Could SLO County grocery store workers go on strike? ‘If we have to, we will’
Manny Estrada doesn’t really want to strike — but after hours of negotiations with corporate representatives of the grocery store he works for, he’s worried it will have to come to that.
Estrada is one of about 1,500 San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County grocery store workers with the United Food and Commercial Workers Chapter 770 union who are casting their votes this week to decide whether they will go on strike after contract negotiations with Ralph’s parent company, Kroger, and Albertsons, which owns Vons, faltered this month.
“We all want the same thing,” Estrada told The Tribune in an interview following the first day of the strike vote Monday. “We don’t want to strike. ... All we all care about are our customers and our family. And we don’t want to strike and send them to another store. But if we have to, we will.”
In all, about 47,000 grocery store workers across Southern California are expected to vote on whether to authorize a strike this week. These workers are represented by UFCW Locals 8GS, 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1428 and 1442, spanning from the Central Coast to the Mexican border.
The 3-year contracts between the UFCW and the two grocery companies expired March 6, and since then, company and union representatives have been unable to come to an agreement on new ones.
Estrada said part of the issue is an unwillingness of management to pay a living wage to its workers, the average of whom are earning roughly $29,000 per year.
“It’s unfortunate that we, as grocery workers, have been deemed essential and we’re not given essential pay,” Estrada said. “Thirty years ago, you could start a family, buy a house and a car and have good credit and be a produce manager or be a cashier for a grocery store — and that’s just not how it is anymore.”
Estrada was a member of the bargaining team present during contract negotiations earlier this month.
He said the union came to the table asking for a minimum $5 raise spread across the next three years, while the companies actually proposed a decrease in maximum pay for workers.
Negotiations stalled after company representatives raised their offer to 60 cents per year for the highest-paid workers over the next three years, Estrada said.
“It’s hard to sit across this table and look at these guys that I work for, and I don’t see any empathy,” he said. “All I see is what their bottom line is and what we’re trying to come across and talk to them about is eventually going to hurt their wallet. And that’s what they care about.”
Union alleges unfair labor practices
The biggest issue that is prompting the strike discussions, however, has been how some company management reacted while contract negotiations were open, Estrada said.
“The reason that we’re (considering) strike is not because of wages — that has to be made clear,” he said. “We’re striking because of the unfair labor practices that have been happening since negotiations have started.”
Estrada said workers with the union have been intimidated and bullied by management at their stores while negotiations have been ongoing, including being photographed while engaging in union activities.
The union even filed Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons for violating labor laws earlier this month through these “intimidation tactics,” Estrada said.
Estrada, who works as a pharmacy clerk at Vons in Grover Beach, said he hasn’t specifically seen any of these intimidation tactics at his own store but that he has heard of incidents throughout the Southern California branches of the companies.
“It’s just a tactic we’re not cool with, so that’s why we put across the strike vote,” he said.
Grocery stores respond to strike vote
Ralphs, one of the grocery store chains whose workers are represented by the local union, said it was disappointed by the decision to move forward with a strike vote.
“It’s disappointing that the union is going down this path,” the company said in a statement given to The Tribune on Tuesday.
The company called the unfair labor practice charge “an accusation” and noted that the union’s claims have not yet been investigated.
“The fact is, the union’s claims have not been found to be true,” the statement read. “Filing ULP charges and subsequently calling for a strike authorization vote based on these charges is part of the UFCW’s playbook. This tactic abuses the ULP process, which is designed to provide checks and balances.”
“A ULP strike authorization vote abandons transparency to achieve a political outcome that only benefits union leadership, leaving our associates — their members — confused and disheartened.”
Melissa Hill, an Albertsons spokeswoman, said the company’s goal is “to provide our employees with a competitive total compensation package of wages, health, welfare and pension benefits.”
“We are committed to working collaboratively to ensure that we reach an agreement that is fair to our employees, good for our customers, and allows Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions to remain competitive in the Southern California market,” she said.
What happens after the strike vote?
The strike vote is expected to conclude at the end of this week. If authorized to do so by its members, the union leadership will then determine where and how it plans to strike.
Estrada declined to give details of what a strike might look like, saying that was strategic information.
But if it comes to a strike, Estrada said he hopes the community will back the workers.
“The message that I would like to get out there to the community is to support us in this decision if we do strike because it’s a big deal,” he said.
Estrada added: “People that don’t even walk in the store, that have stock options and a name plaque that says CFO — they never show up in our stores. They don’t know what it is like, and they’re reaping all the benefits. So it just sucks, you know, that we don’t get the support like I think we should sometimes, and we’re just really hoping for a lot of support from the community.”
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 12:07 PM.
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