Union, Alex Snack Foods Still at Impasse

Negotiations between Alex Snack Foods, an Anaheim tortilla chip and potato chip manufacturer, and the company’s labor union remained at an impasse Monday, with each side saying that it is waiting for the other to reopen talks.

Greg Conger, spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 551, said the union is contesting the company’s recent implementation of a plan that slashed the salaries of most of its 70 employees, some by 41%, and eliminated their health benefits.

Conger, contending that Alex has refused to budge from its current position, said that he expects that “very soon now we are going to have to strike the company to get their attention.” Additionally, he said, some of the company’s union members intend this week to hold a candlelight protest vigil at the Anaheim home of company president Alex Morales.

Steve Charton, a director and officer of Alex Snack Foods, said that the company regrets making the cuts but took the measures to stop the losses it has been sustaining over the last few years.

Charton said Alex’s primary competitors in its major business, which is the manufacture and packaging of store-label corn tortilla chips, are nonunion, pay lower wages and have no health and welfare benefits.

“The issue is competitiveness, and they (the union members) won’t address that issue,” he said. He said that it is the union’s turn to reopen discussions.