[Steeltrap]

Ralphs' clerks ordered to stop picketing

By Associated Press


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Union leaders ordered grocery clerks locked out of 249 Ralphs supermarkets in Southern California to stop picketing Friday, a move designed to create division between Ralphs and two other supermarket chains affected by a three-week strike.

The nearly 18,000 Ralphs employees were scheduled to stop picketing at noon Friday, said Rick Icaza, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 770.

The employees would soon be moved to bolster picket lines at about 600 stores operated by Safeway Inc.'s Vons and Albertsons Inc., as well as the two chains' stores outside Southern California, Icaza said.

The union hoped Ralphs would break from its negotiating partnership with Albertsons and Vons and hammer out a contract with the union separately.

"Ralphs, from our standpoint, has not taken a really hard line on negotiations," Icaza said. "We believe if we were sitting down with Ralphs individually, we wouldn't have this strike."

Calls to Ralphs were not immediately returned Friday.

The union was still working out how it would reassign the locked-out Ralphs workers to pickets outside other stores, Icaza said.

Some employees would be stationed at Southern California distribution centers for Albertsons and Vons, and the union was counting on Teamster warehouse workers and tractor-trailer drivers to honor the picket lines, further squeezing the chains' business. They would not picket distribution centers for Ralphs stores, allowing drivers to deliver goods.

Customers wanting to shop at Ralphs also would not be faced with the prospect of crossing a picket line, although union leaders were still encouraging customers to avoid the stores.

Grocery clerks went on strike against Vons on Oct. 11 after both sides were unable to agree on a new labor contract, but Albertsons and Ralphs then locked out their union workers in a show of solidarity. The key issue has been how much money the roughly 70,000 grocery workers would pay toward their health care coverage.

Neither side has returned to the negotiating table since the start of the walkout, which has affected stores from San Luis Obispo to San Diego. No talks were scheduled as of Friday, Icaza said.

The wildfires that have burned nearly 750,000 acres in Southern California and incinerated more than 2,800 homes in recent days also were a factor in the decision to withdraw the pickets from the Ralphs stores, Icaza said.

"In light of the challenges, particularly those relating to the devastating wildfires that many of our customers are facing, we would like to do what we can to make our consumers' lives a little easier," Icaza said.