Teamsters Claim Victory in Fight for Safeway Jobs

OAKLAND — A bitter labor dispute that had led to a boycott of Safeway Inc.’s Northern California stores ended in an apparent union victory Sunday when a Teamsters local voted to accept an agreement on the transfer of workers to the supermarket chain’s new distribution center.

The conflict centered around Safeway’s decision to hire an independent contractor to run the new $125-million facility in Tracy in the Central Valley. The contractor, Specialized Distribution Management Inc., originally said the workers at soon-to-close warehouses in Richmond and Fremont could apply for jobs in Tracy, but refused to guarantee that they would be hired.

The use of independent contractors is increasingly common among companies seeking a way out of longstanding labor arrangements, and the Teamsters regarded Safeway’s action as a thinly veiled attempt to break the union.

In March, the union launched a boycott of Safeway’s Northern California stores, and the company responded with full-page newspaper advertisements portraying the contractor’s offer to the workers as reasonable.

Under the agreement approved by the Teamsters on Sunday, all of the estimated 800 workers in Richmond and Fremont will be offered jobs in Tracy, and they will continue to be represented by the union. Initially, they will receive their current wages--$14 to $17 an hour--and critical disputes over benefits will be submitted to an arbitrator.

Union leaders celebrated the outcome as a major triumph at a time when union’s around the country are reeling in the face of hard-nosed corporate bargaining strategies and aggressive use of replacement workers. They cited the two-month boycott, which targeted 40 of the chain’s 220 Northern California stores, as a decisive factor in the negotiations.

“It was the corporation’s policy to dump a number of employees and start over, and we put that issue to the public, and we turned corporate policy,” said Rome Aloise, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 853. “It’s an incredible victory.”

He added that the deal will help to build a union presence in a traditionally non-union area of the state and that it reversed a string of defeats for organized labor, including the recently aborted strike at Caterpillar.

Safeway spokeswoman Debra Lambert maintained that the boycott had only a “minimal” impact on Safeway operations and that it played no role in the resolution of a dispute that no longer even involved Safeway directly. She noted that the company had been in negotiations with the Teamsters over the Tracy plant for three years before turning to an outside contractor.

Brenda Crum, co-owner of Specialized Distribution, denied that the company had moved very far from its original bargaining position, pointing out that 425 Safeway workers had already been offered jobs at the new warehouse. One of her firm’s key goals, she said, was relaxation of restrictive work rules, and that had been achieved.

But union workers said business had declined dramatically at the 40-odd stores where they distributed leaflets, and they were convinced that the loss of sales had led Safeway and its contractor to abandon hopes of keeping the Teamsters out of Tracy.

“I want to thank the public for what they’ve done,” said Patricia Sanchez, a 54-year-old warehouse worker who said she had been told that she would never be hired at the new facility.

One 47-year-old truck driver who asked that his name not be used said the apparent success of the boycott underscored the need to find new tactics. “You can’t go out and terrorize people anymore by going on strike,” he said.

But not all of the 400 workers who crowded a smoky Oakland union hall for Sunday’s vote were enthusiastic about the deal, which was approved 333 to 55.

“We should take it because we’re going to be unemployed if we don’t,” said Sean O’Keefe of Concord. “I don’t think we’re going to get anything better.”

Both sides agreed that the arbitrator’s decision on pension contributions, vacation, sick leave, pay mechanisms for truck drivers and other issues--expected within 60 days--will have an important impact on the ultimate shape of the contract.