Teamsters in N. California strike Safeway warehouse
BY BARBARA BOWMAN
TRACY, California--Workers at the giant warehouse here who distribute groceries and produce to Safeway and Pak n Save stores in California, Nevada, and Hawaii went on strike October 18. Many of the nearly 1,600 members of Teamsters Local 439 began massing at the front gate of Summit Logistics hours before the strike. At 1:00 p.m. they grabbed picket signs, began chanting, and formed a human wall that blocked trucks from leaving the warehouse for a number of hours.
Strikers are demanding the company pay drivers by the hour rather than by delivery and end unsafe working conditions.
"We have to run to do our work and the aisles are all congested," explained Rito Luja, who has seven years as a warehouse worker. "We can't go home till our orders are filled so we'reforced to work through breaks and lunches and do lots of overtime."
Aaron Urbia, 24, added, "It's impossible for any human being to work like they want you to. If Summit had agreed to better work conditions we wouldn't be out. I've seen honest men come in and do their best and still get fired. By the time you are 40 you can't do this work."
Teamsters vice president Sam Rosas says 3,800 workers have gone through the company in the last three years. Summit president Martin Street admitted last year's turnover included 712 employees, 536 of whom failed to pass their probation.
Working conditions have been a problem since the facility opened in 1992, which is when Safeway began using a third-party distribution company. "Summit is just a mask for Safeway," said striker Luja.
Michael Van Gorder, 28, a warehouse worker for more than five years, explained, "The sign may say Summit Logistics, but the logo on the building, products, and trucks all say Safeway., Summit is just a front."
The strikers called for a boycott of Safeway and are getting a friendly response to their leafleting at Safeway stores in the area.
Strikebreaking moves
Summit has taken out ads in local papers and Safeway is distributing leaflets that the strikers say misrepresent the union's demands, the pay they earned, and their working conditions.
Summit has housed some 1,600 strikebreakers for several weeks in hotels in Tracy and provides buses and vans to transport them into the warehouse.
During the first two days of the strike some windows in the buses and vans were broken and a small number of injuries reported.
Violence-baiting has dominated much of the news. Striker Mike Pacheco put this in perspective, "A few windows got broken but we,ve put up with a lot of stuff for a long time that has resulted in all kinds of injuries. People are angry and demanding things change."
Van Gorder underscored the strikers, determination. "We voted the company offer down three times. We wanted to do this. This is a strike from below."
"We're not going back until we're treated with respect," vowed Rito Luja.
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