Pickets weather time on the line

Alicia Robinson

Walking a picket line isn’t how most local grocery workers envisioned

starting the new year. After three months of carrying signs in front

of their workplaces, the striking and locked-out workers are weary

but keeping up hope for a favorable resolution to their contract

dispute.

United Food and Commercial Workers union members employed by Vons

grocery stores called the strike in October after a contract

disagreement with employers over health and pension benefits. Grocery

chains Ralphs and Albertsons, which are bargaining jointly with Vons,

responded by locking out UFCW members at their stores. The latest

talks with a federal mediator broke off Dec. 19, and no new talks are

scheduled.

Walking the picket lines through the recent cold weather and three

major holidays has taken its toll on many of the workers, though

they’ve tried to stay positive.

“My morale’s very high,” said Randy Bowes, a picket captain who

was at the Harbor Boulevard Albertsons on Wednesday afternoon.

Though some union members have had to look for other jobs, turnout

on the lines has been good, he said.

“It’s not as strong as it was in the very beginning, but we still

have a lot of people out here,” he said.

At the Vons on 17th Street, the mood was much less buoyant.

“Basically, things are not good as far as morale,” said Lee

Queener, a clerk from the Costa Mesa Ralphs who was picketing at the

17th Street Vons. “Who knows when they’re going to go back to the

table.”

A fellow picket who asked not to be named said recent reductions

in strike benefits have brought workers’ spirits down. Without

compensation, she said, “I wouldn’t be out here. Not at this point.”

Ralphs spokesman Terry O’Neil said the stores tried to keep the

union at the bargaining table in the beginning. The stores warned the

workers if a strike was called, it could be lengthy, he said.

“We expected the strike to last for a long time,” he said. “We

tried to communicate that to the best of our ability to our

employees.”

UFCW spokeswoman Ellen Anreder said the union hoped for the best

while preparing for the worst.

“We were hoping for it to be short, but we were prepared for it to

be long,” she said.

None of the employees had any idea they’d still be on the picket

lines after nearly 12 weeks.

“I certainly didn’t,” Queener said. “I thought it would go a

week.”

Bowes at Albertsons expressed similar sentiments.

“The union thought, as soon as this started, it would be over,” he

said.

Fernando Saucedo, a Vons checker picketing with Queener, said no

one wanted to believe the strike could last this long.

“Like they say, it looks like there’s no end in sight,” he added.

Queener estimated that as many as half of the people he’s talked

to are looking for or have found other work.

With a family to provide for and a mortgage to pay, Bowes said

looking for another job isn’t out of the question.

“In the near future, I might have to,” he said. “But until I get

to the bitter end, I won’t leave.”

Some workers have persevered this long because of money they’ve

put into pensions. Queener thinks the stores’ strategy with the

proposed contract is to drive workers to quit by shrinking employer

pension contributions for new employees, thus diminishing the pension

fund for all employees.

The grocery stores have said they’ve had no trouble staffing the

stores, and customers haven’t stopped shopping. But those on the

picket lines disagreed.

Workers said they’re grateful to the customers who have stayed

away from their usual stores despite the inconvenience.

“They’re willing to tolerate it for our sake, basically, and we do

appreciate it,” Saucedo said.

How long the stores might hold out is unclear to union members.

Even the extension of picket lines to distribution centers just

before Thanksgiving didn’t make the employers flinch. But all parties

seemed to agree that this dispute will have lasting effects on the

grocery industry.

The irony to Queener is that after union members have lobbied to

keep Wal-Mart stores away, the dispute could be paving the way for

the discount chain -- and hastening the demise of other grocery

stores.

“In 15 to 20 years ... there could be no more Ralphs or Vons,” he

said.

O’Neil said the strike won’t end until some major issues are

resolved.

“These are issues that do portend to the future of the industry in

Southern California,” he said. “The rise of nonunion competition had

never been a major factor in previous negotiations. It is now.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.