UFCW screws supermarket workers at the behest of Safeway shareholders in Sacramento area

Grocery workers would take hit
Proposed deal with Safeway has higher medical expenses.By Jon Ortiz and
Rachel Osterman -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, December 31, 2004Local Safeway workers
would pay medical deductibles for the first time in their union's history
under the terms of a contract negotiated last week by the
Roseville-based United Food and Commercial Workers Local 588.
Union leaders have touted parallel pacts negotiated with Safeway Inc.,
Albertsons Inc., Raley's and Ralphs Grocery as a victory for members
because they won't include the kind of steep wage cuts and health
insurance premium sharing that had been accepted by Southern California
workers earlier this year.
But union documents reviewed by The Bee on Thursday show that the new
contract proposal with Safeway requires union workers to pay annual
medical deductibles of up to $600 per person or $1,800 per family,
depending on the insurance plan. Proposed agreements with the other chains were
not available for review, but union officials said they were similar to
Safe-way's.
Union negotiators and the Pleasanton-based chain also agreed to double
the co-pays that workers must pay when they visit doctors, triple the
time it takes to earn some job promotions, cut hourly overtime pay rates
and allow stores to introduce self-service checkout stands for the
first time.
Some Safeway employees complain that the new contract gives away too
much, since the starting salary for a journeyman food clerk is roughly
$19 an hour now.
"It looks to me, I swear, that this (agreement) was typed up by
Safeway," said Davis Safeway clerk Patricia Moore. "It's just unbelievable."
Local 588 spokesman Adam Loveall said: "There are certainly going to be
people that look at one thing or another and don't like it. We don't
have the luxury of detailing each contract to each member's life. We got
this without going on strike. Anyone can go on strike."
He added that union leaders are confident the 17,000 members of UFCW
Local 588, which stretches from Modesto to the Oregon border, will ratify
the contracts.
"The reports that we have from our field staff have been overwhelmingly
supportive," he said.
Officials with Safeway were unavailable for comment Thursday afternoon.
The agreement capped months of intense negotiations between the union
and the four grocery chains. Local 588's contract expired on July 17.
Members continued working under an open-ended extension until the union
imposed a Dec. 19 strike vote deadline.
West Sacramento-based Raley's reached a tentative agreement with the
union on Dec. 17. Albertsons, Safeway and Ralphs followed two days later.
Workers for Modesto-based Save Mart are still without a contract.
Negotiations will resume early next month, the union said.
One person who won't be part of those talks is Jack Loveall, Local
588's president since 1984. The 68-year-old former grocery bagger quietly
stepped down Dec. 22, although his face and voice remain prominent on
the organization's Web site.
Union officials characterized the move as a lifelong union man retiring
at the height of success. The local's executive board voted Loveall's
son and the local's executive vice president, Jacques, to the top post.
Discontented union members cast the elder Loveall's departure Thursday
as more of a desertion after negotiating the new contract.
"You know what you've done to us, Jack," said Mark Bettencourt, a Davis
Safeway dairy clerk with four children on the company's health plan.
"But at least be man enough to stand up to the people whose lives you've
destroyed."
Local 588 and the supermarket chains said from the outset of
negotiations last summer that they didn't want a strike. The five-month walkout
in Southern California cost Safeway, Kroger Co.'s Ralphs chain and
Albertsons approximately $2.5 billion in profits by some estimates. In their
latest earnings reports, the grocers continue to report that the strike
is hurting their bottom lines because some customers who switched
stores have not returned.
Grocery chain executives there argued that they needed union
concessions to remain competitive, especially with the recent entry of nonunion
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. into the state's retail grocery sector.
That same issue was at the core of negotiations here, but the sides
avoided a similar showdown. The union kept its promise to avoid employee
health premium payments and the two-tier wage system that pays new hires
less money that was accepted in Southern California.
But if the contract is ratified, the chains would get employees to pick
up a greater share of health insurance costs and would see some relief
on salary increases.
"Are there things we'd like to be different? Yes," said Adam Loveall,
who is also Jack Loveall's son. "Are there things we're going to fight
(when this contract expires in three years)? Yes."
Local 588 mailed the new contract terms and ballots to members last
week, said union spokeswoman Ellen Anreder. Union leaders will tally the
votes on Jan. 7, but it has not scheduled any formal informational
meetings with the rank-and-file until Jan. 13.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/v-print/story/11902461p-12789433c.html

About the writer:
The Bee's Jon Ortiz can be reached at (916) 321-1043 or
jortiz [at] sacbee.com.