SEATTLE (Reuters) - Four months after settling a five-month strike in Southern California that cost them more than $1 billion, supermarket chains are struggling to reach a contract with 17,000 workers in the Seattle area.
The supermarkets and the union representing the workers say they want to avoid a repeat of the strike last winter that pushed shoppers to discount stores and hit the pocketbooks of about 70,000 workers.
But the same issues -- the companies' desire to cut pay and surging health care costs -- have driven a big wedge between workers and the grocers controlling 90 percent of the Seattle market, according to union estimates.
"We look far apart," said Jill Cashen, a spokeswoman for the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents workers at the 259 area stores covered by the dispute.
The outcome will affect another 10,000 employees at smaller supermarkets that will adopt whatever contract is approved.
The current pact with workers at Safeway Inc., Albertsons Inc., and Kroger Co.'s Fred Meyer and QFC has been extended twice since May 2, when it first expired. It could be extended again before the current Friday deadline.
Still, both sides were girding for a long impasse.
Seattle stores have posted signs warning customers of a possible strike and calling for replacement workers. Union workers are holding rallies and going door to door in an effort to persuade residents to boycott the supermarkets if a strike begins.
BATTLE OVER HEALTH BENEFITS
The companies, which currently pay all employee health premiums, have asked workers to pay 20 percent of their health care costs on top of weekly premiums. New hires would pay 30 percent of their health care costs.
The union calculates the changes would cost the average worker $6,000 a year, in addition to proposed cuts in pay rates and overtime pay. Employees, many working part-time, would see average annual pay fall to $14,000 from $19,000.
The stores say they need to lower costs to compete with non-union chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market Inc., which are gaining market share.
Health costs have risen an alarming 77 percent in the last three years, said Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman for the stores.
"The employers' goal is not to eliminate in any way health coverage," Merrill said. "They want to bring health benefit plans down so it's on par with what other employers in the region pay."
The Southern California workers settled their dispute in February, agreeing to lower pay and benefits, but the union says the proposed cuts in Seattle are just too big.
"This is about corporate greed," said Diane Powe, a Safeway clerk from Berkeley, California, who came to Seattle to join union rallies. "This isn't because they can't compete. This is because our leaders want to keep all the profits."
This week Safeway and Kroger reached agreement with the UFCW on a contract covering 14,000 workers in Arizona, though the terms weren't disclosed. Contracts for workers in Chicago, Northern California and elsewhere also expire this year.
Kroger on Tuesday reported profits of $262.8 million in the quarter ending May 22, down $88.7 million from a year earlier, including $71.6 million in strike-related losses.
Posted by UFCW 227 at June 22, 2004 07:08 PM