Clerks’ Union, Chains Negotiate as Deadline for Walkout Nears

Negotiators for 45,000 supermarket clerks and six major Southern California grocery chains bargained late Friday in an attempt to reach a new contract and avert a strike that would affect about 850 stores from the Mexican border to San Luis Obispo.

The stores are Albertson’s, Lucky, Ralphs, Safeway, Stater Bros. and Vons.

At 9 p.m., several union officials said they were guardedly optimistic that a settlement could be reached. Rick Icaza, president of Local 770 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, said significant progress had been made on some issues.

But his colleague, John Sperry, president of Local 324 of the union, said “a lot of sticky issues” were still unresolved.

David Willauer, spokesman for the Food Employers Council, bargaining agent for the markets, also said “major headway” had been made on some key points. He said he was not sure, however, whether the talks could be concluded by the midnight deadline. Union officials had said earlier that if an agreement was not reached by then, a strike would be launched initially against Ralphs Grocery Co., which has 127 stores in Southern California.

Federal mediator Frank Allen said that if the two sides were making progress but had not wrapped up the talks at midnight, he would ask the union to extend the deadline.

In the negotiations, union leaders have said their members’ concerns had to be addressed by management on several issues, including job security, health and welfare benefits, wages and transfer rights in the event of store closings.

A major sticking point in the talks has been the union’s resistance to management’s attempts to expand the jurisdiction of what is known as a general merchandise clerk. Such a person traditionally handles “non-food” items and the top pay for this position is $8.16 an hour. The Food Employers Council wants these employees to also be able to handle peanuts and drink mixes.

The union is balking on the ground that this will lead to further erosion of the amount of work there is for food clerks, who receive a top wage of $12.55 an hour. “We still have a long way to go on that issue,” John Sperry, president of Buena Park-based Food and Commercial Workers Local 324, said Friday. “The companies are trying to get more and more work done at lower rates of pay.”

Most Not Full Time

More than two-thirds of Southern California supermarket workers do not have full-time jobs, and the union average is 28-30 hours of work, making job security a pre-eminent issue for the union.

David Willauer, spokesman for the Food Employers Council, has consistently taken the position that the change the markets are seeking is not substantial and will not have a major impact on many workers, while acknowledging that the shift would save the stores money. The two sides appeared close to a resolution of that problem at 9 p.m. Friday.

Another contentious issue has been the union’s demand that management remove from the collective bargaining agreement what is known as a “favored nations” clause. This provision of the contract, added at management’s insistence during the 1984 negotiations, provides that if the union grants conditions more favorable to any other store than it has given Food Employers Council stores, they automatically get the same conditions.

Willauer said the chains need this clause to protect them from being undercut by new stores given a better deal by the union. But Food and Commercial Workers leaders say the clause has made it difficult for them to organize new stores and made it impossible for them to offer needed concessions to smaller, independent markets.

‘Gotta Be Gone’

Sperry said Friday there could be no compromise on this issue. “It’s gotta be gone,” he said. “It’s the national policy of our union.”

On the other hand, he said, there was room for compromise on the issue of medical benefits. The employers want to reduce their contribution to the medical plan by 50 cents an hour per employee. Willauer asserted that this change will not endanger benefit levels because the plan has a $140-million surplus. He said that if the reserves drop below $60 million, the employer contribution automatically would go up.

But Sperry said the Food Employers Council proposal is too drastic. “We’re willing to adjust it (the reserve), but we’re not willing to give it all away without getting something.”

Union leaders also said Friday night that major progress had been made on this issue, too.

The unions also have said they want greater rights for their members to be able to transfer to other stores within a chain in the event a store closes.

The two sides had not reached an agreement on wages as of 9 p.m., but said they believed that they could reach an agreement by the midnight deadline. The union has asked for a 96-cent wage increase over the next 15 months. The employers have called for a three-year wage freeze but would pay lump-sum bonuses of up to $500 in each of the three years.

Willauer said if there is a strike, the Food Employers Council stores “will continue to operate and provide their usual high level of service.” The stores have been advertising for temporary replacements for several weeks and training potential strikebreakers.

In the event of a strike, not all Southern California markets will be affected. Boys, Hughes, Mayfair and the Big Bear chain in San Diego all have signed interim agreements with the union, whereby they have agreed to accept whatever settlement the Food and Commercial Workers reach with the Food Employers Council. Additionally, the union granted Alpha Beta an extension of its contract until 10 days after it reaches a settlement with the Food Employers Council.