Crocery strike ends
1986Dave Cooper 1986-01Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 3 →
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As we go to press: A settlement has been announced in the L.A. supermarket strike. The Teamsters voted to settle on Dec. 26. The meatcutters rejected the contract in the first vote, but accepted a two-tier contract in a second vote on Dec. 29. Despite the overall vote, and pressure from the UFCW international leadership to approve the contract, a majority in two of the three meatcutter locals still voted down the contract.
LOS ANGELES—After several bitter weeks, the supermarket strike/lockout of 22,000 Teamsters, meatcutters, and warehouse workers in Southern California continues to pose a major challenge to the labor movement.
The Teamsters and the United Food and Commericial Workers Union (UFCW) seek only an extension of their present contract. But the employers, with profits up 14 percent, still insist on major concessions.
In an apparent attempt to divide the Teamsters from the meatcutters, the Food Employers Council has offered a proposal that would apply the two-tier wage scale only to automotive and non-food warehouse workers. These workers constitute less than 20 percent of the Teamster membership.
Three thousand strikers and sur porters rallied in downtown Los Angi eles at McArthur Park on Dec. 6, 1985. It was clear, despite some militant-sounding speeches, that the Teamster and UFCW leaderships had no new tactics to announce.
Instead, they reiterated their plea to the employers to return to the bargaining table for "good-faith" negotiations.
The strike has reduced company profits over the past weeks, but not enough to compel this multi-billion dollar food industry to retreat from its union-busting goal. The employers have demonstrated their capacity to keep the struck supermarkets and warehouses operating. Unless this state of affairs is challenged by the organized labor movement, the prospects for a union victory remain distant.