Stores Stock Up on Goods as Meat Cutters’ Strike Looms

At some Orange County supermarkets on Sunday shopping was brisk in apparent anticipation of a meat cutters’ strike, but at other stores it was business as usual with customers seemingly oblivious to the possible walkout.

“I think some people have stocked up a little bit . . . ground meat, chicken,” said Fred Beale, assistant manager at a Vons in Laguna Niguel. “But I don’t think people are really buying that heavy.”

Nevertheless, Beale, like other store managers, said that “we’ve stockpiled . . . extra items and paper products in the back room” in the event that Teamsters truck drivers and warehouse and clerical workers walk off the job today or Tuesday along with the meat cutters.

Discussions with meat cutters who cast ballots Sunday morning in Long Beach showed about 95% of them opposed to the latest contract offer by the supermarket chains, said D. (Whitey) Ulrich, president of the 3,500-member United Food and Commercial Workers Local 551, which represents about 1,500 Orange County meat cutters.

Union leaders were scheduled to meet early today to determine whether to call a strike. “We’ve told them to report to work until they hear from us,” Ulrich said.

Meat cutters have been told to report for work today and wait for walkout instructions from their union representatives. The meat cutters’ contract expired at 12:01 a.m. today. The Teamsters have been working without a contract since early September.

Many markets, such as Vons, have advertised for temporary meat cutters and meat wrappers, as well as for truck drivers and diesel mechanics, in the event of a strike.

“We have some temporary help and the . . . store manager will be working” if meat cutters strike, Beale said.

At another Orange County market, a manager who declined to give his name said that “we’re stocking up on everything” and taking names of people to temporarily replace strikers “in case it happens.” Shoppers at his market also have stepped up their purchases as the strike deadline has neared, he said.

“There’s been a flurry (of shopping) for the last three or four days,” the store manager said. “Shoppers are stocking up on everything. It’s the busiest we’ve been since last Christmas.”

Problems posed by meat cutters walking off the job are less worrisome than the effect of a walkout by Teamsters, who deliver everything from toilet paper to fresh meat to the stores, he said.

No Panic Buying

Meat cutting “is something you could learn within a week’s time, if you had to,” he said. But if Teamsters honor the picket lines or go on strike themselves, “we’re all going to be in big trouble.”

But manager Jim Girten of an Albertson’s in Anaheim and a spokesman who declined to give his name at an Albertson’s in Brea said there was no panic buying by shoppers at their stores.

“We haven’t hired anyone” as temporary replacements, Girten said. “We think we can handle it internally. We’ve made some real good plans. We have (supervisory) people from outside of the state who can come in.”

At a Stater Bros. supermarket in Fountain Valley, assistant manager Mike Lobasso said, “I don’t think people are taking it (the possible strike) very seriously.”

Won’t Walk Out

Many store managers said they will not know until a strike has begun whether non-striking clerks will honor the picket lines. Lobasso, who said he is an assistant manager even though he is also a member of the Retail Clerks Union, said he won’t honor picket lines.

“As far as I’m concerned, unions are dead,” Lobasso said. “The unions have had their day in the sun.”

The strike looms as among the largest to affect Orange County in recent years.

About 240 of 397 Tustin teachers struck for six days in October and 220 workers at two Anaheim-based disposal companies brought garbage collection to a virtual standstill in nine Orange County cities during a two-day strike in May.

Other Recent Strikes

Last year, 1,844 workers went on strike at Disneyland, and 4,100 walked out at 37 Gemco discount department stores. The Disneyland strike lasted 22 days; Gemco workers returned after 11 weeks.

About half of the county’s large commercial projects were shut down or operated under short-term union agreements in July, 1983, when the Southern California Carpenters Union, supported by 17 other building trades, halted work at building sites in 11 counties.