Stater Bros. workers, union leaders, members and community supporters called for a boycott of the supermarket chain’s Pasadena store on Monday.
“Twelve thousand Stater Bros. workers across Southern California have been working under a contract that expired in March,” according to a statement by United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 770. “They’ve been negotiating with the company for nearly five months to get the wages, staffing levels and benefits they deserve but instead of bargaining in good faith, the company has engaged in unfair labor practices, including surveillance, interrogation, retaliation and unlawfully restricting workers’ right to engage in protected union activities.”
Stater Bros. Corporate Headquarters was not open at the time of this reporting, so a response was unavailable.
The union noted that Southern California United Food and Commercial Workers locals have won contracts for more than 45,000 Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions grocery workers, with significant wage increases, improved benefits and staffing protections to improve safety and service but Stater Bros. refuses to agree to similar terms.
Workers overwhelmingly voted July 25 to authorize an unfair labor practice strike against Stater Bros. and their union has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging management “unlawfully restricted union activities, including blocking access to break rooms and threatened to call law enforcement on employees simply for exercising their labor rights,” among other accusations.
Workers will gather Monday at 11 a.m. to picket, chant and urge customers not to shop at the Stater Bros. store at 1390 Allen Ave., near East Washington Boulevard, in Pasadena.
The next bargaining sessions are set for Tuesday and Wednesday.