Grocery workers ratify contract

 

Members of Southern California’s grocery union voted to ratify a new contract with Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons on Saturday night, bringing an end to labor negotiations that dragged on for more than eight months and brought tens of thousands of workers to the verge of a strike.

The new contract, said union leaders, will help ensure workers at Ralphs, Albertsons and Vons and Pavilions will stay on the job, and prevent a potentially devestating economic blow to the state’s already shakey economy.

The results came just days after officials from the region’s United Food and Commercial Workers union struck a tentative deal with the three big supermarket chains. Workers cast their ballots on Friday and Saturday, said officials.

“This deal protects our members’ health care and pension, and provides modest increases in wages,” Rick Icaza, president of UFCW Local 770 in Los Angeles, said in a statement Saturday night.

“This is a win for grocery workers, our communities, and our local economy. Without the unity and determination of our members, this deal would not have been possible. And without the unwavering support of consumers and the community, it would have been a much tougher fight. To those supporters, thank you,” Icaza said.

Kendra Doyel, a spokeswoman for Ralphs, said “Ralphs is glad the contract has been ratified and we look forward to doing what our great people do best: serving our customers.”

Officials from the union and the three grocery chains reached the tentative deal after spending more than 24 hours in continual negotiations, which had grown increasingly urgent after a deadline for a possible grocery strike passed last weekend.

One key sticking point was healthcare funding: A key question, for the UFCW and the three employers, was how much each side would have to pay to ensure that a healthcare trust fund covering workers would be economically viable for the long term.

Among the issues resolved in the complicated deal, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, is that grocery workers would pay $7 a week for individual coverage and $15 a week for a family starting next April. (The grocers have previously said these premiums were necessary to help offset rising medical costs.)

The voter turn-out numbers were not made public as of late Saturday. But officials from two of the seven UFCW locals said that both the turn-out and voter support of the deal were high.

The contract covers an estimated 62,000 checkers, baggers, meat cutters and other grocery workers from Santa Maria to the Mexican border. They include employees of Ralphs, which is owned by Kroger Co. of Cincinnati; Vons and Pavilions, owned by Safeway Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif.; and Albertsons, which is owned by SuperValu Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn.

The contract also covers employees at other retailers, including Stater Bros. Markets and Kroger's Food 4 Less, which are negotiating separate deals with the UFCW's locals.

The number of UFCW workers who would have walked out of Ralphs, Vons/Pavilions and Albertsons would have been an estimated 54,000, according to data provided by the three companies.

The labor negotiations had dragged on, in part, because neither side could afford a repeat of the Southern California strike and lockout in 2003-04, which lasted 141 days.

The labor stoppage left many union members with staggering debts, and reportedly cost the employers an estimated $2 billion. It also gave competing grocery stores an opportunity to grab market share—all at a time when the state’s economy was stronger than it currently is.

Indeed, in the years since that labor stoppage, the three big grocers hemorrhaged market share. As of 2004, the chains held nearly 60% of the Southern California grocery trade, according to the research firm Strategic Resource Group in New York. Ralphs, Albertsons and Vons/Pavilions today now hold about 23% of the Southern California market, according to the company.

Their competition has flourished. Farmers markets, discount shops, high-end specialty stores, small independents and big warehouse clubs have eaten into their business. Target Corp. is attacking the grocery business with a vengeance, with 140 of its Southern California stores now carrying fresh groceries.

Grocery workers give notice to end contract extension

In the event of a walkout, the chains' competition would be the big winners

-- P.J. Huffstutter

Photo: Los Angeles Times

Retail Roundup: Sears, Chanel, Martha Stewart

-- Struggling department store giant Sears Holdings Corp. is leasing spaces inside its stores to other companies. Last year, Sears leased about 15% of its store at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa to fast-fashion chain Forever 21. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, the company has recently signed contracts with Western Athletic Clubs for space in a Sears store in Cupertino, Calif., and with a Gonzalez Grocery Store for space in a San Diego Kmart. All told, nearly 4,000 Sears and Kmart stores have space available for lease.

-- Chanel has filed a federal cyberpiracy and trademark infringement lawsuit in Nevada against 399 websites that it is accusing of selling fakes. The suit seeks unspecified damages from unnamed operators of websites that Chanel says operate from China, the Bahamas and overseas jurisdictions. The lawsuit alleges that the sites use Chanel-sounding names and keyword optimization tools to increase their placement in search engine lists.

-- Design maven Martha Stewart is teaming up with Avery Dennison to release a line of office products exclusively at Staples. The line, which will feature 300 items, will debut early next year at more than 1,500 U.S. stores and 330 Canadian stores. The products will also be available online.

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Photo: Sears is leasing out space in its stores to other companies. Credit: Associated Press