NORTH COUNTY — Striking grocery clerks announced late Thursdaythat they will raise the ante in their labor dispute with Vonssupermarkets today by turning a picket rally in Garden Grove into ablockade of the store.
The action, which was described by United Food and CommercialWorkers International Union spokeswoman Ellen Anreder as civildisobedience, was timed to occur on the birthday of Dr. MartinLuther King Jr., whose leadership of the civil rights movement inthe late 1950s and the 1960s was characterized by nonviolentrefusal to obey certain laws.
In Los Angeles, a former Ralphs supermarket manager has sued thecompany, alleging that the grocery chain breaks the law every timeit computes employee bonuses because it uses a formula outlawed bythe state.
King’s acts of civil disobedience sometimes led to his arrestand to the arrest of his followers.
It could not be ascertained whether the union, which is strikingVons and is locked out of Ralphs and Albertson’s stores, intends topress its action far enough that union members and perhaps itsleaders are arrested.
“Well, whatever happens,” union spokeswoman Ellen Anreder saidFriday.
“Nobody is going to be hurt,” she said.
What the union plans to do at the Garden Grove store is form ahuman chain around the store and block public access, therebypreventing would-be shoppers from entering the store. Pickets arepermitted by law to march back and forth, to inform passers-by oftheir reason for being there, and to attempt to discourage shoppersby persuasion from entering the store to shop. However, they arenot permitted to block access to the store altogether.
U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-47th, whose district includesGarden Grove, has said that she will be at the event to showsupport for the union’s effort to protect its members’ pay andbenefits, although she was not willing to say she supports an actof civil disobedience.
“Our attendance at that rally will be just like our attendanceat any other rally in support of employees,” said Sanchez’ districtdirector, Raul Luna.
“(Sanchez) will not be participating in any acts of civildisobedience, and our attendance is just to show support for theirright to negotiate better wages and health-care benefits,” Lunasaid.
“Rep. Sanchez does not support acts of civil disobedience — wedon’t agree with anyone breaking the law,” he said.
“However, in certain situations, people have used this type ofactivity to bring attention to their cause when all else failed,”Luna said.
“It’s very unfortunate that the talks that have taken placebetween the two sides have failed,” he said.
Democratic state Sen. Joe Dunn, also of Garden Grove, wasadvertised by the union as also attending the event to show supportfor the union, but his office said late Friday that he will beunable to get away from the state Democratic convention in San Josein time.
“He’s just not going to be there,” said Suzanne St. Clair, amember of Dunn’s district office staff in Garden Grove.
“He does support their action tomorrow,” District Director NormaCobb said.
“He supports this civil disobedience,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ralphs supermarkets have come under fire from anotherdirection.
Ralphs stores were spared the pickets after Oct. 31, when theunion withdrew picket lines from that chain, although sporadicpicketing now takes place at some Ralphs supermarket loading docksin San Diego County.
But the Kroger subsidiary has been sued by the union over itshiring and benefits reporting practices during the strike. Thosesuits claim that Ralphs is violating labor law and committing mailfraud, and is therefore a racketeering enterprise.
The company also is being sued by a former employee, DavidSwanson, who charges in his suit that the company regularlyviolates California labor law by forcing managers to pay a portionof the company’s costs for business losses and for workers’compensation losses.
When the suit was brought, Ralphs filed a demurer, a pleadingthat says, in effect, the suit does not allege facts thatconstitute a triable cause of action. The Los Angeles SuperiorCourt judge hearing the case overruled the demurer, but two weekslater certified the case to the Court of Appeals, in effect seekinglegal advice from the higher court.
The appeals court ruled in October that the case appeared tohave enough meat to chew on, and refused to tell the superior courtto reverse itself.
Rather than moving forward, however, the matter was immediatelyappealed to the California Supreme Court, which could decide assoon as early February whether to hear the matter. If it rejectsthe appeal, which it did in a similar case brought againstAlbertson’s two years ago, then Swanson’s case will go forward.Swanson has asked to be accepted by the court both as an individualplaintiff and as a putative class representative, making the casepotentially costly for the grocer if he prevails.
What Swanson claims is that he, and all management personnel,are paid bonuses as part of their wages. Those bonuses are computedon gross sales reduced by allowances for losses due to ordinarybusiness circ*mstances, such as pilferage and breakage, and forlosses due to workers’ compensation claims. The suit claims thatboth kinds of deductions are illegal under California laborlaw.
Ralphs demurer argued that profit-based bonuses are not wagesand therefore are not subject to the labor law provisions.
“The cases we rely on go back to a Supreme Court decision in the1960s, and to the labor laws passed by California more than 100years ago,” said Scott A. Brooks of the Los Angeles law firmDaniels, Fine, Israel and Schonbuch, which represents Swanson.
Attorneys representing Ralphs in the case did not returntelephone calls.
Contact staff writer Edmond Jacoby at (760) 739-6675 orejacoby@nctimes.com.
