Study: SoCal Grocers Provide
Low Wages, Few Benefits
Grocery Stores in Southern California Have Evolved From an Industry that Provided a Middle-Class Living Into One Providing Low Wages and Few Benefits, According to a Study Released Today.
Los Angeles Daily News- March 21 2007
By Art Marroquin

Grocery Stores in Southern California Have Evolved From an Industry that Provided a Middle-Class Living Into One Providing Low Wages and Few Benefits, According to a Study Released Today.

Additionally, a "two-tier" pay scale that went into effect three years ago for Southland grocery workers, following a contentious 4 1/2-month long strike and lockout, "hurts worker morale and leads to high turnover," according to the report released by the Commission of the Los Angeles Grocery Industry and Community Health, a consortium of politicians and religious leaders.

The grocery chains do not have a two-tier system in Northern California, although that contract was negotiated the same year as the Southland's latest contract.

"When the grocery industry tells you they can't afford to do it, they mean only in Southern California," said former Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, who participated in the study. "The reason they think they can get away with it here is because they think this is the home of cheap labor."

The report's release comes as the United Food and Commercial Workers union is negotiating a contract with the Southland's three major grocery chains.

The union agreed Monday to extend contract talks for three weeks -- the contract would have expired this week -- but continued to pressure grocers by scheduling a vote for Sunday on whether to authorize a strike against Albertsons.

"We remember how traumatic the lockout and strike was for the community and our members, but the corporate employers are giving us no choice," said Mike Shimpock, a UFCW spokesman. "They refuse to meaningfully approach a settlement, and continue to stall on a contract."

Shimpock said Albertsons was the most likely first target of any separate action because the level of debt at Supervalu Inc., its parent, made it less able to withstand a strike.

Supervalu, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., borrowed $6.1 billion last year to buy Albertsons and its high-end, nonunion sibling, Bristol Farms.

Three years ago, the UFCW and the parent companies of Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons/Pavilion settled on two-tier pay and benefits to settle a labor dispute in which workers were off the job from Nov. 11, 2003 to March 2004.

The union wants to eliminate the two tiers, in which workers hired after the lockout are paid at a lower scale than veteran employees. Union leaders also want the supermarkets to contribute more to the union's health insurance trust fund.

The contract covers more than 70,000 Southland grocery workers.

Workers hired after the strike must wait 18 months before becoming eligible for health benefits, and many opt out of company-provided insurance because of high co-payments, according to UFCW officials. Dependents cannot be added to the coverage for 30 months.

About 7 percent of grocery workers hired after the strike have company- provided health insurance, compared to 94 percent under the old contract, according to a study released earlier this year by UC Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education.

"We don't want a two-tier system for workers, and we don't want a two- tier system for our communities," Councilman Eric Garcetti said. "We believe in equal treatment and we believe in equal access in Los Angeles."

Two City Council committees are expected to vet the report, which showed that the grocery chains failed to fulfill a promise to build more supermarkets in economically depressed areas following the 1992 riots, according to Councilman Herb Wesson.

"I have serious concerns about the lack of quality stores that are in my area," said Wesson, adding that his first job was at a supermarket.