Ugh ANOTHER supermarket strike in SoCal?

[JS80]

Ugh supermarket margins are less than 2% what is wrong with these people? They want to drive their employer out of business like they are doing to the american car companies?

I am going to cross the picket line just like I did last time.

link

Supermarket unions walk out of talks

Union officials representing 65,000 supermarket workers walked away from contract talks Wednesday after three chains said they would join together and lock out employees at their Southern California stores if any of the chains becomes the target of a strike.

"We've broken off negotiations at this point and we're regrouping to discuss our options," said Mike Shimpock, a spokesman for the seven Southern California chapters of the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Shimpock said the supermarkets' move was a threat against their employees and the community.

"Locking out employees -- that's exactly what they did in 2003 and 2004," he said, referring to a prolonged labor dispute then.

The pact by Supervalu Inc.'s Albertsons, Kroger Co.'s Ralphs and Safeway Inc.'s Vons followed a vote last week by employees of Albertsons to give union leaders the authority to call a strike.

Three-year contracts covering workers at the chains' 785 stores from San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield south to San Diego expire on Monday. The pact has already been extended twice.

Under the markets' pact, if the union orders a selective strike against one of the chains, the other two would lock out employees within 48 hours. The companies also agreed to provide financial assistance to chains with employees who walk out.

"The decision to sign the agreement was made only after, and in response to, the unions' strike threat," Adena Tessler, a spokeswoman for the supermarkets said in a statement. "While none of us wants a work stoppage, the unions' recent strike authorization and threats of future strike votes must be taken seriously."

The union locals decided to seek a strike authorization vote against Albertsons because it has been engaged in talks with the union since Jan. 17 -- the longest of any of the chains.

Tessler did not elaborate on the specifics of the financial assistance component of the chains' pact.

A similar mutual aid agreement forged between the three supermarket chains during their labor dispute with the union in 2003 prompted the California attorney general to file an antitrust lawsuit against the companies.

The lawsuit, which is still pending, alleged the chains' pact violated antitrust laws and hurt consumers by discouraging competitive pricing.

The markets have maintained that federal labor laws governing collective bargaining shielded them from liability.

Labor talks this time have been structured differently. Each company is pursuing a separate contract with each union chapter.

Tessler said the companies consider the union's vote for a strike authorization against Albertsons a breach of that separate negotiating framework.

"The unions are acting in a unified strategic way in order to bring imbalance to the negotiations, and the companies feel it is within their legal rights and it is in the best interest of the negotiation process to restore that balance," Tessler said.

During the 2003 labor dispute, union leaders ordered a strike against Vons and Pavilions stores. Albertsons and Ralphs responded by locking out their employees. In all, about 59,000 workers were idled at 859 stores.

The strike and lockout lasted more than four months and cost the grocery chains more than $2 billion by some estimates.