Striking grocery workers get help.

Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

Individually, the donations are small, just a few bucks a month.

But collectively, grocery store workers in Oregon are contributing tens of thousands of dollars monthly to help their striking colleagues in California, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia.

About 85,000 grocery workers in those states, nearing their fourth week off the job, receive modest strike pay from their union, the United Food and Commercial Workers. It ranges from $200 to $300 a week, the UFCW said.

The Washington, D.C.-based national union gives $100 a week to each worker, with union locals making up the rest.

In Oregon, UFCW Local 555 is contributing about $38,000 a month to a special Safeway "strike back" fund," said spokeswoman Marilyn Ruth.

The local represents Oregon and southwest Washington workers at Safeway, Albertsons and Fred Meyer, which is owned by Kroger Co.

The Safeway "strike back" fund has a balance of "tens of millions of dollars," said Greg Denier, a UFCW spokesman in Washington, D.C., but it is not the main union fund dedicated to supporting striking workers. The national UFCW has a strike reserve of nearly $100 million, funded by members' regular dues, that it uses to pay strikers, Denier said.

In addition, the UFCW solicits contributions for a separate hardship fund, which is for strikers facing eviction and other serious financial problems. Also, the AFL-CIO last week announced that it will seek money for a new national strike fund dedicated to the striking grocery workers.

Denier, the union spokesman, said the financial war chests, in addition to the national union's decision to take out a line of credit on its headquarters building, give it enough money to continue the strike into next May.

Strike pay is important, though not as valuable for morale as the belief by strikers that they are doing the right thing, said Marcus Widenour, an associate professor at the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon.

"Strikes are hard," he said, "and if people don't have something (financial) to rely on, then it's harder for them to stick to their principles."

The largest strike is in Southern California, affecting workers at 859 stores from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.

Picket lines are up in front of Ralphs, owned by Kroger; Vons, owned by Safeway; and Albertsons.

Employees struck after objecting to demands from the chains that workers pay more for health insurance.

Last year, responding to difficult contract negotiations, Oregon Local 555 and other locals across the country voted to donate to the Safeway "strike back" fund.

Individual member dues were raised less than $10 a month beginning in January. The hike is effective only through the end of the year.

When Local 555 members voted to contribute to the fund, it appeared that Oregon grocery workers might have been one of the fund's first beneficiaries.

At that time, UFCW negotiators were in tense contract talks with representatives for Safeway, Albertsons and Fred Meyer in Lane County.

A strike was averted when employees accepted meager wage increases and reluctantly backed a compromise plan to begin sharing health insurance premiums in certain circumstances.

The strike payments are a significant drain on the UFCW and its members. A payment of $250 to each striking worker equals $21.25 million per week, though individual unions have rules on what members need to do to receive strike payments. For example, some locals may require members to walk a picket line in order to receive a payment, said the UFCW's Denier.

At the same time, the strike is hurting profits at Safeway, Albertsons and Kroger. A Merrill Lynch analyst wrote that the chains are losing $34 million to $50 million in weekly sales, according to Bloomberg News.

Widenor, from UO, said the Southern California grocery strikes "could go on for quite a while because both sides are determined."

How the public responds to the strike could play a key role in its outcome, he said.

"One of the important things about this struggle is whether the issues that the workers are concerned about are resonating with the rest of the community," Widenour said.

"It takes a lot of extra effort for a consumer to go somewhere else. They have to be motivated by the issues that the union is confronting."