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Locals weigh in on grocery strike issue
| Tuesday, Jun 26 2007 12:35 AM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Jun 26 2007 12:35 AM
Bakersfield shoppers have begun taking sides and independent grocery stores are bracing for a crush of business as the possibility of another supermarket strike threatens to idle some 2,500 Kern County supermarket workers.
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The United Food and Commercial Workers union said a strike is not imminent after Sunday’s vote to authorize a potential strike. Union representatives said the group intends to resume negotiations with Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs.
But some shoppers have already made up their minds on whether they would cross a picket line.
Claudia Press, who shops at Albertsons, said she would honor a picket line and shop elsewhere.
“I want to support the workers,” Press said. “I would support whatever choice they would make.”
But not all shoppers would be willing to sacrifice convenience.
“I am all for the employees getting more money, more benefits, but I wouldn’t stop shopping there,” said Terri Fitch, who shops at Vons.
Cherryl Anderson said she has “never liked” unions and would not support a strike.
“There are so many other choices of grocery stores that you can go to that are much cheaper,” she said.
Rick Crane, a local UFCW representative, said union polling of affected supermarket shoppers suggests that two-thirds would be supportive of a strike. But Crane acknowledged that having workers picketing outside a store “does strain the relationship” between shoppers and employees.
If a strike or lockout does take place, union officials would encourage shoppers to go to other union supermarkets such as Green Frog Market, FoodMaxx and Save Mart, Crane said. Other shopping options in the event of a strike include non-union stores Trader Joe’s, Ranch Market, WinCo Foods and Costco.
Crane said sending shoppers to the competition could end up hurting union workers, but may be worth the risk.
“Of course it’s risky,” Crane said. “There’s no attempt to damage the business. When you cannot get greedy people to share the profits, sometimes you have to do risky things to get people to pay attention.”
The supermarket chains said the vote to strike was counterproductive and urged the union to refocus on the talks.
The vote “was unnecessary in light of the significant improvements the employers are putting on the table and, also unfair to employees because they had to vote on incomplete proposals,” the chains said in a statement.
Some independent stores have started preparing for an expected increase in business if a work stoppage occurs.
“When there is not a picket line in front of your store, people will shop it,” said Green Frog Market President Scott Hair.
Hair said Green Frog’s Bernard Street and Columbus Street stores are working with suppliers to make sure there will be no shortages.
Ed Syverson, manager of the WinCo Foods on Coffee Road, said if a strike does take place, worker schedules will be adjusted to accommodate increased business.
Trader Joe’s spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki said it is “business as usual” at the grocery chain.
Hair said the supermarket strike that lasted almost five months during 2003 and 2004 “more than doubled our business,” and Green Frog was able to retain much of that business.
But Hair said his independent stores ended up pretty much breaking even because of increased benefits costs incurred. Green Frog negotiates its own labor agreements, but its workers’ health insurance and retirement is tied to Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs’ agreements, Hair said.
Outside unions have vowed to help if supermarket workers strike.
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which includes the Teamsters, the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Teachers, has pledged to mobilize for demonstrations, boycotts and food drives to help if there is a strike.
Local groups have also pledged support.
“Whatever they do, we will support them,” said John Spaulding, president of the Central Labor Council of Kern, Inyo and Mono counties. “If they chose to strike, we will support that.”
Aimee Barajas, a local representative with the Service Employees International Union, said the union is in the process of planning a drive to inform its 8,000 city and county workers of an effort to join picketing supermarket workers.
Crane said the union views a strike as a last resort.
“We’re reasonable,” Crane said. “We want to do the right thing. We don’t want to inconvenience the public.”
If workers do go on strike, roughly 65,000 union employees at 785 stores from Bakersfield south to San Diego covered in a contract that expired in March would not be getting paid from their employers.
“It would be a financial burden,” Crane said.
But Vons employee Breeze Wenner said the sacrifice would be worth it.
Wenner has worked at Vons for about a year and a half and said the current agreement is burdensome for newer employees.
“We’re trying to get the same benefits as the older contracts and the same pay,” she said. “We’re just trying to get equal rights.”
The Associated Press and Californian staff writers Dane Boedigheimer and Kevin Gerrity contributed to this report.