Tired of the grocery strike, back to Albertson's

fiestynurse · Jan 31, 2004

Attorney general says pact violates antitrust laws

1/31/04

By MARK VAN DE KAMP

NEWS-PRESS BUSINESS EDITOR

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Friday he will sue three supermarket chains involved in the 113-day-old labor dispute with Southern California grocery workers, charging that their economic mutual aid pact violates antitrust laws.

"This action is about protecting shoppers against unlawful, anticompetitive conduct that keeps prices artificially high," Mr. Lockyer said in a statement.

"The grocers' agreement to share costs and revenue hurts consumers by discouraging competitive pricing. The antitrust law exists to prevent that, and I intend to enforce the law."

In a joint statement, the grocery chains said the lawsuit is "without merit." They said similar agreements are proper under federal labor policy.

However, grocery union representatives cheered Mr. Lockyer's decision, saying it gives striking and locked-out workers a big boost in morale.

The lawsuit is expected to be filed Monday in federal court in Los Angeles against Albertsons Inc., Safeway Inc., which owns Vons, and Kroger Co., which owns Ralphs Grocery Co.

Mr. Lockyer's office initially said it had already filed the lawsuit Friday, but a "last-minute glitch" in the paperwork caused it to miss the filing deadline, spokesman Tom Dresslar said.

Mr. Lockyer launched the probe in late December after the United Food and Commercial Workers union claimed the grocers' pact was illegal, a charge denied by the stores.

At the time, he said that the revenue-sharing agreement was drafted in secrecy and that it was his duty to ensure it complied with the law and did not harm consumers.

"This is great," said John Pace, a grocery union representative in Santa Barbara. "This will give our people even more impetus to continue this fight. We know what we're fighting for."

The lawsuit could spur the grocery chains toward resolving the dispute, now in its 16th week, said Joe Pierre, a union representative for workers in Buellton, Lompoc and Santa Barbara.

"For the people on the lines, it will give them a shot in the arm, realizing their companies have engaged in illegal practices," Mr. Pierre said. "Fifteen weeks on the picket line wears thin on anyone's resolve. We have a core group of people who are committed to this and will see it through."

Mr. Lockyer contends the companies' arrangement, which they made several weeks prior to entering collective bargaining with some 70,000 grocery employees, violates federal antitrust laws, particularly the Sherman Act.

During an interview with the News-Press editorial board Wednesday, Mr. Lockyer acknowledged he had already taken a stand on the dispute, noting that he's walked grocery store picket lines eight times.

But he insisted he could separate his views from his professional duty to review claims of illegality.

The lawsuit will seek a court order barring the companies from sharing profits and declaring the arrangement illegal.

Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for Mr. Lockyer, said there are basically two types of penalties under antitrust law -- court injunctions to stop the practice, and fines, which can range up to triple any established damages.

"We are disappointed that Mr. Lockyer decided to file this action," the grocery chains said in a statement. "His contention that this agreement has caused prices to rise and consumers to be harmed is simply wrong. The lawsuit is without merit, and we look forward to presenting our case in court.

"The unions and the employers agreed to negotiate a new labor contract on a multi-employer bargaining group basis. Consistent with this approach, the employers entered into this agreement to protect themselves in the event the unions engaged in tactics designed to drive a wedge between the employers by causing disproportionate losses to one employer as compared to another, with any payments to be made after the conclusion of the strike. Just as the employers feared, the unions, in fact, engaged in such tactics."

The companies said they have cooperated with Mr. Lockyer's office during his inquiry, providing him with a copy of the agreement and offering to meet with his office regarding the issues.

The companies have declined to give specifics on the arrangement, which involves their chains sharing revenue and costs incurred during the strike, according to the lawsuit. Such an arrangement would spread the losses in event of a strike.

The grocery employees went on strike or were locked out Oct. 11 at Ralphs, Albertsons and Safeway-owned Vons and Pavilions stores.

The last time the union and the grocers sat together at the negotiating table was Dec. 19, when a 12-hour session came to an abrupt end after negotiators for the grocers rejected an offer that the union claimed offered substantial concessions.

Negotiators for the union and the companies have met intermittently over the past two months at the behest of a federal mediator, but they remain far apart on contract issues, particularly the cost and scope of health care benefits for current employees and future hires.

Union members from Santa Barbara County are expected to join what is planned as a major rally today in Inglewood, where striking and locked-out workers will publicly protest against the chains.

