Fry’s, Safeway brace for strikes

No one knows if grocery store workers will go on strike Friday but customers entering Fry’s and Safeway stores are seeing signs — literally — of possible labor unrest.

Each of the three local stores has a front-door sign saying temporary clerks are being hired this week because of the potential labor dispute. Stores are also advertising prominently for temporary employees.

On Tuesday, Safeway and Fry’s Food Stores escalated the standoff with United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 99 by announcing they have entered into an agreement that says if the union declares a strike against one chain the other could lock out its union employees.

Fry’s spokeswoman Debbie Mulligan said that because the union is bargaining with both employers. If it strikes against one, it would bring more pressure on that chain to possibly make a more costly settlement. Then the union could turn to the other company and declare a strike against that one. Mulligan said that scenario would hurt the industry. She said a lockout would “level the playing field as the two companies would come together.”

The UFCW Local 99 represents most hourly employees at Fry’s and Safeway stores around the state, and has set a strike deadline of Friday at 6 p.m. No talks are under way now, union spokeswoman Ellen Anreder said.

Mulligan said the company hopes to avoid a strike or lockout but has hired and begun training 2,000 temporary workers. Fry’s also will bring in management from out of state to work with temporary staff “so our customer service level remains the same, which is not only good for customers and the company but for our workers if they are striking” so there will be a competitive company for them to rejoin after the strike.

Safeway has been hiring temporary workers also, Phoenix Division Director of Public Affairs Cathy Kloos said.

The sticking points in negotiations include raises and whether new employees should contribute toward health care costs.

Mulligan said union employees make between $7 and $12 an hour and get regular increases based on seniority; the company has proposed a raise of 25 cent an hour for employees at the top of the pay scale plus a gift card. The union says employees already agreed to a $3 an hour pay cut at the top of the pay scale in the last negotiations.

The companies to date have paid for employees’ entire health care contribution and are proposing that new employees pay between $5 and $15 a week toward health coverage. The union has opposed that measure, saying some employees only make $9,000 a year and would end up paying $780 toward health care.

Customers undecided

Customers appear to be split on what they would do if workers go on strike at the Safeway stores in Green Valley and Sahuarita and the Fry’s in Sahuarita, but employees don’t seem to think a strike will occur, according to several interviews.

At Safeway at Continental Shopping Plaza, customer Fritz Graham said he would “definitely” continue to shop there, even if that meant crossing a picket line.

“They haven’t got anything against me,” he said.

Graham said with the economy in a recession and the holiday’s coming up, it’s a “bad time for a strike. But that’s why the union organizers picked it.”

Green Valley resident Norita Nickerson said she hopes employees don’t end up striking, but said she would continue to shop at the Safeway because “this is my place.”

But shopper Jan St. Claire said she wouldn’t patronize either Safeway or Fry’s in the event of a strike.

“I would support them,” St. Claire said. “They’re not making enough to live on.”

That would leave her with the option of buying from smaller stores or the non-union Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart employees who didn’t want to be identified said their store is stocking up as the strike deadline nears, though they say some of the extra inventory is for Thanksgiving.

Kelly Cheeseman, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart in Bentonville, Ark., said, “Our stores are able to monitor customer demand closely, and should customer demand increase, our Green Valley store will be prepared in order to provide the best customer experience.”

A Fry’s employee said he hopes a settlement occurs before the strike deadline and expressed frustration because some of the higher-paid hourly workers have “got a lot to lose. I’ve got bills to pay and a family to feed. It sucks, but right now there’s nothing we can really do about it.”

Another worker said he doesn’t think employees will end up striking because, “with the holidays coming up, Fry’s can’t afford to lose the business.”

Media reports have focused on grocery store workers who oppose a strike and picketed union headquarters in Phoenix, though some of those were not union members. Asked about lukewarm support by the rank and file, Anreder said, “There are 24,500 workers affected by this contract and they voted overwhelmingly throughout the state to reject the employers’ proposals and authorize a strike, if need be.”

Reach the reporter at pfranchine@gvnews.com or 547-9738; reporters Jaime Richardson and Regina Ford contributed to this report.