SHOPPERS TORN BY STRIKE NEARLY 70,000 WORKERS AFFECTED AT THREE CHAINS IN SOUTHLAND.Byline: Grace Lee and Heather MacDonald Staff Writers Shoppers throughout Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, felt the strain of labor relations Sunday as they stood in line and watched newly hired supermarket clerks plow through to execute a difficult or laborious task steadily, esp. one containing many parts; as, he plowed through the stack of correspondence until all had been answered. See also: Plow their first day on the job. The supermarket workers went on strike late Saturday after union representatives and store officials failed to reach a compromise on a key issue of health care coverage. Safeway Inc.'s Vons, Ralphs and Albertson's - the major supermarket chains affected by the strike - said they would keep hundreds of stores open throughout Southern California with managers and temporary workers. In the parking lot of a Woodland Hills Ralphs, Peggy Olson, 48, said her sympathies lay not with the picketers but their replacements. ``I feel sorry for the poor people inside. Some people don't have any patience with them. But everyone has to learn sometime,'' Olson said. Inside the supermarket, clerks worked the checkout machines with hesitation. Nearly 70,000 clerks, cashiers, stockers, bakers, butchers and boxers who work at about 900 stores from Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. to San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. decided late Saturday night to picket Vons and its Pavilions stores. The other two chains, Ralphs and Albertson's, locked workers out starting at 9 a.m. Sunday morning Sunday Morning may refer to:
Olson said she had no problem crossing the picket line to make her weekly shopping trip. Loading about $100 worth of groceries into her car, she said, ``I think unions have outlived their usefulness.'' Donald Macari, 33, said he also crossed the picket line at a neighboring Vons - but only because he had no choice. ``I'm just here to get some baby formula,'' he said. Macari saw the dispute as a power struggle that left the clerks with no choice but to strike. ``But I have to take care of my 2-month-old baby, Autumn. That's my priority - just like these fine people are looking out for their families.'' Dawn Berger, 49, in Mission Hills said that as a legally blind woman she was caught between her limited choices of markets within walking distance and her sympathies for the clerks. However, the reaction she met from strikers at her local Vonsleft her angry with both sides of the dispute. ``I felt a little guilty at going in, and I said I'm sorry, but I'm blind,'' she said. However, the strikers - with increasing hostility - told her to go to other stores. ``The companies don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. about shoppers, and the workers don't, either,'' she said. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Patty Baker, a 28-year Vons employee who held a picket sign outside a Santa Clarita market, the stores also left workers limited options. ``It has to stop somewhere,'' Baker said. ``We understand that the stores have to make a profit, but we will not let them do it at our expense.'' A Santa Clarita Trader Joe's, a chain not affected by the strike and lockout lockout, intentional closing up of a company, factory, or shop by an employer to prevent employees from working during a strike or labor dispute. The term lockout , was packed all day with shoppers, despite long lines and packed parking lots, employees said. In some cases, supermarket clerks picketed stores while many held signs at shopping center entrances. Police in some areas said they received calls from drivers who found it difficult to get into parking lots. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department The Ventura County Sheriff's Department (VCSD) provides law enforcement for the unincorporated areas of Ventura County, California, USA, as well as several cities within the county. The cities that VCSD serves are Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, and Thousand Oaks. said that tires were slashed Sunday on the cars of replacement workers at a Vons in Ojai. Officials of the Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . said they have a labor relations team to help deal with any disputes that may arise. After last-ditch talks involving a federal mediator broke apart, many of the union's 70,000 clerks began picketing. At issue is the amount that workers pay for health benefits. The chains want workers to pay more for health benefits, citing a slumping economy, rising health care costs and increased competition from nonunion nonunion /non·union/ (non-un´yun) failure of the ends of a fractured bone to unite. non·un·ion n. The failure of a fractured bone to heal normally. rivals such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Vons President Tom Keller said the supermarkets' proposal does not call for wage reductions and asks employees to pay $5 a week for individual health coverage and $10 to $15 a week for an entire family. Grocery clerks work a minimum of 24 hours a week, with 70 percent working part-time. They earn, on average, about $15 an hour, said Rick Icaza, president of UFCW's Local 770 in Los Angeles and one of the negotiators. The United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is a labor union representing approximately 1.4 million workers in the United States and Canada in many industries, including agriculture, health care, meatpacking, poultry and food processing, manufacturing, textile and union wants the companies to maintain health care plans and provide raises of 50 cents an hour the first year and 45 cents an hour the following two years, Icaza said. Daily News Wire Services contributed to this report. CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) Union employees of Vons, above, picket a store on Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana on Sunday morning. At left, Manager Kevin Thrill of an Albertson's in Calabasas brings in carts from the parking lot. The supermarket workers went on strike late Saturday after union representatives and store officials failed to reach a compromise on a key issue of health care coverage. David Sprague/Staff Photographer Tina Burch/Staff Photographer (3 -- color) Dolores Dolores (or Delores) was a common given name (until the 1960s in the USA); it is cognate with the English word "dolorous" (meaning sorrowful) and equivalent in meaning. Zalidivar, a checker at Albertson's, holds her daughter Hailey, 6 months, while picketing in front of a Calabasas store. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
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