Union to pull picket lines from Warehouses

The union that represents striking and locked out grocery workers in Southern California will pull its picket lines off the supermarket chains' distribution centers Monday, allowing 8,000 Teamsters to return to work.

Officials of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said the move, which they announced as contract talks with the grocery chains resumed yesterday, was a good-faith gesture to jump-start the bargaining process.

Teamsters drivers and warehouse workers walked off the job Nov. 24 when the grocery union started picketing the distribution centers in an expansion of a labor dispute that started Oct. 11.

The action caused shortages at supermarkets throughout the region, as Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons tried to keep their supply chains moving with replacement workers.

By removing the distribution center pickets, the UFCW said in a statement that it was challenging the three major supermarket chains to respond in kind by ending the lockout of workers at Albertsons and Ralphs stores.

The two chains locked out workers Oct. 11 after the union called a strike against Vons.

"We have no idea how employers will react to this," Mickey Kasparian, president of UFCW Local 135 in San Diego County, said yesterday in a recorded message to members.

Analysts said the UFCW announcement might reflect escalating pressure from its members to reach an agreement with the chains on a new contract.

UFCW officials said this week that the health care fund that provides benefits to union members could run out of money by the end of the month.

And the San Diego County local told strike captains last week that it will pare strike pay to a maximum of $100 a week from a maximum of $300 a week to conserve money. Several of the other six Southern California locals are considering similar moves.

Moreover, the Teamsters have been off work for more than three weeks, drawing $200 a week in benefits from the International Teamsters and up to $250 a week from their locals.

"The Teamsters lasted much longer than I thought they would," said Mark Hugh Sam, who covers the supermarket industry for Morningstar, an investment research company. "It would have been difficult for the Teamsters to continue."

Hugh Sam said the UFCW might be forced to begin making concessions at the negotiating table before Christmas.

Safeway spokeswoman Sandra Calderon said the company "was pleased that the Teamsters have withdrawn their involvement in this labor dispute."

When the UFCW expanded its picket lines to the distribution centers Nov. 24, the Teamsters immediately announced that they would cut the supply lines to the chains' 860 regional stores in a show of union solidarity.

At the time, Jim Santangelo, president of Teamsters Joint Council 42 in El Monte, described the halt in deliveries as a "silver bullet," saying, "If this doesn't end it, nothing will."

Shoppers at the three big chains immediately saw the amount of goods on store shelves shrink, as a small staff of temporary drivers was pressed to take on extra routes.

At one point, UFCW pickets at some Vons stores said drivers were making one delivery per day, down from an average of three or four before the strike.

Yesterday, Santangelo said his members would continue to honor picket lines in front of Albertsons and Vons outlets, driving trucks only as far as the sidewalk.

He said Teamsters workers would have continued to sit out the dispute if UFCW lines had remained at supply depots, and that there was no pressure by his members to get back to the job.

"This was an act of goodwill (by the UFCW toward the grocery chains) to help move negotiations forward," Santangelo said.

Analysts said they expected supermarkets to be fully stocked by the middle of next week, though they were uncertain if shoppers would flock back to Albertsons and Vons, where pickets remain in place.

The union pulled picket lines at Ralphs stores in late October in a divide-and-conquer strategy to reward the company it deemed the most amenable in talks.

Meanwhile, the latest round of negotiations began yesterday at an undisclosed location after federal mediator Peter Hurtgen spent several days meeting separately with each side, agency spokesman John Arnold said.

It was not clear whether the parties would continue to meet through the weekend, Arnold said.

"During these recesses, the mediator was working the issues with each side, and based on these negotiations he decides whether it would be fruitful to get the people back together face to face," he said. "(Hurtgen's) goal is to keep people talking as long as possible."

During the previous round of talks, which concluded Dec. 8, negotiators met over six days but remained "far apart on all the key issues involved in the dispute, including maintaining affordable health care for working families," the union said.

Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons said they presented a "revised comprehensive offer" to the union during those negotiations but did not receive a counteroffer.

Shares of Vons' parent Safeway closed yesterday at $20.79, up 36 cents, while Albertsons stock rose 27 cents to $21.93 and shares of Ralphs' parent, Kroger, climbed 24 cents to $17.69.

This union is starting to crack. My local Albertson's has been fully stocked. I've noticed no shortage of anything that I buy. The few remaining picketers are noticeably less enthusiastic. They don't even bother trying to persuade shoppers to go to Ralphs or Stater Bros any more.

2 posted on 12/20/2003 5:56:42 AM PST by philetus (Keep doing what you always do and you'll keep getting what you always get)

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