Meat Cutters in County Defy Union and Reject Pact; Loss of Jobs Feared

“Maybe it’s just something in me that wants to fight and hold out,” a grim-faced Ron Cattani said a few minutes after he dropped his “no” vote into the ballot box.

A majority of striking Southern California meat cutters voted Sunday to approve a new three-year contract, ending a bitter 7 1/2 weeks of dispute. But not Local 551, the union chapter that represents Orange County and parts of southeastern Los Angeles County.

On a 333-296 vote, they said no. The union leadership assured them that there were no better offers coming. They told them that a mail-in ballot sampling all the membership would almost surely win approval for the contract--at the expense of three more weeks on the picket lines. They still said no.

“I voted no only by sheer hope,” said Cattani, a meat cutter for Ralphs in Anaheim. “I don’t know if it’s being optimistic or stubborn.”

“They put it down our throat,” complained a Romanian immigrant who works for Ralphs in La Habra. “I been off work since November. I meet very wonderful people, honest, decent, hard-working people on the picket lines. They’re breaking my heart! I come from a Communist country, and this is the closest I come to it, the way we were treated.”

Though all the union membership is required to accept the terms of the new contract, a number of Local 551 members said Sunday that they fear it may mean an end to their jobs in the long run. Provisions for hiring some new employees at lower pay rates and cutting guaranteed hours for experienced employees prompted several to predict layoffs--and an even worse bargaining position for meat cutters on any future contracts.

“I didn’t vote to accept it, because I need a job, see?” said Wayne Reese of Anaheim. “I’ll tell you, one out of three men will be laid off in a year’s time. I’ve been a union member for 14 years, and I’ll be one of the first ones to go. Ralphs has already made the statement that they are going to take care of those who caused trouble.”

But he added: “I gotta do what I believe in. I believe in a man being able to work 40 hours to provide for his family. When they say I can’t do that, they’re hurting my family, and I draw the line there.”

“It’s just a way to bust the union,” complained Chris Leman, a meat cutter with Safeway in Brea. “Pretty soon, you’ll see nothing but part-time people, college students. They won’t give a damn anymore.

“Besides,” Leman said, “I got a baby due in seven weeks. I can’t afford to be out. I lost more than $3,000. But it’s not worth going back for this. If we go back now, we lost $3,000 for nothing.”

Four days after Christmas, many union members were beginning to feel the pinch. Strike pay reached a maximum of $145 a week, and elaborate gift-giving for most was simply out of the question.

“It’s been hard,” said Ginny Markley, an Albertson’s meat wrapper in Garden Grove whose husband, a Ralphs meat manager, has also been on strike. “Christmas was definitely not like it usually is.”

“We’ve had a bad--well, not a real good Christmas,” Cattani said. “Late on my bills, had to call some creditors, that kind of thing. Psychologically, too. I’m wondering if I’ll be called back (to work) in a few days or a few weeks.”

That kind of worry prompted many union members to vote for the contract. Others who approved it said they believed union officials when they told them that it was the best they could expect.

“I’m ready to go back to work,” Tony Sepulveda, a Lucky store employee in Tustin, said simply. “I don’t need another three weeks.

Tim Matchie of Irvine said he decided that it is “a fair contract” and believes that union officials “are telling us the truth. . . . They just said it was up to us, and I’m interested in going back to work as much as everybody else.”

Meanwhile, Teamsters warehouse workers in Fullerton were preparing to rally today, contending that their jobs were sacrificed in the Teamsters’ settlement with grocers last week.

Union steward Earl Tedford said union members have been told that Alpha Beta plans to close the Sunrich Merchantile shipment warehouse at 444 Lambert Road because the new contract requires a higher wage level at the facility than that paid at many other Southern California warehouses.

Tedford complained that union officials knew of the corporation’s threat but never alerted warehouse employees until the contract was signed.

“It kicks us out of a job,” complained Tedford, who said he believes that warehouse employees will receive layoff notices when they return to work next Monday. He said that Sunrich employees would have agreed to a competitive wage scale offering lower salaries to new employees if they had known of the company’s plans to shut down.

The facility employs 188 warehouse workers, all represented by Teamsters Local 952. Union officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Bill Wade, director of labor relations at Alpha Beta headquarters in La Habra, would not comment on any plans to close the warehouse.