The United Food and Commercial Workers Union decided on Friday
to remove picketers from staging protests in front of Southern
California Ralphs stores ““ including the location in Westwood
““ and redeploy them at Vons and Albertsons supermarkets
instead.
Union officials said they intend to reward those who have
honored the picket lines by removing the presence of picketers at
Ralphs and allowing consumers to shop there.
However, UFCW representatives said they intend to continue to
pressure the Safeway-owned Vons and Albertsons Inc. to come back to
the negotiating table. The union has stated that these supermarkets
are the primary targets.
Negotiations between Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons and the UFCW
ended Oct. 5. The strike began on Oct. 11, and there are no
immediate plans to resume talks between the two sides.
Union and store officials are disputing over wages for new hires
and healthcare benefits.
Rick Icaza, UFCW Local 770 president, said the union’s new
“divisive” approach was adopted to force Vons and
Albertsons to “rethink their positions.”
Some students were confused by the union’s newly adopted
strategy.
Dario Soto, a fourth-year history student, honored the picket
lines at Ralphs for the past three weeks despite longer commutes to
alternate stores and the general inconvenience.
Soto believes the union’s decision to pull picketers from
Ralphs might convey the wrong idea to the public.
“I don’t think it was a good decision to stop
picketing in front of Ralphs, because people will assume that
everything has been resolved,” he said, adding that he feared
the union’s goals might be undermined.
“I guess I’m going to wait till everything is
resolved,” he said.
Some students said they intend to resume shopping at Ralphs in
light of the union’s actions.
Jorge Assam, a fourth-year political science and history
student, has not crossed the picket lines since the strike began
but now intends to shop at Ralphs.
“(The picketers) made me feel guilty,” Assam said,
adding he had frequently shopped at Ralphs before the strike
began.
One student said he would abstain from shopping at Ralphs,
drawing parallels between the ongoing grocer’s strike and his
own family’s experience.
Marcos Zamora, a fourth-year English student, recalled his
turbulent high school years when his father’s union went on
strike against ConAgra Foods, Inc., one of North America’s
largest packaged food companies.
“I feel a strong connection with the strikers. (The strike
experience) changed my views about life, politics and how people
can be devastated economically,” he said, adding that he
intends to go to other stores to get his groceries until the labor
dispute is resolved.
With reports from Bruin wire services.