Saturday morning.

After meeting with representatives of Ralphs, Vons, and Albertsons for two months, unions representing 70,000 grocery workers in Southern California received the employers' final proposal shortly before midnight on Oct. 5, according to a press release from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW).

But the union was unhappy with a proposed two-tier employment system that would promote the hiring of new employees at lower wages and with even less of a benefits package than the proposed "drastic reductions" for current employees.

Vons officials said the new agreement is critical for them to remain competitive in a marketplace crowded with discount retailers moving into the grocery business.

Under the proposed collective bargaining agreement, current employees would be "grandfathered under existing wage scales and reduced benefits, but new employees would be hired at vastly diminished wages, benefits, and working conditions," according to a newsletter published by UFCW Local 1036.
Martel Fraser, secretary treasurer of UFCW Local 236, said that the range of services to be cut is extensive.

"The employer is proposing two­tier wage rates for new employees and a reduction of about 40 percent in wages for new employees," she said. "For return employees, they want to freeze the Sunday premium and reduce and take away nighttime premiums. They literally gutted the contract across the board, gutted by 40 percent sick pay, vacation pay and holiday pay."

Fraser told the Ojai Valley News that the result of the new agreement being accepted would inevitably be that the new, lower-rate employees would get the best shifts with the highest pay. "On Sunday, it's not going to be that cashier who's worked there for 20 years, it'll be a new cashier that's been there for two months," she said.

In addition, according to Fraser, medical benefits will be severely reduced, potentially forcing the employees to select from fewer providers, handle larger co-pays and come up with thousands of dollars for medical bills should they become very sick.

Fraser said that her union has the backing of virtually every other major union, including the American Federation of Teachers, Teamsters, Plumbers and Pipe-Fitters, laborers, machinists, and trash, which could cause the stores additional difficulties.

"They're not going to cross the picket lines, load the trucks at the warehouse or unload the trucks at the stores," she said. "They're going to park the trucks in the street and the managers will have to drive it into the loading dock."

Union members voted on the supermarket giants' final proposal on Wednesday and Thursday at membership meetings as far north as San Luis Obispo and Mammoth Lakes, across to the Arizona and Nevada borders, and south to the border of Mexico.

A strike would affect not only the Ojai Vons location, but 859 supermarkets total, and impact 70,000 grocery workers in Southern California, according to the union.

Last minute negotiations will be held on Friday but should it come to a strike, Fraser said she expects full participation from the employees of the Ojai Vons.

Kathy Lisle, store manager at the Ojai location, declined to speak with the Ojai Valley news. But a sign already hangs in the front window, offering jobs. Fraser said that the management of the Ojai store had been cooperative in letting its employees speak with their union representatives.

Still, one Vons employee said that some of her fellow workers are scared. Citing a fear of being fired, she wouldn't go on record with her name but said she expects that most all of her fellow employees will participate in the strike.

"We don't want this to happen but we are sticking together and we're standing strong on it," she said.

Another employee, Rick McCoy, who sometimes works in the meat department in Ojai, said he's been with the union for 25 years. He's not looking forward to a strike but stands behind the union without reservation. "We're the last bastion of the middle class," he said.

Meanwhile, a representative for the market sees the new agreement as a chance to "level the playing field" in an ever more competitive market and insists that the new terms are perfectly fair.

"They're not significant reductions," said Sandra Calderon, a public relations official for Vons corporate office in Arcadia. "We're actually offering a contract that's very fair in a competitive environment."

Calderon said that the new terms can be directly linked to the proliferation of large-scale discount department stores, which offer grocery products without having to worry about the headaches that come with union employees.

"There's been a lot of change in the retail landscape in the last four years," she said. "Today's contract has to reflect those changes. We have strong competition with all the new, non-union grocers. Where before it used to be traditional grocery stores, you've got Targets and Wal-Marts and all these non-union stores coming into the grocery realm. It's difficult to compete."

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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