Grocery Clerks March to End Labor Strike

By ALEX VEIGA
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 31, 2004; 11:58 PM

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Thousands of Southern California grocery clerks, many struggling under the financial strain of a nearly four-month-long supermarket strike, rallied with supporters from other unions Saturday to urge store owners to return to the bargaining table.

Police in riot gear lined the sidewalk as protesters marched, chanting "The mighty, mighty union!" before a rally outside a Vons supermarket in Inglewood, near Los Angeles. Police estimated the crowd at about 14,000.

The demonstration was one of several staged in recent weeks by leaders of the grocery clerks' union in a bid to restart stalled talks with Albertsons Inc., Kroger Co. and Safeway Inc. Both sides remain deadlocked over contract issues, particularly the cost and scope of health benefits.

"I think what happens here will set the trend for other workers," said Dave Gillotte, a Los Angeles County firefighter and president of the local firefighters' union.

The march came a day after state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said he would sue the supermarket companies Monday on grounds that a financial mutual-aid pact struck by their Southern California chains violates antitrust laws and has harmed consumers. The companies have denied any wrongdoing.

"This kind of corporate misbehavior breeds acts of revolutionary outrage," Lockyer told cheering union members at Saturday's rally. "I have a duty to grocery shoppers to see prices aren't illegally and unlawfully raised because of these grocery chains."

Grocery clerks went on strike or were locked out on Oct. 11 at Albertsons stores, Kroger's Ralphs stores and Safeway's Vons and Pavilions stores in Southern California. Some 70,000 supermarket employees affected by the labor dispute have seen their strike pay cut and their health care benefits expire in recent weeks.

The chains have lost tens of millions of dollars in sales but have been able to keep stores open with replacement workers.

Michele Wantink, 52, who has worked at a Vons in Orange County for nearly 20 years, said the rally raised her spirits after weeks on the picket lines.

"It lifts me up," she said. "It's about a promise I kept and the company didn't keep - retirement, health care. They are going back on their word."