Food Chains, Union Talk to Avert Strike : Labor: Negotiators for retail clerks, meat cutters and 6 supermarkets are expected to meet this weekend. Contract runs out at midnight Sunday.

Negotiators for six major supermarket chains and 80,000 retail clerks and meat cutters from San Diego to Bakersfield expect to continue negotiations throughout the weekend in an effort to avoid a strike when the current contract expires at midnight Sunday.

Stumbling blocks include issues of health care, wages and job security, spokesmen for both sides said Friday.

In balloting earlier this week, union members voted overwhelmingly to give their leaders authorization to call a strike.

However, sources familiar with the negotiations said that an immediate strike is unlikely.

They predicted that if no contract is signed by Sunday night, union negotiators will probably be willing to continue talks beyond the deadline.

The negotiations involve 10 locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Ralphs, Vons, Lucky, Stater Bros., Albertsons and Alpha Beta chains, which run about 800 stores in the region.

Many of the issues being negotiated illustrate longstanding concerns in the supermarket industry.

The markets say they operate on low profit margins ranging from 1% to 3% and must restrain labor costs to remain competitive. That has led to low wage-increase offers and demands for flexible scheduling. Nearly two-thirds of the markets’ work force consists of part-time employees.

The 73,000 supermarket clerks earn wages of between $4 and $13.05 an hour. Another 7,000 meat cutters earn from $9.31 to $14.33 an hour. Both sides have declined to publicly discuss their wage proposals.

Negotiations in Carson between the presidents of the 10 union locals and the markets, which are represented by the Food Employers Council, began in mid-June. Major differences that remain include:

- The markets’ desire to cut health-care costs by introducing a managed care system, which would reduce the flexibility employees enjoy in selecting doctors.

- The markets’ proposal to allow more stocking and inventory work to be done by outside vendors who sell merchandise to the markets. The union says this cuts employment.

- The union’s proposal to raise the minimum work week from 16 hours to 24 hours. The same demand was made during the last round of contract negotiations in 1987 but was deleted from the final compromise.

- The markets’ plan to reduce pension contributions for entry-level retail clerks and add the money to the salaries, which are barely at minimum-wage level. The markets have found it difficult to attract qualified applicants at the present salary range.

“We would like to ensure that employers don’t take any benefits away,” said Jerry McTeague, secretary-treasurer of UFCW Local 770 in Los Angeles, the largest of the 10 locals involved in negotiations. Local 770, which has 20,000 members, is negotiating separately from the other nine locals.

“The most significant concern for the chains . . . is their inability to compete with the low-priced nonunion competition that is so prevalent in Southern California now because of the growth of discount warehouses that are offering more food items,” said Food Employers Council spokesman David Willauer.

Spokesmen said Friday that the two sides have yet to discuss wages. The 1987 contract provided annual cash bonuses and only a small increase in the hourly wage.

“We have informed them we’re not interested in bonuses this time,” McTeague said. “It has to be hard cash, wages.”