FOOD FIGHT FRENZY L.A. FRONT LINE IN GROCERY WAR.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

The strike against Southern California's three leading supermarket chains, entering its 10th full day, has become a battleground for the grocery industry nationwide and likely will last a long time, labor experts said Monday.

Union and market representatives have conducted no talks and shown no sign of budging on their positions, giving every indication that they are digging in for a long strike and lockout despite the economic toll both sides are suffering.

Around-the-clock picketing and increasing numbers of protest rallies have hit the supermarkets hard, and they have responded with discounts on groceries of up to 20 percent, along with other incentives to bring shoppers back.

``The stakes are escalating on both sides, as it doesn't look like either side is caving anytime soon,'' said Kent Wong, a professor and director of the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Los Angeles.

``Supermarket management is convinced that this is the appropriate course, that they must extract these concessions in order for profits to remain high.''

For both the United Food and Commercial Workers, representing 70,000 striking and locked-out workers, and the three major grocery chains - Ralphs, Vons and Albertson's - a lot is at stake locally as well as nationally.

Major changes are occurring in the industry across the United States, largely prompted by the emergence of Wal-Mart and other big-box discounters as legitimate competition in the grocery-shopping industry.

Stores like Wal-Mart have a significant advantage over conventional supermarkets like Albertson's, Safeway Inc.'s Vons and Pavilions, and Kroger's Ralphs because they do not have demanding union contracts for their workers, supermarket officials said.

And with Wal-Mart planning 40 new superstores in Southern California, the big-three supermarkets - in territory where they have one of their largest clusters of stores in the nation, about 900 from San Diego to Santa Barbara - will soon be face to face with a big-box phenomenon that has already struck elsewhere.

``Box stores are a very real threat,'' Archie Fralin, a Kroger spokesman in Roanoke, Va., told The Associated Press. ``Their lower labor costs make it imperative for us to manage costs. That's just a reality.''

The rest of the nation is watching, looking to Southern California for a precedent battle in a larger war that will be fought in markets throughout the country.

The question that others are looking for Southern California to answer is whether supermarkets will succeed in a plan to maintain competition with box stores or give way to powerful unions seeking compromise.

``This is not a Los Angeles fight,'' the Rev. Jesse Jackson told a union crowd at a Crenshaw Ralphs on Monday. ``This is a national fight, an ideological fight.''

As the strike enters its 10th full day this morning, the sides have yet to give any indication they are willing to resume negotiations.

``This strike and lockout has huge implications for the Southern California workplace and throughout the country,'' said UCLA's Wong. ``On the national scene, the fact that Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the country means that they are inevitably setting precedents for competitors to follow the low-wage, low-benefit jobs.''

But Wong added that officials in Southland grocery stores seem to be overstating the threat of Wal-Mart at this point, as it is not yet a ``major player in the supermarket industry here.''

Strikes have already hit in St. Louis and West Virginia, and similar situations could develop in Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona and Indiana in coming months.

As the strike wears on, both sides have hardened their stances. Safeway's chief executive, Steve Burd, said last week that ``they're not going to see a better offer.''

And, in an effort to win back customers Sunday, the supermarkets offered lucrative newspaper coupons for slashed prices, including free eggs at Ralphs, a 20 percent discount at Albertson's and free pumpkins at Vons.

At the same time, the UFCW has been holding rallies throughout Southern California, including two that featured addresses from Jackson.

``Today, while you are locked out in Los Angeles, 10,000 are locked out in St. Louis, into West Virginia, moving toward Chicago,'' Jackson said. ``This is a profound national ... political, ideological struggle to dumb down workers' wages.''

City News Service contributed to this report.

Nicholas Grudin, [phone]

nicholas.grudin(at)dailynews.com