Clerks Vote to Strike; Ralphs to Be 1st Target

Retail clerks voted overwhelmingly Thursday to give their union leaders authority to call a strike against six major Southern California chains and announced that the strike would start at the stores of Ralphs Grocery Co. at 12:01 a.m. Saturday if no settlement is reached by then.

The two sides are to return to the bargaining table at 10 a.m. today in a last-ditch attempt to forestall a strike. Both sides predicted a long day of negotiations that would likely run up to or beyond the midnight deadline.

A negotiating session called by federal mediators for Thursday never materialized. Sources from the United Food and Commercial Workers, the union representing the clerks, and the Food Employers Council, which represents the six chains, said a union financial consultant who was needed to evaluate proposals was unable to get to the meeting.

Six Chains Involved

The strike would affect about 45,000 workers and 850 stores owned by Albertson’s, Lucky, Ralphs, Safeway, Stater Bros. and Vons from the Mexican border to San Luis Obispo.

Both sides were gearing up for a strike. The six chains trained potential strikebreakers and the union distributed picket signs. But a random survey of six Los Angeles area stores found no evidence that shoppers were beginning to hoard food in anticipation of a walkout.

Spokesmen for the Food and Commercial Workers, said that with ballots from all eight union locals counted, 27,314 of the 31,814 clerks--86%--voting had cast ballots to reject management’s offer and to authorize a strike. A two-thirds majority of all those casting ballots was necessary for strike authorization.

The final tally was delayed because of friction that developed between leaders of the San Diego and Santa Monica locals and the other six locals. Leaders of those two unions stormed out of a joint union meeting in Buena Park. Tom Vandeveld, president of the San Diego local, and Michael Straeter, president of the Santa Monica local, said they were protesting a “secret meeting” negotiating session held Wednesday.

“We all took a blood oath not to meet and talk with employers on our own and they went ahead and did this,” Straeter said. “That’s why I’m really angry.”

Leaders of the other locals said they were chagrined by the dispute and hoped that it could be patched up quickly. John Sperry, president of Local 324, based in Buena Park, predicted that there will be “a united front” if there is a strike.

Sperry, Rick Icaza, president of Los Angeles based local 770, and Bill Olwell, the Food and Commercial Workers’ national vice president in charge of collective bargaining, met briefly in a Carson restaurant Wednesday with Joseph McLaughlin, head of the Food Employers Council, and one of his assistants, according to sources from both sides. The meeting was described as informal in nature with no substantive bargaining occuring.

Seems More Hopeful

Still, Sperry seemed considerably more hopeful that a strike could be averted than he had earlier this week. He said Thursday that his estimate of the probability of a strike is now 60% for and 40% against--a considerably different tone than he took Tuesday when he indicated that a strike was virtually certain.

The union leaders did not publicly state why they had selected Ralphs as the initial target, but the announcement was hardly shocking. Union sources said that internal polling showed a particularly strong degree of militancy among Ralphs’ workers, stemming from variety of issues. These include a long-standing battle over the chain’s attempts to cut down the number of high-paid, veteran clerks and replace them with lower paid workers.

Gene Brown, a Ralphs’ spokesman, said he was not surprised by the announcement and indicated that it was academic in any case. The policy of the Food Employers Council is that “a strike against one company is a strike against all,” meaning that the other stores will lock out their unionized employees as soon as the strike begins.

Opposing Demands

The Food and Commercial Workers are seeking improved job security and health and welfare benefits, higher wages and other changes in the contract. The supermarket owners have proposed a three-year wage freeze, though there would be lump-sum bonuses of up to $500 a year. They also want to reduce the amount of money they put into the employees’ health and welfare plan and to expand the role of lower-paid workers as another way of cutting labor costs.

Not all Southern California supermarket chains will be struck. The union has reached interim agreements with Boys, Hughes, Mayfair and the Big Bear chain in the San Diego area. The agreements provide that in return for not being struck, those chains will accept whatever agreement the union ultimately reaches with the Food Employers Council. Additionally, the union has granted Hughes an extension of its contract until 10 days after it settles with the other chains. And about 15% to 20% of the markets in Southern California are not unionized.

Times staff writers Robert S. Weiss and Anna Macias contributed to this story.