Grocery Strike Looms As SoCal's Biggest Supermarket Unions OK Work Stoppage

LOS ANGELES, CA — Some 45,000 workers at Southern California's busiest grocery stores are ready to walk off the job after the union representing Albertsons, Pavilions, Ralphs and Vons employees announced this week its members had authorized a strike.

"Our message is clear: we are fed up with these corporations’ union-busting tactics designed to intimidate us and prevent us from getting the fair contract that we’ve earned and deserve," reads a statement from the Bargaining Committee of Locals 324 and 770 of the United Food and Commercial Workers. "For four months, we've negotiated with Kroger and Albertsons, offering solutions to the staff shortage crisis that hurts store operations, working conditions, and customer service.

"The companies have dismissed our proposals and claimed that our concerns were 'anecdotal,' downplaying the real challenges we and our customers face daily."

The unions cover workers at grocery stores owned by Kroger and Albertsons in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, San Diego, Ventura, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, a Local 770 representative told Patch.

The union said 90% of its membership voted to authorize the strike in an election that was scheduled amid stalled contract negotiations between the labor groups and the grocery giants, the Orange County register reported.

Members of Local 770 planned to gather in Los Angeles' Koreatown Thursday to make signs and hold picket captain meetings in advance of a possible strike. The union is part of a coalition of regional grocery store labor groups that make up Grocery Workers Rising.

Grocery Workers Rising is planning a week of "practice strikes" beginning Monday across LA County and will hold a rally in Long Beach on June 20.

It's unclear when customers could expect a strike to begin in Southern California; the authorization vote doesn't mean a work stoppage is guaranteed.

But it's a real possibility: The SoCal labor dispute is one of many unfolding concurrently across the country — tens of thousands of additional grocery store workers are ready to strike against Kroger and Albertsons after other recent authorization votes.

In Colorado, strikes could happen as soon as Sunday, according to reports from the state.

"We respect the rights of workers to engage in collective bargaining and remain committed to negotiating in good faith to reach an agreement that is fair to our employees, good for our customers and allows our company to remain competitive," Albertsons, which is also the parent company of Pavilions and Vons, said in a statement.

A Ralphs spokesperson said in a statement: "We remain actively engaged in bargaining with the union because we believe the best outcomes are achieved at the table, not through disruption. Our current offer reflects that commitment, including market-leading wage increases for associates over the life of the agreement, and continued investment in industry-leading health care and a pension. These are benefits that many non-union competitors do not offer.

"We remain committed to good faith bargaining that rewards our hardworking associates and keeps groceries affordable for our customers."

The same group of SoCal grocery workers went on strike or were locked out in 2003 as part of an action that lasted for over four months in what was the longest and largest supermarket strike in U.S. history. Consumers who crossed the picket lines found half-empty shelves as they did their Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping at Albertsons and Ralphs. The dispute led the chains to lose a combined $1.5 billion in sales, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Negotiations in SoCal are scheduled to resume on June 25, according to the union. The workers' contracts expired March 2.

The union said it is seeking "living wages, affordable healthcare benefits, a reliable pension (and) more staffing and better working conditions for a better customer experience."

A strike authorization vote does not necessarily mean there will be a strike.

Union members approved a three-year contract in 2022 after a threatened strike, including wage increases of $4.25 per hour for most workers while some classifications received higher pay raises.

City News Service contributed to this report.