Shoppers keep eyes on shelves

Alicia Robinson

The holidays may be difficult this year for everyone affected by the

labor dispute between grocery clerks and three major grocery chains.

The strike and lockout of United Food and Commercial Workers union

members is now in its seventh week. On Monday when picket lines were

extended to include distribution centers for Albertsons, Ralphs and

Vons stores, Teamsters who drive the stores’ trucks honored the

strike and stopped deliveries.

“We think it’s great,” said Holly Swedelson, a grocery checker who

has been locked out of Costa Mesa’s Albertsons store on Harbor

Boulevard.

Swedelson and her co-workers held a candlelight vigil Monday night

outside the store as a quieter alternative to a rally. She said the

vigil was “for world peace and to let us go back to work and be with

our families and get everyone back on track.”

On Tuesday, not even holiday necessities were drawing shoppers to

Vons on 17th Street in Costa Mesa, where about 20 workers were

picketing in a nearly empty parking lot.

“With the Teamsters going out, we feel good,” head meat cutter

Nancy Martensen said.

While few shoppers have been visiting the store, Martensen said

it’s frustrating when they do.

“It’s a slap in the face especially the people you know,” she

said.

Orange County Teamsters Local 952 President Bob Hahn was at the

Albertsons distribution center in Irvine on Monday, where workers

began picketing at noon. He said about 700 employees at the Irvine

facility, including more than 200 drivers, are affected by the

extension of picket lines.

The union already had discussed extending the picket lines but

held off while negotiations were taking place, Local 324

representative Frank Simkins said.

“The [employers] decided they didn’t want to budge on any of the

issues,” he said.

After striking for seven weeks, he said, “a postponement is not

acceptable.”

But Albertsons spokeswoman Stacia Levenfeld said it was the union

that ended the latest round of bargaining by announcing they would

extend the picket lines.

“The union has again demonstrated that staging events and

attempting to increase inconvenience to our customers is more

important than focusing on the real issues that would resolve this

labor dispute,” she said.

To minimize the effect on customers, Albertsons set contingency

plans in motion Sunday night, Levenfeld said.

“We’ll continue to supply our stores,” she said. “Customers in our

stores will find the products that they’re looking for their holiday

dinners.”

Shopper Donna McKinnon of Costa Mesa said she stopped at Vons on

Tuesday for a few holiday items and the store shelves were well

stocked.

Though she used to shop at Vons several times a week, she said she

stayed away as long as possible because of the pickets.

“I had a big freezer that was well stocked so I thought, ‘I can

ride this thing out,’” she said. “I felt bad crossing the picket

line, but I thought, ‘I had to get this stuff.’”

Down the street at Ralphs, Ann Norman of Newport Beach said she

found everything she needed in the store.

“When the Teamsters joined I thought, ‘Uh oh, there’s not going to

be any stock,’” she said. “I was surprised. Everything was well

stocked. The clerks were nice.”

A statement from Albertsons said no further talks were scheduled

as of Monday night, and Simkins said union members are prepared to

picket for “as long as it takes.”