Southern California grocery workers prepared to strike

USD students likely to see grocery prices rise

COLIN MULLANEY / ASST. NEWS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

After being heralded for two years as essential frontline workers during the pandemic, grocery store employees in Southern California—specifically Ralphs, Albertsons, Pavilions, and Vons—are prepared to strike, due to stalling contract negotiations about pay raises and benefits. Frustrated by the increased cost of living in California and the stresses they endured during COVID-19, grocery store workers are demanding wage increases, higher minimum hours for part-time workers, and health and safety committees to oversee lingering COVID-19 concerns, the LA Times reported.

If grocery employees are granted a substantial wage increase, and they decide to strike this could have lasting consequences for Southern California grocery shoppers and USD students over the next few months. A similar strike in 2003 lasted for four months, cost supermarkets an estimated $2 billion, and cost workers $300 million in wages, according to the LA Times. Grocery stores have struggled for numerous reasons in the last few years—everything from the pandemic to inflation to a supply chain crisis—and the stress to offer affordable groceries to the public could only mount further, given the current pressures applied by unions. 

Ongoing conversations between parent companies Kroger and Albertsons and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) hit a snag in early March, when the UFCW renegotiated a new contract on behalf of 47,000 workers across 540 stores. According to the LA Times, the UFCW was unsatisfied with the proposed terms of the contract and voted by overwhelming majority at local chapters to authorize a walkout, if its demands cannot be addressed moving forward. Primarily, union workers demand a $5 per hour wage increase over the next three years, which would amount to nearly $141 million in total.

Ralphs released an official statement explaining its hesitancy to raise wages by such a sizable amount.  

“Our three goals throughout negotiations are to reward and invest in our people, keep groceries affordable for our customers and maintain a sustainable business that creates jobs in the future. Ralphs’ proposal meets all three goals. The current UFCW proposal of $5 an hour [increase], which is a 22% increase, only meets one of those goals.”

Ralphs Corporate Affairs director, John Votava, argued that the UFCW’s pay raise demands “would lead to $400 more in monthly grocery bills for most Southern California households [and] push customers to nonunion competitors who do not respect collective bargaining.” 

In other words, the shopper would bear the brunt of these proposed pay raises and many would seek out other grocery chains altogether, possibly driving unionized companies out of business. 

However, UFCW leaders refuted this idea that Kroger and Albertsons are operating on razor thin profit margins, suggesting instead that the highest paid employees are collecting pay raises, at the expense of the lowest paid employees. For instance, the UFCW points out that in the currently disputed contract, “top-rate associates would receive a nearly $2 hourly increase to their current industry-leading pay,” while in-store employees who earn substantially less already would only receive an additional $1.80 hourly.

Furthermore, “Kroger Chief Executive Rodney McMullen was criticized for collecting a $22.4-million pay package in 2020—his largest ever—even as the company ended a $2-an-hour hazard bonus for frontline workers after two months,” the LA Times reported. That same year, Kroger closed five markets, saying they were “financially unsustainable,” even though Kroger’s operating profit nearly doubled to $4.3 billion from 2019 to 2021.

All the while, working and middle-class employees like Rachel Fournier, 44, worry about providing for their families and paying the bills. 

 “Twenty years ago this was a middle class job,” Fournier said. “But the companies have been squeezing and squeezing us with meager wage increases over the past few contracts.”

Due to recent global events, grocery workers are less willing to tolerate perceived slights and abuses from upper management. 

The pandemic has created “a spirit that we need to stand up for ourselves,” Fournier said. “People are fed up and they’re eager to walk out.”

Recent activities at San Diego’s UFCW local 135 chapter reflect Fournier’s sentiments, as employees created picket signs and banners, in preparation for the potential strike. 

Organized efforts to unionize and negotiate contracts for a living wage have been on the rise across the country, in step with rising inflation. Even national companies like Amazon and Starbucks are currently seeking to unionize, which could have economic consequences for the everyday consumer.