Grocery store workers to strike

Ninety percent of grocery store workers in Local Union 1167 voted to reject the latest proposals from the three giant supermarket chains in Southern California on Saturday.

If an agreement cannot be reached by Tuesday, a strike is inevitable, according to union representatives.

The news of that possibility has some shoppers upset.

“For them to get out of work when we have 10 percent here in the Coachella Valley who are unemployed, that’s crappy,” said Charlie Knickerbocker of Indian Wells.

“It’s really hard to not go to a store because of a strike because I enjoy shopping,” said Kris Piirco of Palm Desert. “I understand that they’re going for, what they are, but I want to shop here.”

The workers’ biggest concern: nearly half of their take-home pay would be spent on increased health insurance premiums, while they claim their companies won’t give them additional hours to offset the costs.

Albertson’s worker Janos Olarnik understood a strike meant no paycheck. He has six kids to feed.

“We’re just going to try and make it,” he said. “As anyone with children knows, you do the best you can, and that’s how I’ll take care of them.

“If the strike happens, shoppers can expect to see signs throughout the store telling them about the work stoppage, according to a union representative. Shoppers may experience some tension while crossing the picket lines.

Some remember the last grocery workers strike in the Palm Springs area in 2003 and 2004, when the walkout lasted 141 days.

Picket lines were crowded, and some picketers resorted to violent acts, such as lighting trash dumpsters in fire in Palm Desert.

At a time when the economy is in rough shape, shoppers and workers could both suffer from the strike. The last strike cost store chains an estimated $1.5 billion, and workers ended up depleting their savings.

“I grew up next to a town where there were steelworkers, and they went out on strike all the time,” said Chicki Garrow of Palm Desert. “I felt really bad for them because I worked at a bank, and I saw them go through their savings. That’s tough.”

Union leaders said if workers from one of the supermarket chains go on strike, then the other two companies may lock out their workers.