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2003-12-25 -- Grocery Strike News:

  *  Attorney General investigating Grocery Chains' mutual aid pact by
which struck Ralph's Stores excess profits, gained when United Food
adn Commercial Workers (UFCW) removed its pickets, are to be shared
with Von's and Albertson's, which are still picketed.

  *  UFCW keep pickets at Distribution Centers of Vons and Pavilions,
which Teamsters has said it will continue to honor.

  *  The Guild for Professional Pharmacists is trying to parasitize
off the grocery strike, challenging UFCW saying it doesn't represent
pharmacists.


California Healthline, December 23, 2003

Three Grocery Store Chains Affected by Strike Meet With Attorney
General To Discuss Mutual Aid Agreement

Officials from the three grocery store chains involved in a contract
dispute with workers represented by the United Food and Commercial
Workers on Monday met with Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D), who on
Dec. 1 ordered them to submit a copy of a mutual aid agreement by the
end of business, the Los Angeles Times reports (Los Angeles Times, see
below).

UFCW members employed by grocery store chains Albertsons, Kroger-owned
Ralphs and Safeway-owned Vons began a strike in mid-October to protest
proposed revisions in their health benefits and other contract issues.

The companies have sought a two-year wage freeze, a requirement that
workers pay $780 in annual premiums for family health insurance and a
cap on employer contributions to health benefits for workers, which
would most likely lead to a decrease in coverage. In addition, the
companies have sought to establish a second tier of wages and health
benefits for new hires. Under the proposal, employer contributions to
health benefits for new hires would total about $1,800 per worker per
year, compared with about $5,000 per worker per year for current
workers under the past contract.

The latest round of negotiations ended after about 12 hours on Friday
when the companies rejected the latest contract proposal from the
union. The proposal would have required the companies to continue the
current "maintenance of benefits" plan, under which both sides agree
on a health plan and copayment levels and the companies cover
unexpected cost increases (California Healthline, 12/22).

Mutual Aid Agreement

Under the mutual aid agreement, the three grocery store chains decided
to "share the windfall" of a decision by UFCW to remove pickets from
Kroger-owned Ralphs stores on Oct. 31 to focus efforts on stores owned
by the other two companies, the Times reports. The agreement requires
Kroger to pay the other companies based on a formula related to their
recent sales, compared with sales in previous years. None of the
companies have disclosed the amount of the payments, and Kroger and
Albertsons officials said that "no money would change hands until the
dispute ends," the Times reports. Lockyer said that "the sharing of
money between three publicly held competitors raised questions" about
whether the agreement violates state and federal laws, the Times
reports. He added that he seeks to "determine whether the stores ...
are playing fair." Lockyer and a Safeway spokesperson did not comment
on whether the companies have submitted a copy of the agreement as
ordered. KQED's "California Report" on Monday reported on the
agreement (Anderson, "California Report," KQED, 12/22). The complete
segment is available online in RealPlayer.

Other Strike Developments

Other developments in the grocery store workers strike on Monday
included:

    * As planned, UFCW ended pickets at warehouses for Albertsons and
Ralphs, but in an unexpected move, the union decided to continue
pickets at Vons and Safeway-owned Pavilions distribution centers. The
UFCW officials said that the union maintained pickets at Safeway
stores because the company had "taken the harshest stance in the
dispute," according to the Times. Safeway spokesperson Brian Dowling
said that the pickets would not prevent food deliveries.

    * UFCW officials said that they are "close" to an agreement with
their health insurers, Kaiser Permanente and PacifiCare Health
Systems, to allow union members to maintain their coverage, which is
scheduled to expire Dec. 31, for a few additional months, the Times
reports.

    * Officials for the Guild for Professional Pharmacists announced
that the union has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations
Board to seek an election that would allow the union to represent the
800 pharmacists employed by the three companies. According to the
Guild, UFCW is "more concerned with the needs of grocery clerks who
make up the bulk of its membership" than with those of the
pharmacists, Guild President Ralph Vogel said, the Times reports (Los
Angeles Times, 12/23).


