Grocery Workers Consider Strike

Updated (Saturday, 10:41 p.m.): City News Service is reporting that grocery workers throughout Southern California have voted by more than 90 percent to reject the stores' latest contract proposals. The vote sets the stage for a possible strike.

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Participants in a 62,000-member grocery workers union in Southern California have been discussing whether to authorize a strike.

Grocery workers at , and Albertsons, who have been without a contract for about six months, voted Saturday on whether to accept a health care package that would require them to pay about $36 per month of individual health insurance or $92 per month for family coverage.

Workers also voted on whether to authorize United Food and Commercial Workers to call a strike.

Results of the voting could be available as early as Sunday, according to reports. 

"Nobody wants to go on strike," said union spokesman Mike Shimpock. "It'll hurt the market, it'll hurt us ... but we have to draw a line in the sand here and say we need a fair deal."

He said if employers don't agree to put more money into a health care trust fund, it would go bankrupt within about a year. 

Grocery workers voted in April to authorize a strike but will cast ballots again in response to the latest management offer. Those on both sides hope to avoid a walkout.

"We want to avoid a strike," said Ralphs spokeswoman Kendra Doyel on Friday. "The best thing for everyone is to stay at the table and continue negotiating. Our workers want to keep working. Our stores are open and ready for customers, but should something change, we have a plan in place to make sure we can take care of everyone going forward. But we certainly hope that doesn't happen and that we don't have to put things into place."

The grocery workers' previous contract expired March 6, but they have continued to work under its terms. The most recent contract was ratified in 2007 after about seven months of negotiations.

In 2003, a grocery workers strike and lockout in Southern California dragged on for 141 days, wiping out the savings of some workers and costing supermarkets an estimated $1.5 billion.

— City News Service.

Earlier coverage of the grocery workers' contract on Patch: