![]() The state has sued the chains, alleging that the agreement violated federal antitrust laws. Kroger, which also owns the Food 4 Less chain, paid a combined $146 million to Albertsons and Vons, according to the California attorney general’s office. Under the agreement, Ralphs, which was the target of picket lines for only a portion of the dispute, channeled money to Albertsons and Vons, grocers that suffered large drops in sales because of the job action. District Court in Santa Ana over a mutual-aid pact they used to blunt losses from the labor dispute. The three chains face an antitrust trial this year in U.S. Negative publicity with customers and continuing legal problems from the previous work stoppage will put pressure on the big grocery companies to settle quickly and peaceably, Posner said. The UFCW will argue in the talks and in the media that it had signed “a reasonable settlement with Stater Bros.” and that recalcitrance by the other companies would prove how “unwilling they are to come to grips with reality,” said Michael Posner, a Los Angeles attorney who represents labor. ![]() Other labor experts believe that the early agreement with Stater will give the union leverage when it sits down with the larger chains. Labor experts said the Stater contract probably contained a clause that would extend to the chain any concessions made by the union in its contracts with the larger grocers. “If you are a large player, you are not going to care what the union did with a smaller guy,” said Jeff Berman, a Los Angeles labor attorney who typically represents management in other industries.īerman believes that the pact could give the three major chains an incentive to obtain “a better deal to put economic pressure on the smaller player.”īut Stater CEO Brown said he would never sign a deal that would put his company at an economic disadvantage. Labor experts were divided about whether this early contract with Stater would affect the wider negotiations. But instead of raises, they received a series of bonus payments that lacked the compounding effect of annual percentage increases. Veteran employees held on to their wages and most of their health benefits. The strike and lockout, which extended into Central California, ended after the union and management agreed on the two-tier pay system. When the UFCW’s talks with Ralphs, Vons/Pavilions and Albertsons stalled three years ago, the union struck Vons and the two other chains immediately locked out their own union workers. Local 770 has contracts at four Stater stores covering 400 employees. agreement.Īlthough he said he believed that the tentative pact with Stater was “a step in the right direction,” Local 770 President Rick Icaza said, “We don’t think it goes far enough for those grocery workers whose wages have been stagnant for the past few years.” UFCW Local 770 in Los Angeles, however, has not signed on to the Stater Bros. Ralphs has 263 stores and about 21,000 employees. Ralphs spokesman Terry O’Neil declined to comment on the labor negotiations except to say that the chain had approached each of the seven UFCW locals with dates to begin talks. “We are pleased to start talking,” she said. Labor costs are the single largest expense for a traditional grocery store, Dowling said.Īlbertsons, with 250 stores and 23,000 workers in the region, will begin contract talks with UFCW Local 324 in Orange County on Tuesday and has invited Vons and Ralphs representatives to the meeting, even though they won’t take part in the negotiations, said Stephanie Martin, an Albertsons spokeswoman. Vons, which has 273 stores and 24,000 employees in Southern California, contends that it must contain expenses to remain competitive with discounters, which historically have offered lower wages and benefits than the region’s grocery chains. Noting that two-tier wage systems are common in UFCW contracts nationwide, Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling said, “Vons will negotiate a deal that we can live with and allows us to remain competitive in the marketplace both in the near and long term.” Greg Conger, president of Local 324 in Buena Park, said that at a minimum, the tentative pact with Stater would tell UFCW members at Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons “that a good employer can step up to the plate.”īut representatives of the major market chains did not seem inclined Friday to concede ground to the union. ![]()
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