Los Angeles Times Editorial

Although the "supermarket health care battle eventually will end, ...
a larger war looms," a Los Angeles Times editorial states, adding that
as employers pass increased health care costs to workers and price
health plans "beyond employees' reach," the number of state residents
who have jobs but lack health coverage will increase. According to the
editorial, the state and U.S. health care systems are "ailing," and
the problems will likely increase without reforms. The editorial
concludes, "Congress must start listening to big employers, workers
and even insurers who are clamoring for health care reforms" (Los
Angeles Times, see below.)

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Los Angeles Times, December 23, 2003


Grocers, Lockyer in Late Talks Over Mutual-Aid Probe
The chains faced a Monday deadline to turn over the pact on profit
sharing.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-super23dec23,1,3080113.story


The three chains in the supermarket dispute held last-minute talks
Monday with the state attorney general over his demand that they
surrender a copy of their controversial mutual-aid pact.

Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, citing potential antitrust violations,
subpoenaed Safeway Inc., Kroger Co. and Albertsons Inc. on Dec. 1,
asking them to produce the agreement by the close of business Monday.

Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin declined to comment on whether the
stores had complied but said discussions continued between Lockyer's
office and the chains late Monday. "We expect to have things resolved"
by today, he said.

A spokeswoman for Safeway, which owns Vons and Pavilions, confirmed
there were talks with Lockyer's office but declined to elaborate.

Negotiations between the chains and the United Food and Commercial
Workers union collapsed Friday after the stores rejected a contract
offer from the UFCW. The proposal "fell far short," the chains said in
a joint statement.

The strike and lockout, now in its third month, yielded these other
developments Monday:

.  The UFCW pulled its pickets from warehouses for Albertsons and
Kroger's Ralphs chain as planned, but in a surprise move the union
kept picket lines active at Vons and Pavilions distribution centers.
The Teamsters union said it would continue to honor those picket
lines.

.  Union officials said they believed they were close to completing
deals with medical providers to retain coverage for grocery workers
and their dependents when employer-paid health benefits expire Dec.
31.

.  Another union said it was seeking to replace the UFCW as the
bargaining agent for 800 or so pharmacists who work for the grocery
chains in the region. The Guild for Professional Pharmacists, based in
Woodland Hills, said it had signatures of about 240 pharmacists who
wished to exit the UFCW.

The three supermarket companies are bargaining jointly with the UFCW
and, in a sign of solidarity, entered a mutual-aid pact that
effectively calls for Kroger to share the windfall that its Ralphs
stores have received since Oct. 31. That's when the UFCW removed its
pickets from Ralphs stores to focus pressure on the two other
companies.

The stores have defended the accord as legal but have disclosed few
details about it. Kroger has said the payments would follow a formula
based on the three chains' recent sales as compared with their
historical sales. Kroger and Albertsons also have said no money would
change hands until the dispute ends.

None of the chains so far has broken out the dollar amount of what
those payments might be.

For his part, Lockyer has said the sharing of money between three
publicly held competitors raised questions. He said his probe would
"seek to determine whether the stores on the other side are playing
fair" within state and federal laws.

The dispute began Oct. 11 when the UFCW struck Safeway. That prompted
Albertsons and Ralphs to lock out their union workers. About 70,000
workers in all are idled at 852 supermarkets in Southern and Central
California.

The dispute focuses on the supermarkets' effort to win lower employee
wage and benefits costs, which the chains say they need to better
compete with discount mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
that are aggressively expanding in the grocery business.

On Friday, the UFCW said it would stop picketing the Teamsters-staffed
warehouses of all three companies, partly as a good-faith gesture for
the contract talks. Privately, union officials said that the Teamsters
were eager to return to the job and that their support of the UFCW
lost effectiveness as the stores hired replacement workers.

As federally mediated talks resumed Friday, the grocery chains
rejected a new contract proposal from the UFCW, and negotiations
collapsed that night. No new talks are expected until after Jan. 1.

