UPDATE**
Just after noon on Monday, grocery union officials and negotiators for Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons reached a tentative deal which will avoid a strike that was poised to move forward. A strike would have affected the two stores in the Eastern Sierra.
The contract under negotiation went on past a Sunday night strike deadline only to be resolved today. Details of the tentative deal were not revealed. Vons corporate public relations did not return our phone calls from last Friday.
*********
According to Reuters News Service, the union that represents many of the 62,000 workers at Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons,including Vons workers in Inyo-Mono, issued a required 72-hour notice of its plan to cancel its extended contract which some sources say could lead to a strike.
Local Vons Manager Rick Graham at the Mammoth Lakes store said that the union issuance does affect Vons workers in the Eastern Sierra. We were referred to as many as four numbers to contact corporate public affairs for a statement from the stores. Our final call went to Brian Dowling, Director of Public Affairs for Vons. We have not heard back.
How serious is this, yet another strike threat? What is known is that the union and the supermarkets reached an impasse over healthcare coverage. According to Reuters News Service, employees have given the union the go-ahead to call a strike if an acceptable deal for a new contract can not be reached.
As many here recall, it was in 2003 that Vons went on strike for four and a half months. Rick Icaza, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 is quoted as saying that “We don’t want to s trike, but if they won’t negotiate, we have no choice.”
Sources say that when the 72-hour notice to cancel the contract ends, it does not mean an immediate walk-out. Sources say it does mean workers will begin final strike preparations.
The possibility of a Vons strike stemmed from the reality that Vons management was going to completely take away the retirement benefits of all employees (both new and long-term employees) and severely limit health care benefits. I support the employees…..strike if necessary, the irony is that all the “Anti-Union” rhetoric… Read more »
If they were to go on strike, I would just drink beer I buy at Rite Aid. The beer is always the cheapest in town there anyways.
Beers even cheaper at Rite Aid in Bishop. Especially if you can drink Keystone. And Ken I pretty much agree with all you said above. My worry is when we’re at the top and in a global market there’s no where to go but down. Wal Mart’s not the cheapest… Read more »
I’m glad of the deal too. Strikes are a last resort and they are hard on everybody. As for the idea of a global market place. That’s eventually what will be the norm. The World is in a period of transition from local to global. Hopefully, all economies will reach… Read more »
Unions protect the regular person from being exploited from greedy people and corporations, just like Vons. If I am going to pay the highest price in the nation for food here, I would call it only far that the people trying to make a living working there get their fair… Read more »
Ken – The problem with unions in the U.S. is that can’t compete in a global market. of course that has nothing to do with the grocery clerks. We just pay more for our food for them to have their union. Mammoth needs a Wal Mart. Then every other business… Read more »
The global market is not a level playing field. Free trade has not benefited the average worker in the U.S. unions or no unions. And if you want to look at global trade as a competition of sorts and the average worker as the contestant — what do you win… Read more »
…by the way — here’s what working without unions would be like — and this is America.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/19/1018292/-NC-tobacco-workers-face-below-minimum-wages-and-abusive-working-and-living-conditions?detail=hide&via=blog_1
You are citing the Daily Kos? Hook up with “Loblaw” and the other kool-aid drinkers to resist being dragged into the 21st century.
get out the Popcorn….
Because of the price of gas and limited family funds, if there is a strike, I will still have to shop at Vons in Mammoth. It will have nothing to do with what side I am on – it will just be a necessary economical decision for our family. I… Read more »
There’s power in numbers, but there’s also power in skill and knowlege.
If you have no skill or knowledge you’d better go with power in numbers and join a union.
The spectrum of skills and knowledge is more complex than all or nothing. Some highly skilled people still need collective bargaining. Remember the air traffic controllers that Reagan fired? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_%281968%29 Nobody really won that. And just having a skill is no guarantee of job stability. Think of all the software… Read more »
There seems to be a substantial amount of anti-union feeling here on this blog. I wonder where it came from? And at the same time, nobody complains about the 40 hour work week or child labor laws or paid health care — all came about from union’s collective bargaining. Now… Read more »
The United Auto Workers Union destroyed the U.S. economy by negotiating $61.00 per hour salaries for non-skilled assembly line workers 15 years ago..
The statement on the hourly wage by a UAW worker quoted by High & Dry is simply not true. A simple search on the internet shows that “the average union autoworker makes around $28 an hour as of 2007 and the new contract signed in early 2008 will limit the… Read more »
That is exactly why people join unions in the first place. One unhappy employee can be replaced without a major impact. Ten or twenty employees, not so easy to replace all at once. It can be done, but rarely without an impact on the business.
Do you honestly think ALL of the employees at VONS will stirke? My best “racist” guess will be NO – the Hispanics won’t. They don’t care about the politics of the union – they just care about making money to take care of their families.
Yeah,too bad “others” don’t think that same way..wanting to care and support their families..
Wayne- there is power in numbers and I would fire you being weak .
Long ago,I was brought up with the notion that an employer is doing you the favor by employing you,not the other way around.Power in numbers?……In this case,with a probable strike,it’s not as if the markets will be unable to find replacements.And certainly not much support that would lead customers to… Read more »
Let’s not forget where collective bargaining sprang from. Back in Wayne’s “Good Ol’ Days” working men (and children) were just happy to have a job, and thrilled to get a lower paying one, when they could no longer do their job due to their losing an appendage in a machine… Read more »
Ralph’s will close all stores here in response to the strike, so they say. So Von’s will have an unchallenged monopoly. And you think carrot prices are high now? Dudes, dudettes, I’m manning the barricades with you in solidarity. Why not? What else do we have to do, now that… Read more »
You have actually managed to dumb down anonymous internet posting.
Wow.
Since you have proven incapable of offering a responsible, reasoned reply other than a mere conclusory smear, I will take my point as having gone unrebutted.
Hard to imagine what union leaders would recommend and what union would follow a recommendation to go out in a job market with 12 percent (!) unemployment.
My friend who works for VON’s corporate told me they’re willing to hold out several years.
It’s a trade that requires almost no skill making it very easy to replace striking employees.
.
So I guess we’ll see what happens.
Wayne, What is your contract like with your boss? How do often do you and the other party conduct contract negotiations? Seems to me that if you were in the middle of negotiating your contract (you know, a binding agreement that two or more parties agree to) and the other… Read more »
Vons needs to lower there prices and get a better singer!
Don’t understand why such a big deal….not only with this possible strike,but anykind of strike…If I were to complain to my boss,for whatever reason,benifits,pay,working conditions,etc.one of two things would happen….He would replace me with someone who wants a job,or he would probably say”this is what you get,take it or leave… Read more »
Here’s another way to look at it: The economy is, “…the way it is…” because real income has been diminishing for decades for a variety of reasons which have been discussed ad nauseum. If nobody has money to spend the economy grinds to a halt. And you are right that… Read more »