The Region : Butchers Support Strike

Five of the six union locals representing 10,000 Southern California meat cutters and meat wrappers have voted to authorize a strike against 10 supermarket chains if no new collective bargaining agreement is reached before their contract expires Nov. 4. The sixth local, in San Diego, will vote later this week. Dan Swinton, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said that he had no specific vote counts but that margins supporting a strike ranged from 96% to 99%. Union representatives are also meeting with independent markets in an effort to reach an agreement binding those markets to any terms negotiated with the major supermarkets, Swinton said. A federal mediator has called both sides to a bargaining session, Swinton said, adding that the union’s chief concern is that the supermarkets are trying to undermine long-standing work conditions and fringe benefits.