LydiaNN · Jan 31, 2004

I also supported the union for the first two and a half months of the strike. The only exception was the pharmacy, and that is because my son is on several different medications, his history is at Von's and the pharmacists there know him and in one case, even caught a potentially dangerous error. I refused to go elsewhere where his health is concerned. Then my husband went to pick up our son's meds one day and a striker became verbally abusive and argumentative, even after my husband explained that he was just using the pharmacy. That was it for us. If the strikers are not going to be respectful, then they're not worthy of all the inconvenience we've tolerated by going to Stater Bros. which is always so crowded its like shopping on the day before Thanksgiving every time you go, or to the local upscale market which is overpriced and understocked. Crossing the picket line the first time in December was weird for me, but it sure is nice to be in and out of the market in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe I'm a hypocrite; my Dad was a Teamster and I'm afraid he's rolling over in his grave over this but dang! Also, don't you think the union has sold the strikers a bill of goods that this strike is winnable when in fact it looks like it is not? They've been out so long now that they're not going to recoup their losses, and it sure doesn't appear that the markets are going to bend on the health care coverage issue. At this rate, they'll be lucky if they're able to settle with what they were originally offered and not something worse.

pickledpepperRN · Jan 31, 2004

I am just leaving to participate in an event in support of the grocery workers at the Forum, near LAX.

Several hundred nurses and nuns will be with our group.

I do walk into the store without buying anything. No deli or bakery. Lousy stores. DH shops at a latino store now and may stay there because of the personal service and low prices.

Not wanting to blame anyone. i just could not live with myself if I with a nurses wages, good car, and so on did not do my part by not supporting the mean greedy people.

When no one can afford to live in a community who will provide the services?

The workers I have met on the line understand the pharmacy and WIC shoppers. They are truly hurt when someone they have helped for years yells at them.

Most understand the publics difficult choice so a polite shopper is excused.

Do you know the workers on the line now are really doing it for those that come after? They want a 2 tier wage & benefit system.

fiestynurse · Jan 31, 2004

Church group places faith in strikers

1/31/04

By RHONDA PARKS MANVILLE

NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Priests, ministers and parishioners from local churches joined striking grocery workers on the picket line outside Santa Barbara's downtown Vons store at noon Friday, in hopes of helping to resolve the labor dispute.

The church members are part of the interfaith group Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, or CLUE, which has taken collections for the workers' hardship fund, donated food to locked-out workers in need, and is rallying for reconciliation.

"By standing in solidarity with the grocery workers, members of CLUE are responding to ancient calls in their faith traditions to stand with their neighbors who are suffering," Ann Reyna, a parishioner at St. Mark's in Isla Vista, told the crowd of roughly 100 picketers, who responded with cheers.

Speaking in English and Spanish, she said the group aims to bring clergy and laity of all faiths together in order to advocate "for the poor and the marginalized in our communities, and to educate and minister to the community at large on behalf of those persons."

Some clergy members at the demonstration said they were there to stress reconciliation, and not cast blame on anyone, such as the supermarket chains.

Thursday, members of CLUE from the Los Angeles and Ventura chapters made a "justice pilgrimage" to the Pleasanton home of Safeway CEO Steve Burd, hoping to appeal to him "as a Christian and a compassionate man," said CLUE's executive director, the Rev. Alexia Salvatierra. Several CLUE members were able to meet with his representatives.

Also on Thursday, Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles made public his letter to Mr. Burd and the president of the grocery workers union, urging them to get back to the bargaining table "in the name of thousands of Angelenos who continue to suffer greatly from the strike."

The grocery strike and lockout have kept 70,000 Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons workers unemployed for nearly four months. Executives for the chains say that offers they have made to the workers are reasonable, arguing that cuts must be made in wages and benefits if the stores are to compete against Wal-Mart.

"The workers are suffering, but consumers are struggling, too," said the Rev. Mark Asman of Trinity Episcopal Church, a CLUE member. "This is a moral issue, and people want to know how to help. Who among us is not aware of the importance of health care?"

During the prolonged labor dispute, some employees on the South Coast have come close to losing homes and living in their cars, said Sally Mott, a Vons employee and strike captain from Goleta. What saved them were donations from the hardship fund, she said.

Weary workers on the picket line said they appreciated the clergy and religious community's support and hope it will encourage the grocery executives and the union to come to an agreement.

"I think it will help," said Vons meat and deli clerk Andre Padilla, who was walking the picket line with his 2-year-old son, Julian. "I got a second job, and that helps. But we're here as long as this takes."

Cars whizzing up Chapala Street honked in support of the hour-long rally, which began with a prayer.

"Help us to see that the economy is at the service of the common good and not at the self-interest of one group," prayed the Rev. Ludo de Clippel, the parish priest at Holy Cross Catholic Church on the Mesa. "You, the Divine Communicator, help us in keeping open channels of patient and respectful dialogue where human rights and compassion prevail on either side. May the public consciousness for justice help the parties involved in this dispute in finding soon a solution. Make us all instruments of your social peace."

CLUE members who attended the rally came from Catholic, Episcopalian, Baptist, Congregational, Unitarian, Scientology and nondenominational churches.

