Market Strike Talks Take Holiday; Sessions to Resume Today, Sunday

Negotiators for 10,000 striking butchers and seven major supermarkets took Thanksgiving day off, agreeing to resume stalled contract talks Sunday.

The other union involved in the Southern California supermarket labor dispute, the Teamsters, is scheduled to send its representatives back to the bargaining table with market officials this afternoon. Some 12,000 Teamsters are on strike.

The strike against Vons market and a lockout by six other chains--Alpha Beta, Albertsons, Hughes, Safeway, Lucky and Ralphs--began Nov. 5, affecting about 1,000 markets. It centers on supermarket industry attempts to weaken union work rules in an effort to reduce labor costs. Unions say the proposals threaten to replace veteran workers with newer, lower-paid employees.

After breaking off talks Saturday, negotiators for the markets and butchers resumed talking Wednesday but made no progress after 10 hours of off-and-on discussion, sources familiar with the talks said.

The Teamsters and supermarkets have not negotiated since Saturday.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is attempting to strengthen its role in the talks by sending a second negotiator to Los Angeles from Washington. Mediator Frank Allen, who has been monitoring the talks, said Gayle Wineriter, special assistant to the director of the service, will join him Friday.