Things are getting ugly in the contract dispute between grocery store workers and the grocery store companies in San Diego and across Southern California.
The union says 95 percent of their members have okayed a strike if their negotiators can’t reach an acceptable agreement. One of the lead negotiators for the union is quoted as saying, “These companies can either come to the table ready to negotiate a fair deal or we’re going to have to take this fight elsewhere.”
The union calls what they are doing an “unfair labor practice” action, and they’ve filed claims this month with the National Labor Relations Board that the supermarkets sought to intimidate and illegally influence workers.
As for the grocery store companies, Ralphs says its stores will remain open despite the vote and says. “No one wins in a strike — not our associates, not our company, not our communities and not the union.” Albertsons in a statement says. “We remain committed to negotiating a contract that is fair to all parties.”
The two sides are set to meet this week, and everyone hopes they can settle this thing before it explodes into what happened in late 2003 and early 2004. That’s when a five-month long grocery strike led to confrontations between union members and temporary workers, along with angry customers and broken friendships.
With the economy still healing from the effects of the pandemic, that’s probably one of the last things anyone wants to see.
Photo from 2003: Locked out Ralphs supermarket employee walks the picket line at a Ralphs distribution center at sunrise on December 10, 2003 in Riverside, California. 70,000 supermarket workers from 860 southern California Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons, and Pavilions stores have been on strike or locked out of their jobs since October 7. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
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Photo: Getty Images