CLUE was founded in Los Angeles, and the local group began meeting monthly starting last summer due to myriad concerns about social justice issues in the state, the nation, and abroad, said Nancy Hancock of the Interfaith Initiative of Santa Barbara County. The group's first public action was marching in support of undocumented workers seeking driver's licenses.

CLUE members Ann Jaqua and Nora Gallagher, parishioners at Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, said that walking the picket lines with the grocery workers is a demonstration of their faith.

"For those of us who sit in the pews on Sunday and hear the Gospel message, being here is a response to that message," said Ms. Jaqua. "The religious community banding together has made a big difference in social issues in the past and we're hoping it makes a difference here, too."

CLUE members are organizing rallies at various grocery stores and sponsoring informational meetings about the strike in coming weeks.

Sheri257 · Jan 31, 2004

Originally posted by mercyteapot
Then my husband went to pick up our son's meds one day and a striker became verbally abusive and argumentative, even after my husband explained that he was just using the pharmacy. That was it for us. If the strikers are not going to be respectful, then they're not worthy of all the inconvenience we've tolerated by going to Stater Bros. which is always so crowded its like shopping on the day before Thanksgiving every time you go, or to the local upscale market which is overpriced and understocked. Crossing the picket line the first time in December was weird for me, but it sure is nice to be in and out of the market in a reasonable amount of time.

This is the problem exactly. Day after day, month after month, it starts to get to you. Sure, you want to support the union, but you start to wonder why does union support also mean your life have to be adversely affected every single day?

I moved to another town so I wouldn't have to shop at Stater's. Then the strike put me right back in there with the long lines, lousy products, service, etc.

The strikers' rudeness certainly doesn't help either. Some of them got arrested this week for blocking a store entrance. You see stuff like that and you wonder what they're trying to accomplish. People do have a right to shop where they want without harassment.

Unskilled workers who can easily be replaced don't have any leverage. So they try to use customers as leverage. After awhile, you start to lose sympathy.

My husband is union and even he is sick of it. In the beginning you cheer the strikers. But in the end, you start to resent them.

If I really thought they stood a chance of winning this thing, I guess I'd be more devoted. But from the first day, I thought they would lose and still do.

Gomer · Feb 1, 2004

I've been paying part of my insurance cost for years. If that's what this strike is all about I don't support them and have crossed the picket lines from the beginning. I do feel sorry for them and don't think they will win.

Gomer · Feb 1, 2004

I've been paying part of my insurance cost for years. If that's what this strike is all about I don't support them and have crossed the picket lines from the beginning. I do feel sorry for them and don't think they will win.

pickledpepperRN · Feb 1, 2004

The Albertsons and Ralphs workers are NOT on strike.

They were LOCKED OUT by the companies!

They were willing to comprimise on partial payment for health insurance. Thety did insist on new hires having the same contract as those who worked for the stores before the strike (Vons) and lock out.

nursemelanie · Feb 1, 2004

I work for the Safeway/Vons chain in Northern Cailfornia, and I'm telling you everyone up here is praying it doesn't come to striking up here. I know alot of old timers that have been with Safeway and the union for years and they say they will cross the picket line. That they are willing to pay the extra cost for ins, rather than be without a job. I haven't heard one person say one good thing about the union. All I here is "the union doesn't do anything for us, except take our money (union dues)". The contract they are offering is crappy, and unfair and they Know it, but what can we do REALLY. Obviously striking isn't going to work. It may have 30 yrs ago, but not in this day and age when so many are without a job and will take yours in a heart beat. I work for a Pac N Save and am in the Bakers Union and have been told that our contract will probably go through but that if the Clerks contract doesn't then I am suppose to still strike. I just can't. I have a family to feed and pay for school. I'm sorry, but my insurance doesn't even go through the union. Safeway pays for it directly. Wish times were better but all I see is its getting worse.

LydiaNN · Feb 1, 2004

spacenurse, although it is technically true that Albertson's and Ralph's locked their workers out, those same workers did in fact vote to authorize a strike. If it turns out that the grocers' pact is in violation of anti-trust statues, they'll pay the price for that. If the union had not authorized this strike, the fact that Ralph's and Albertson's have locked out their workers would make a huge difference to me, but given the way things happened, I consider it legal hair splitting that the lawyers can work out.

pickledpepperRN · Feb 1, 2004

nursemelanie

I hope you hang in there until you graduate. We need you in nursing.

If the workers striking and locked out prevail perhaps the companies will not try the same thing in the north.

I believe in the Golden Rule. We need to treat others as we want to be treated.

Clearly the owners of the 3 different large corporations are not doing that.

They are not competing either, they are cooperating to take away from their workers.

This is not a flood or earthquake. The loss of jobs and take aways from working people is created by people. People can work together to be part of the solution.

That is how we got the vote for women and the civil rights law passed.

God bless us all.