Strike starts at three major grocery stores

Luis Pena

The United Food and Commercial Workers union went on strike late

Saturday after rejecting a contract present by Albertsons, Ralphs,

and Vons supermarkets.

Strikers at the Albertsons on Harbor Boulevard and Wilson Street

were out with their picket signs as they told shoppers not to shop at

the store and to go to Stater Bros. instead.

Bryce Gutierrez, a meat manager and strike captain at Albertsons,

said that they decided to go out on strike not because of the

proposed $15 a week co-payment that has been reported in the media

but because the supermarkets want them to pay 50% of hospital stays,

50% of doctor’s visits and a 50% co-pay for prescriptions, and

because the supermarkets want them to take a cut in vision and

dental.

Gutierrez said that they union had to strike because their union

has 70,000 members and not striking would cause a chain reaction

involving other unions.

“If we drop this drastically, being such a large union, it’s going

to affect everybody. Everyone else’s is going to start to drop as

well,” Gutierrez said. “This is a national problem, not a company

problem. People need to stand back and think that it does affect

them. They think it doesn’t, but it will eight years from now.”

Tony Amos, a butcher-block supervisor, said that he is the sole

provider for his family and pays $1,200 a month in rent. Amos said

that his family would suffer if the supermarkets get their way. Amos’

wife has Graves’ disease and diabetes. The supermarket’s proposed

contract isn’t as great as they make it seem, he said.

“It’s about nine prescriptions a month and it’s at least to the

doctor a couple of times a month. They make it sound like its really

good -- $5 for you, $15 for your family -- but you have to pay 50%

going through the door,” Amos said.

Amos said that Albertsons wants its employees to keep costs down

in their departments and that the employees have been doing so. The

supermarket doesn’t want to give anything back to the employees, he

said.

During the last contract negations, workers did not get a raise,

and this time, the grocery stores want the employees to take a cut in

health benefits and wait until 2005 for a raise, Amos said.

Seventy percent of the workers at Albertsons are part-time workers

and that the labor rate is being cut and that they have to give the

hours to those employees that aren’t earning as much as full-time

employees.

Some Albertsons customers were sympathetic, while others didn’t

see the need for the strike.

Robert Lowe of Costa Mesa said that he feels sympathy for the

strikers but he crossed the picket line to shop because his family

has everyday needs to meet.

“We still have our everyday needs, and we respect what they are

going for, but we have to tend to our daily lives as well,” Lowe

said. “

Lora Miller of Costa Mesa said that she thinks that the strikers

are lucky to have jobs and insurance.

“In this economy, they should be glad that they are employed and

have insurance,” Miller said.

Vivian Vanoenen, Costa Mesa resident said that she doesn’t see why

they should be striking.

“I don’t really see why they need to strike. From what I was

reading in the paper, it doesn’t sound like they are asking for so

much more money out of the employees. I have to pay for my medical

insurance,” Vanoenen said.

Picketers were not only on the corner of Harbor and Wilson. All

across Newport-Mesa, union members stood outside Ralphs, Albertsons

and Vons stores holding up large signs and banners. The Ralphs on

17th Street in Costa Mesa was closed, while its employees stood on

the sidewalk, getting honks from passersby.

Albertsons store management had no comment for this story.

* LUIS PENA is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at luis.pena@latimes.com.