Gillian Russom, Los Angeles
After four months and 18 days on strike and locked out, grocery workers in Southern California voted on February 28 to accept a new three-year contract. Voting on the contract was confined to a single day, in which the workers, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), received the contract and had to decide how to vote.
Although 59,000 workers were involved in the strike and lockout, just 17,000 votes were required to approve the contract — and union leaders claimed an 86% "yes" vote.
The contract concedes on almost all the major demands by the nation's biggest grocery chains — Kroger Co., owner of the Ralphs chain in Southern California; Safeway Inc., which operates Vons and Pavilions stores in the region, and the Albertsons Inc. chain.
On health care — the key issue in the strike — the contract gives the companies a 50% share in administering the health-care fund, which had previously been union-run. The deal caps employers' contributions to the fund, which means that employees will pay all future increases in health care costs beyond a specified amount.
The contract also establishes a two-tier wage scale, which will lower the top hourly pay for new hires by US$2.80 for food clerks and meat cutters and $1.12 for meat clerks. Under the old contract, top pay was $17.90 for veteran workers.
The new wage scales also reduce the company's contributions to the pension fund, which will affect the retirement of all workers. The contract offers no raises, but instead gives senior employees two lump-sum payments, worth about $500 each for full-time workers.
Workers who attended the contract ratification meetings were furious to hear that Safeway may lay off any workers at Vons with less than 10 years' seniority, and that the union plans to take no punitive action against its members who crossed the picket line.
Unless unions can mount a stronger fight, the deal is expected to set a pattern for grocery contracts in Northern California — set to expire this summer — and around the country. Workers overwhelmingly approved the contract — not because they are satisfied with it, but because they are in desperate financial straits after a long strike.
Maria Carpio, a Ralphs employee for eight years, explained on the day of the ratification vote. "We've struggled so hard. You can see the skin is peeling on my face from so many weeks outdoors. I almost lost my car. I had to leave my apartment because they kicked me out just for paying the rent three days late. I'm not very happy [with the contract] but it's better than nothing. We cannot afford to stay on strike so I voted yes."
Although some workers believed that a defeat was inevitable given the strength of the grocery companies, Adrian, a Ralphs employee, disagreed. "If the union was stronger, we could have gotten something better. They need to get rid of the leadership — Icaza and his cronies. We're going to have a meeting to talk about reforming our union."
Although workers are demoralised and worried about returning to work after a defeat, they have learned a tremendous amount from this struggle. They have built bonds of solidarity with their coworkers, and some have become convinced of the need to be more active. "This will teach people to go more to the [union] meetings to know what's going on", said Sanchez. "This experience has shown us that we have to be involved in the union."
[Reprinted from Socialist Worker, the newspaper of the US International Socialist Organisation. Visit <http://www.socialistworker.org>
From Green Left Weekly, March 10, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.