California grocery strike updates

In the Washington Post a few days ago, Kimberly Edds wrote: “No End in Sight for California Grocery Workers’ Strike”

The Southern California grocery workers’ strike, which has 70,000 workers on the street, continues to drag on with seemingly no end in sight. Four days of secret talks between the two sides broke up Jan. 11 with only “limited progress” being made . . . .

As the strike lengthens, it has become an important battle for organized labor, which is struggling to remain relevant in one of the few remaining industries in which workers with limited education can earn a respectable living with medical benefits. . . .

The striking and locked-out workers — mostly women and minorities — say they can’t give up the fight. Giving in means saying goodbye to the middle-class existence that the grocery industry has provided to workers across the country for decades.

“If we don’t get what we’re fighting for, the whole health care for American workers is going to go down,” strike captain Sue Beauregard said as she shifted her picket sign from one shoulder to another outside the Vons on Santa Monica Boulevard. . . .

A federal mediator hopes to bring the two sides back to the table by the end of the month, Maynard said. Repeated calls to negotiators for the supermarket chains were not returned. . . .

As the standoff continues, workers aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch — losses at more than 800 grocery stores across Southern California are mounting. With many customers unwilling to cross picket lines, fruit and vegetables are rotting on the shelves. Loaves of bread are going stale. And T-bone steaks and fresh fish can be had for a fraction of their normal price as managers try to hustle them out the door before their expiration date.

And when the strike does finally end, the supermarkets are going to have to come to grips with the fact that some customers might not come back — having gotten used to shopping at specialty grocery and warehouse stores during the strike as a show of support for the striking and locked-out workers. . . .

And then the LA Times wrote: “AFL-CIO throws muscle into dispute; Fight with grocers ratcheting up a bit” (from Houston Chronicle):

The AFL-CIO is taking control of national strategy for the California supermarket strike and lockout, assigning two veterans of labor wars to turn around a battle in which employers seem to have gained the upper hand.
The campaign will be led by Richard Trumka, who played a pivotal role in resolving the West Coast port lockout, and Ron Judd, who orchestrated AFL-CIO protests at the turbulent World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle.

(Hmm. . . I don’t seem to recall those two episodes as being particularly fruitful for anyone involved. . . .)

The plan is to pressure the supermarket companies by hounding executives and directors with phone calls and visits, staging demonstrations across the United States — including a pray-in outside the Northern California home of the chief executive of Safeway — and persuading major investors in grocery stocks, such as pension funds, to take stands in the union’s favor.

“We have our work cut out for us,” Trumka, the national labor federation’s secretary-treasurer, said in an interview this week, “but I predict that three months from now there will be a whole different attitude out there.”

Rich, buddy, that’s a long time to ask these workers to hold out!

On Tuesday, AFL-CIO leaders called for a national boycott of Safeway-owned markets.

United Food and Commercial Workers union officials said they welcomed the AFL-CIO’s heightened participation on the tactical side, characterizing the federation’s plan as an expansion of a strategy the grocery workers union had already set in motion. . . .

The AFL-CIO’s intercession comes after two failed attempts by the United Food and Commercial Workers to get contract negotiations back on track. As the strike and lockout in Central and Southern California moved into its fourth month with no resolution in sight, tensions among leaders of the seven grocery union locals involved have become increasingly apparent.

Observers were not convinced that the AFL-CIO’s aggressive tactics would bring about a labor-friendly conclusion.

I’d be one of those observers. Whatever the conclusion, this strike seems to be well past the point at which a win-win settlement is possible. No way any improvements in contract terms the workers gain can make up for their lost pay; no way any more reasonable terms the stores gain (compared to pre-strike union demands) can make up for their lost profits. So it’s going to be lose-lose, and just a question of who is the bigger loser. Very unfortunate situation. I’m happy it was resolved more quickly here in St. Louis.

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