It was another day on the streets for dozens of employees of the
Westwood Ralphs.
At times Monday afternoon, there were more temporary employees
than customers in Ralphs, as dozens of picketers outside the
student-frequented grocery store urged community members to take
their business elsewhere.
Holding a neon green sign that read “Honk 4
Support,” Sayda Lopez, a 22-year-old student at West Los
Angeles College and Ralphs employee, said the strike is “so
far, so good.”
In a five-minute period, dozens of cars honked.
The grocers, who are members of the union United Food and
Commercial Workers Local 1442, went on strike late Saturday, along
with about 70,000 other employees of the Southern California stores
for Safeway Inc.’s Vons and Pavilions, Kroger Co.’s
Ralphs, and Albertsons Inc.
Grocery workers at Kroger stores in Kentucky, West Virginia and
Ohio voted to begin a strike at midnight Monday. Kroger officials
said if these employees strike, it would close its 44 stores in the
three states.
Last week, 10,000 UFCW members went on strike at
Missouri’s three largest grocery chains.
In Southern California, strikers have said they will not go back
to work until Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons improve health
benefits for all employees and increase pay rates for new
hires.
The strike’s effect on the Westwood Ralphs has been mixed.
Some patrons have opted to shop at non-union grocers like Whole
Foods Market and Trader Joe’s. Others shopped at Ralphs, but
said service quality had decreased.
“I couldn’t find something, and there was no one to
help me,” said Chery Zandi, 28, who was shopping with her two
toddlers.
“It was too slow,” she added.
Before the UFCW union began striking, Ralphs was training
temporary employees to perform jobs left vacant by strikers. Once
the union went on strike, Ralphs locked out all employees who were
union members.
Amy Yeshurun, a regular shopper at Ralphs, said she visited the
store during the middle of the day to avoid the long lines that
have been caused by inexperienced employees.
“You could tell the cashier doesn’t usually
cashier,” she said.
Not all Ralphs temporary employees are new to their jobs. Sharon
Freeman, who was working at the coffee bar on Monday, worked at
Ralphs for 14 months before leaving last year to obtain a teaching
credential. When strike talks began, she said store director Mike
Quinones asked her to come back when he saw her shopping at the
store.
Freeman said business was slower than usual Monday afternoon.
She attributed the decrease in business to the picketers in front
of Ralphs.
“If you watch what they are doing out there, they are
basically chasing people away,” she said.
At about 2 p.m., more than two dozen picketers stood in front of
a Ralphs truck as it attempted to pull into the loading dock
between Ralphs and the Geffen Playhouse. Shouting and cheering, the
strikers prevented the truck from pulling off Le Conte Avenue for
one minute, backing up traffic in both directions.
Ralphs spokesman Terry O’Neil said Ralphs does not discuss
revenue, but that all stores will remain open and “business
is better today than it was yesterday.”
Richard Cowan, secretary treasurer for UFCW Local 1442, said
strikes would continue until the three grocery chains agreed to
resume contract negotiations.
“We hope that with the amount of business we have pushed
to other places, they are going to feel the hurt and go back to the
bargaining table and draft something reasonable,” said Cowan,
a UCLA alumnus.
Knowing that Southern California union members are not receiving
paychecks while on strike, Cowan said, “The sooner
(negotiations begin), the better.”