Business taken elsewhere for strike

Deepa Bharath

Several shoppers took their business to local Stater Bros.

supermarkets on Monday after employees of three major supermarket

chains went on strike late Saturday, protesting a contract that they

say would cut their health benefits by half.

Vons employees staged a walkout on Saturday after leaders of the

70,000-strong United Food and Commercial Workers union and

representatives from the chains hit a cul de sac during negotiations,

which lasted one day.

Ralphs and Albertsons locked out workers after the walkout at Vons

because all three chains were bargaining as one unit, officials said.

Workers were going to strike at one chain to give customers the

option of shopping at the other two chains, but employers said that a

strike against one of them would be viewed as a strike against all.

Employers maintain that the union rejected a contract that was not

final and that employers had made provisions in the proposed contract

for wage increases and increased contributions toward employee

benefits and pension funds.

On day three of the strike, the chains were trying to operate

normally with workers picketing outside and dissuading shoppers from

entering.

Vons spokesman Daymond Rice said the chain’s “contingency plans

are working well.”

“[On Sunday] we operated from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.,” he said. “And [on

Monday] we’re open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. So we’re operating as

normally as possible.”

Shoppers at Stater Bros. on Newport Boulevard said they had to

“respect the picket line.”

“I usually go to the Vons on 17th Street,” said Judy Cookson, a

Newport Beach resident. “But I believe the union’s demands are fair.

I have to respect that.”

Even those who normally shop at Stater Bros. said they support the

striking employees.

Bob Myers of Costa Mesa said he believes the employees “have the

right to keep the status quo at least.”

“This is my regular place,” he said, as he walked out with his bag

of groceries. “But I think these workers’ demands are just.”

Heidi Douglas, a Costa Mesa resident, said she had shopped at that

Stater Bros. for 10 years and has “never seen it so crowded on a

Monday afternoon.”

“I would never cross the picket line though,” she said. “I respect

the union. They work hard to pull their ranks up from bagger to

checker. Unions are there for a reason -- to help these workers.”

It is too early to tell if Stater Bros. is actually benefiting

from the strike, company President Jack Brown said.

“We are seeing increased activity in some stores, but no impact in

a majority of our stores,” he said.

Many people who usually shop in one of the three chains must have

“stocked up” with the looming strike, Brown said.

“So we’ll probably feel the impact once their stock has run out,”

he said. “We’ll have to wait till, maybe, the end of the week.”

But Brown said a strike benefits nobody in the long run.

“It’s not good for the employer,” he said. “It’s not good for the

employee. It’s not good for the customer or the communities we

serve.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].