Food 4 Less stores in forefront to receive help from AFL-CIO trusts.

The AFL-CIO last week targeted damaged Food 4 Less supermarkets as one of the first riot-damaged areas to receive some of the $75 million set aside for rebuilding.

According to John Hanley, an investment officer at the Building Investment Trust in Washington, D.C., a team in Los Angeles "looked at three different sites" of supermarkets owned by Food 4 Less.

Money for rebuilding will come from two union trust funds, the Housing Investment Trust and the Building Investment Trust, which have combined assets of about $685 million. The trusts invest the money of more than 300 pension funds on a nationwide basis into "socially progressive" projects.

The work in Los Angeles, Hanley advised, "at this point is still in the early stages." And the amount of money going to the Food 4 Less stores has not been determined yet, he said.

Food 4 Less, with 12 stores still closed due to looting and fires, was one of the hardest hit businesses during the riot.

The damaged food markets have been identified as "a top priority" by Bill Robertson, executive secretary of the L.A. County Federation of Labor. "There is an urgent need for the markets to be functioning. They provide well-paying permanent jobs," he said.

Robertson cautioned that it could take time to process the loans. "They've (the AFL-CIO Building Trust officials) got to exercise some degree of prudence as to how these loans are made. They have to afford protection to the trust," he said.

While the commercial surveying is still under way, the residential inspection teams are not far behind.

"We're sending out another team for housing," said Hanley, "to keep both balls going at the same time."

The AFL-CIO committed the money to both commercial and residential areas, but has yet to determine how much will go to each. Though trust representatives say July is the earliest money could be available, it is not soon enough for some in the ailing construction industry.

"We're still waiting," said Richard Slawson, a business representative for the L.A. County Building Trades Council. "We've been surprised that it's taking so long," he continued. But, he conceded, "there are so many regulations, things tend to move slow in the construction industry."

The building council's 100,000 construction-worker members would directly benefit in the rebuilding, though Slawson believes that process will take time and "not a lot of construction jobs will be created." He noted the riot areas have few multimillion-dollar projects. "A supermarket is maybe $3 million or $4 million," he said.

In other relief efforts, the AFL-CIO continued food drops to the riot-affected areas. Supplies, funded by donations from local unions, were delivered to Korean families and, most recently, to the Oriental Mission Church in South Central Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, as negotiations continue to stall between the Hotel & Restaurant Employees Union and the Hotel & Restaurant Employers Council, the Local 11 union scheduled a Westside march last week to demand better wages and health care benefits with a new emphasis on the riot's impact on jobs.

The union, which has been deadlocked in contract talks over increased wages, job security and health benefits since April 15, had before the riot planned staged civil disobedience demonstrations to get their message out. Now, tactics are aimed at the rebuilding effort.

"We will try to guarantee that the jobs generated by the Rebuild L.A. effort are good jobs," said Matthew Walker, Local 11 spokesman. Local 11 President Maria Elena Durazo is a member of the Rebuild L.A. committee, he said.

The city government's efforts to market Los Angeles to tourists "is not going to succeed if there is still labor unrest here," Walker said.