Food 4 Less contract looms as question in labor dispute.

Another front could soon be open in the supermarket strike that's fast approaching its four-month mark.

The three-year contract covering 5,700 unionized Food 4 Less workers in Southern California expires on Feb. 28, and with the larger grocery strike taking priority, negotiations had not even begun as of last week.

The United Food and Commercial Workers, the same union that struck Vons and Pavilions on Oct. 11 and was locked out by Albertsons Inc. and Ralphs the next day, represent unionized employees at Food 4 Less.

Food 4 Less is owned by Kroger Co., which has about 300 Ralphs stores in Southern California affected by the lockout. Kroger has 101 Southern California Food 4 Less locations.

Union officials said last week that they hadn't even decided on a strategy other than waiting in hopes that a settlement with the major chains would be reached by the time the Food 4 Less contract expired.

"We were hoping to see if this other dispute would be resolved," said Rick Icaza, president of the UFCW's L.A.-based Local 770. "If we get a good contract from the chains, we can extend it onto Food 4 Less."

But the chances of getting any contract in the larger standoff are dimming. The sides have been deadlocked for months, as Kroger, Albertsons and Vons and Pavilions parent Safeway Inc. demand major concessions on health benefits and work rules from the union, which continues to resist them.

Informal talks broke off on Jan. 11, after the most recent round of formal discussions overseen by federal mediator Peter Hurtgen were suspended on Dec. 19.

John Arnold, a spokesman for Hurtgen, said he did not anticipate discussions on setting a date to resume negotiations until this week at the earliest.

Currently, Food 4 Less workers make about 90 percent of the wages and 75 percent to 80 percent of the health and pension benefits earned by employees of Ralphs, Albertsons and Vons.

The work is a bit different at Food 4 Less, which sells mainly bulk items stacked by forklift and has customers bag their own groceries.

Kroger spokesman Terry O'Neil did not disclose the chain's negotiating plans. "Kroger considers every negotiation to be a separate animal, so to speak," he said. "There are different contracts, different markets and different circumstances."

Daniel Mitchell, a UCLA professor of management and public policy, said it would be foolish for Kroger to negotiate a contract with Food 4 Less employees while the larger dispute lingers.

Any gains obtained by the UFCW would be used as leverage in the larger dispute, he said, and any such agreement would be a sign of internal tension among the three grocery companies, which have taken a unified stance on the larger strike and lockout.

Union handcuffed

Barring unexpected concessions from Kroger, the UFCW is handcuffed in the Food 4 Less talks. Strong-arm tactics, such as a threat of a strike at Food 4 Less stores or increased picket lines at Ralphs stores (where the union pulled its pickets on Oct. 31), could backfire.

The current dispute has already lasted longer than union leaders predicted, and with the state's unemployment rate still hovering around 6 percent, labor analysts said it's unlikely Food 4 Less employees would authorize a strike.

"Any employee in any unionized industry vaguely related to this dispute would be thinking twice whether now is the time to go on strike and whether a strike would be effective," said Mark Theodore, a partner in Proskauer Rose LLP's L.A. office representing management.

Mitchell said the most likely near-term solution to the Food 4 Less riddle would be a contract extension, or for employees to work without a contract.

Under either scenario, employees would maintain their existing pay and benefits. But without a contract, they would no longer have the right to use arbitration to settle disputes, such as an allegation of wrongful terminations.

Another option is for Kroger to sign a "metoo" agreement that binds Food 4 Less to the existing ratio of pay and benefits agreed upon by the union and the three larger chains.

(The Stater Bros. and Gelson's chains, which operate under the same contract as Ralphs, Albertsons and Vons, signed such an agreement to avoid being targeted by the UFCW in the current dispute.)

"(Those options) wouldn't change the dynamics of the situation because Kroger has been running Food 4 Less all along," said Mitchell. "To me, the contract that has already expired is the main event."