Union Asks Mediation in Ralphs Dispute
The union representing employees of Ralphs Grocery Co. has asked Federated Department Stores, Ralphs’ parent company, to intervene in a heated labor dispute involving the supermarket chain’s employment policies.
The United Food and Commercial Workers sent a mailgram over the weekend to Howard Goldfeder, Federated’s chief executive, requesting a meeting next week.
“Your intermediate intercession is necessary,” said the letter, sent by Ricardo Icazza and John Sperry, the presidents of two large locals in Los Angeles and Orange County that represent about 70% of Ralphs’ clerks and other hourly personnel.
A spokeswoman for Cincinnati-based Federated said Monday that she did not know whether Goldfeder had received the mailgram and indicated that he was unlikely to agree to the union’s request.
Union officials say that Ralphs, the largest retail food chain in Southern California, has laid off or demoted 1,800 workers in the last 16 months in violation of its contract. The company has replaced veteran cashiers with younger, less experienced employees who generally earn $4 an hour less, according to workers who were laid off.
Ralphs said it has laid off only 173 workers, but company officials acknowledge that many others have been shifted to lower-paying positions. The company also states that its conduct is perfectly legal and that it has to cut labor costs to stay competitive.
“The executives of Ralphs have indicated plainly to us in person that there is no desire on their side to end this stalemated crisis voluntarily,” said the union officials in the mailgram, explaining why they sought Goldfeder’s intervention.
An arbitration on the company’s alleged violations of its union contract is scheduled for Aug. 19 and 20. Last month, the food workers union unsuccessfully asked a federal judge for a temporary restraining order that would have barred further layoffs and demotions until the arbitration was held.
Gene Brown, a Ralphs spokesman, said the problem should be solved at the local level. Linda McEnroe, Federated’s media relations manager, said Federated would take no action on the dispute until the arbitration is held.
“That is the proper mechanism for resolving this kind of dispute,” McEnroe said, echoing statements made earlier by Ralphs. “We will abide by that decision,” she added.
“We realize there’s an arbitration scheduled for August,” responded Dan Swinton, a union spokesman. “But we feel that, because this issue has been dragging on for months, Ralphs should correct as quickly as possible the injustices which have occurred to hundreds of their employees for the sake of good employee relations.”
