2003 BUSINESS: STRIKES DEAL L.A. DOUBLE WHAMMY NO RIDE, SORE FEET, NO TIDE, NO MEAT.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

Two concurrent strikes brought Los Angeles buses and trains to a screeching halt and choked business out of the region's three largest grocery chains in 2003, pitting thousands of union workers against their employers and wreaking havoc everywhere from the interstate to the dinner plate.

It was a perfect storm of labor strife that refocused the public eye on employment issues after decades of disinterest. Just days after 70,000 United Food and Commercial Workers supermarket employees walked out of Ralphs, Vons and Albertson's, 2,000 Metropolitan Transportation Authority mechanics struck, too.

``The strikes focused the public's attention on a segment of society that had been forgotten,'' said Daniel Mitchell, a professor of management and policy studies at the Anderson School of the University of California, Los Angeles. ``People don't perceive labor and unions and bargaining as a central economic phenomenon anymore ... (but) when you suddenly have this convergence of labor disputes, there is an elevation of interest.''

Moreover, the central theme of both contract disputes was health care, a topic that has become one of the most divisive policy problems in the nation. How will a socioeconomic system that relies on employer-provided health care cope with rapidly rising costs?

``It's an issue that has been simmering for more than a decade - we have a health-care insurance system that is heavily centered on the employment relationship,'' Mitchell said.

Supermarket strife

On Oct. 11, after last-ditch efforts to resolve several contract disagreements, grocery workers struck against Vons and Pavilions stores from San Diego to Santa Barbara. The next day, Ralphs and Albertson's, which are covered by the same union contract, locked out their employees.

In all, 70,000 clerks stopped work at 859 stores, about 60 percent of the region's grocery retail industry.

With support from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, whose drivers halted deliveries from the stores' distribution centers, the strike was successful in restricting the delivery of food to the supermarkets during the Thanksgiving holiday. The cost to the companies is yet undisclosed, but analysts say it could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Moreover, it was a watershed event for owners of independent stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Gelson's, who saw elevated business.

It was the first grocery clerks strike in Southern California in 25 years, and experts view it as a precedent to similar labor struggles that will soon be waged from Washington, D.C. to Portland, Ore. Executives of the supermarkets say that with Wal-Mart primed to enter the Southern California grocery business, and as health care costs rise, they need to cut costs in order to compete.

``It's huge because of the whole situation with Wal-Mart. It's really setting the stage for the nation,'' said Phil Lempert, editor of Supermarketguru.com. ``The rest of the country is watching what's going on here.''

Transportation turmoil

Arguably more disruptive to Angelenos' daily lives - although not as lengthy or widespread - was the MTA's work stoppage.

In mid-October, the MTA mechanics went on strike, shutting down bus and rail operations for five weeks and leaving more than 400,000 riders stranded as bus drivers, clerks and supervisors honored the picket line.

Public transit users struggled to get to work, schools and appointments - some shelling out cash to pay for rides.

``In terms of having an impact on the lives of people, the MTA strike dwarfs the supermarket thing. It was much more urgent,'' Mitchell said. ``Although it was only 4 or 5 percent of the population, for that group it had a devastating effect.''

The 35-day strike, primarily over preserving the union's generous health-care benefits, was settled only after the MTA and the mechanics' Amalgamated Transit Union agreed to turn the divisive health issue over to a nonbinding arbitration panel.

The two sides otherwise agreed to a 7 percent pay increase and an additional paid holiday over the 45-month contract.

The agency has yet to reach new agreements with its bus drivers and clerks unions.

The impact

But despite the disruptive effects of both strikes, the region's economy absorbed them in stride, according to Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

The real damage was to the consumer, who was stuck in traffic, looking for a ride, searching for Thanksgiving fixings at a foreign grocery store - or coping with a combination of those problems.

``You're dealing with a very large economy, and overall things worked. But there were a lot of people who had trouble getting around,'' Kyser said. ``Consumers were disrupted. They were annoyed, and in some cases, they lost disposable income because groceries cost more.''

Staff Writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.