Strike Threatened as Teamsters Reject Offer by Lucky Stores : Labor: The two sides continue talks with a federal mediator as their contract expires. The main issue is job security for warehouse and delivery workers.

ORANGE — Hundreds of Teamsters unanimously rejected the latest contract offer by Lucky Stores, increasing the chance of a strike by the 1,695 workers who warehouse and deliver goods to the chain’s 235 supermarkets throughout Southern California, the union reported Sunday.

However, at the behest of a federal mediator, both sides continued to meet late Sunday, and Teamsters leaders told their members to report to work as usual today.

The contract between Lucky and Teamsters Local 952, representing warehouse workers and truck drivers, expired today at 12:01 a.m. Union leaders left open the possibility that they could call a strike at any time after that.

Other options are boycotting Lucky without a work stoppage or extending the current contract until a new agreement is reached--a step usually taken when a settlement appears imminent.

But on Sunday, the two sides were still far apart.

“There’s been very, very, very little headway,” said Ed Mireles, head of Teamsters Local 952, as workers jammed into the union hall here to vote on the contract offer.

“There’s nothing with substance,” Mireles said of the latest offer, which came after more than 20 hours of talks that began Friday afternoon.

Judy Decker, a Lucky spokeswoman, said: “There’s been some movement on the company’s side; I don’t know about the union side.”

She said she remained hopeful that a settlement could be reached. “They’re making some progress. That’s why they’re talking again.”

The Teamsters and Lucky, the No. 2 supermarket chain in the Southland, have not been wrangling over wages and benefits. Rather, they have been deadlocked since mid-July over the company’s ability to move distribution and warehouse work out of Orange County.

For years, Lucky operated three distribution centers in Orange County, where workers are represented by Teamsters Local 952, to service all of Lucky’s Southern California stores and 20 in Nevada.

But Lucky recently opened a warehouse in Fontana, and the company has shifted liquor products there from its warehouse in Buena Park. Lucky workers in Fontana, represented by a separate Teamsters local, make $4.60 an hour less than workers doing the equivalent jobs at an hourly pay of $16.60 in Orange County.

Lucky has said it needs the flexibility to operate more efficiently. But Local 952 says the shift in liquor products will cost the jobs of at least 22 members. Moreover, it threatens long-term job security because Lucky could move more work to Fontana or other lower-wage warehouses, they added.

“If we don’t take a stand now, we could be gone 10 years from now,” said Don Brewster, a union steward at Lucky’s warehouse in Irvine.

Neither side disclosed details of the rejected offer, but the Teamsters’ Mireles said it was well short of the union’s goal of obtaining clear language that would preserve jobs.

Other issues were likely to fall into place once the dispute over job security was resolved, he added.

Over the weekend, Teamsters Local 952 ironed out an agreement with Albertson’s, leaving only Lucky among the major supermarket chains in the region without a settlement.