Pension Fund Urges Grocers to End Strike

Another California public pension fund called on the supermarket chains to end a 3-month-old strike and lockout that the fund says is harming its investments in the chains.

The Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Assn. voted to urge the stores -- Safeway Inc., which owns Vons and Pavilions; Kroger Co., the parent of Ralphs; and Albertsons Inc. -- to solve their dispute with the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

The pension fund holds combined shares in the chains valued at $25 million. Its action was prompted by the Service Employees International Union, which has about 45,000 members who are fund participants, SEIU spokesman Dennak Murphy said.

The nation’s largest public pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, also had urged grocers to quickly resolve the dispute.

-- James F. Peltz