Teamsters Join Calif. Supermarket Strike

EL MONTE, Calif. - The Teamsters union said Monday its members will stop delivering groceries to three Southern California supermarket chains where grocery clerks have been on strike or been locked out for more than a month.

The move effectively shuts off supplies to Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons stores during the critical Thanksgiving shopping week.

The action, taken after the striking clerks moved to expand their picket lines to regional distribution centers, was called a "silver bullet" by Jim Santangelo, president of Teamsters Joint Council 42 in El Monte.

"If this doesn't end it nothing will," Santangelo said of the labor dispute that began on Oct. 11.

Teamsters have refused to cross picket lines at individual stores, forcing management and non-striking workers to unload trucks.

About 70,000 grocery workers are either on strike against Vons or locked out by Albertsons and Ralphs stores, affecting nearly 860 stores from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.

Health care coverage is a main issue in the conflict with Kroger Co., owner of the Ralphs chain, Vons owner Safeway Inc. and Albertsons Inc.

A federal mediator brought both sides together two weeks ago for the first time since the dispute began but there have been no indications a compromise is near.

Union and supermarket officials were barred from commenting about the negotiations, said John Arnold, spokesman for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

I got a flyer from Ralphs. I am like really confused. It seems to me that they are complaining about having to pay copayments of $15. Don't some of these people know what it's like in the real world? Many of us, some educated in college with Bachelors, Masters, and PHD's have to pay copayments and premiums etc. If they really want everything free then give them the HMO option. That is what private industry has: an HMO option and an non-HMO option with premiums and copayments.

Why is the media comparing store union's problems to the health care problem in "general"? Do these media people live in the real world? There are lots of people, making only minimum wage who have no health care whatsover, can't afford it, and make just enough to not qualify for Medical. How can the store's union problems with health care be compared to the general populations health care problem? There is no comparison.

If the Union leaders just want to do the strike to pull the economy down and then point the finger at Bush--they're stupid. The American public could see right through this.

I say the shoppers and the union workers who now can't pay to care for their families and mortgages should tell their leaders they want to go back to work and come up with a compromise that the general public will also see as fair. Otherwise they won't win any sympathy and guess what? They may not have a job to come back to if the stores go under.

If the Union leaders just want to do the strike to pull the economy down and then point
the finger at Bush--they're stupid.

They are stupid.
1. They support illegal immigration. I was suprised to hear one of their head officials
say it "loud and proud" on KABC radio in Los Angeles. A union that supports increasing the
pool of people who could take their own unskilled jobs...now that's stupid.

2. Wal-Mart has 40 new SuperCenters in the pipeline for Southern California. The Los Angeles
Times business section (actually a decent section of that rag) said that these
40 SuperCenters should eventually take ONE percent of the California grocery business.
So the union engages in MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) with their employers.
Looks like time to buy Wal-Mart stock. It should do well when that ONE percent projection
shocks the markets and turns out to be MUCH higher...maybe 3-5 percent.

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