On Monday, the UFCW did remove its picket lines from Albertsons and
Ralphs distribution centers but left them at the region's four Vons
and Pavilions warehouses. The UFCW said it singled out Safeway, based
in Pleasanton, Calif., because in its view the chain had taken the
harshest stance in the dispute.

"We're targeting Safeway because they've been very vocal in
spearheading all the events . forcing this strike," said Ellen
Anreder, a spokeswoman for six of the seven UFCW locals involved in
the dispute.

Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling said the company was not surprised by
the action because "we've been the struck company. But it won't make a
difference. We are prepared to deal with it, and we'll keep our stores
supplied."

The removal of the warehouse picket lines allows about 6,000 Teamsters
to return to work. About 2,000 other Teamsters who work at and drive
trucks to Vons and Pavilions warehouses will remain idled, said Jim
Santangelo, president of Teamsters Joint Council 42.

"I told my guys . 'As long as those lines are up, you will not cross,'
and they have no problem with that," Santangelo said.

Union officials also were working Monday to extend medical benefits,
which are scheduled to expire Dec. 31 for most workers.

"We believe that our . providers are going to carry us for a few
months so those members can keep their coverage," said Greg Conger,
president of UFCW Local 324 in Orange County and a trustee of the
workers' health-care fund.

Representatives of two of the providers, Kaiser Permanente and
PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., could not be reached for comment.

Separately, the Guild for Professional Pharmacists said it filed a
petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking an election
that would let the union represent the grocery stores' pharmacists.

Guild President Ralph Vogel said pharmacists were "getting nowhere
fast" with the UFCW, which he said was more concerned with the needs
of grocery clerks who make up the bulk of its membership. The UFCW's
Anreder declined to comment on the guild's effort.

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Los Angeles Times, December 23, 2003

"Congress must start listening to big employers, workers and even
insurers who are clamoring for health-care reforms," will no doubt be
the position of the 2004 Robert Wood Johnson "Insure the Uninsured"
conference in San Francisco.


Sick and Getting Sicker

In a labor dispute over who will pay burgeoning health-care costs,
Teamsters who have been honoring grocery store union picket lines in
Central and Southern California are returning to work in order not to
jeopardize their own medical insurance. The strike and lockout are
sapping the savings of 70,000 grocery workers, and the labor dispute
could cost the Albertsons, Kroger and Safeway grocery chains as much
as $1 billion in combined lost sales. The health coverage the workers
are fighting to retain will run out in a few days. It is a dispute
slathered with irony as well as pain.

The supermarket health-care battle eventually will end, but a larger
war looms. The number of working Americans going without health
insurance rose in each of the last two years as employers passed along
soaring costs, priced health plans beyond employees' reach or simply
dropped coverage. Last year's 2.4 million increase in non-elderly
Americans without medical insurance represented the largest jump since
1987, according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the
Uninsured.

Suppose the grocery store chains win their increasingly bitter labor
dispute and force butchers, bakers and bagboys to absorb an estimated
$1 billion in additional health-care costs. It's true that the plan
currently in effect is gold-plated, but when these $13-an- hour
workers no longer can afford the premiums and co-pays, they and their
children will end up getting paltry health care, often at taxpayer
expense. The employers' sick-day costs will shoot up until that
benefit too is canceled.

In terms of overall health care, California is ailing. The governor
intends to put the names of eligible children on waiting lists for the
low-income Children's Health Insurance Program. Emergency rooms are
already overwhelmed, with insured and uninsured patients alike
suffering waits of many hours and worse. Congress has been an ostrich
regarding health-care reform, an unflattering and dangerous posture
that's unlikely to change during an election year. Right now, CEOs
decide who gets affordable health care and who must make do with an
overcrowded emergency room or charity clinic. Many anguish over the
decisions but all are forced to respond to market pressures to cut
costs. Only some public employees still have the luxury of fully paid
health care.

The health-care gap is only going to widen, even as pharmaceutical
companies celebrate a profitable new Medicare benefit. Congress must
start listening to big employers, workers and even insurers who are
clamoring for health-care reforms.