Grocery

Alicia Robinson The holidays may be difficult this year for everyone affected by the labor dispute between grocery clerks and three major grocery chains. The strike and lockout of United Food and Commercial Workers union members is now in its seventh week. On Monday when picket lines were extended to include distribution centers for Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons stores, Teamsters who drive the stores' trucks honored the strike and stopped deliveries.

Don't judge striking grocery workers so hastily I am saddened and frustrated by the constant picket-bashing I see submitted by the readers. Saddened, because of the public's lack of compassion toward these workers. I hear of, and have been witness to, people going out of their way to show their disgust and disrespect for hard-working employees of multimillion-dollar corporations, who are trying to maintain their way of life and their financial security.

Alicia Robinson The grocery workers strike and lockout, now in its sixth week, has been a blessing or a curse, depending on whom you ask. Some local shoppers said they've been victims of price gouging, while others said their shopping habits haven't changed at all since picket lines formed at stores in October. United Food and Commercial Workers union members last month rejected a new contract offer that would cut workers' health benefits. After they went on strike at Vons and Pavilions on Oct. 11, workers at Albertsons and Ralphs stores, which have been bargaining jointly, were locked out. "I'm just shopping here because I can't shop at my regular stores," said Shirley Davidson, of Corona del Mar, after shopping at the Stater Bros.

JOSEPH N. BELL I went grocery shopping last Monday, but I never got in the store. Instead, I hung around outside shooting the breeze with the people who normally take care of me inside. Actually, my wife does most of our grocery shopping, but I go along or make extra trips often enough that I feel a small part of our supermarket family. And I saw a lot of family when I visited on Monday. Outside. Our supermarket home is Ralphs at the corner of 17th Street and Irvine Avenue.

Deepa Bharath Shane Solomon felt the searing rays of the sun pierce through his baseball cap on Wednesday afternoon. Many in Southern California felt that sweltering heat over the last few days. But Solomon and others like him who spent several hours a day picketing outside the supermarkets, felt its fury. Solomon was one of the striking supermarket employees who was holding a sign outside Ralphs on East 17th Street. The workers of three supermarket chains in Southern California have entered their 11th day of picketing, protesting a contract they say will cut their health benefits by half.

Luis Pena The United Food and Commercial Workers union went on strike late Saturday after rejecting a contract present by Albertsons, Ralphs, and Vons supermarkets. Strikers at the Albertsons on Harbor Boulevard and Wilson Street were out with their picket signs as they told shoppers not to shop at the store and to go to Stater Bros. instead. Bryce Gutierrez, a meat manager and strike captain at Albertsons, said that they decided to go out on strike not because of the proposed $15 a week co-payment that has been reported in the media but because the supermarkets want them to pay 50% of hospital stays, 50% of doctor's visits and a 50% co-pay for prescriptions, and because the supermarkets want them to take a cut in vision and dental.

Deirdre Newman A joint effort between city officials and local businesses that use shopping carts has borne fruit as the law will finally make it to the checkout line today. The City Council will consider a law that mainly calls for all stores using shopping carts to establish an effective containment system to keep the carts on their properties, with a $150 fine for each cart the city retrieves after the fifth one in any 12-month period. The council will also consider two alternatives to the proposal.

Paul Clinton Healthier-foods grocery store Henry's Marketplace is readying its third Orange County store at the Costa Mesa Square shopping center, a spokeswoman said. The store is scheduled to open within a month. The Southern California grocer, which operates 19 other stores in the region, has also hired David San Miguel as its store director, the company said. "We're excited about opening a new store in Costa Mesa and adding David to the team," said John Baker, the vice president of Henry's.

Kathy Mader Grocery stores aren't normally where you would look to catch a bite to eat. But grocery stores aren't what they used to be either, and I mean that in a good way. The stiff competition between markets has caused everyone to step up. You see remodels all over town, and the delis in all of our local grocery stores are now top notch. But none are better than the deli/cafe at Bristol Farms in Corona del Mar. First of all, this is a food lover's grocery store -- I'm sorry, gourmet market -- with foods from around the world creatively displayed in various sections of the store.

Deirdre Newman It seemed like such a simple idea. Pick up extra food from grocery stores that would normally be discarded and deliver it to social service agencies. But when Corona del Mar High School senior Joe Klunder first broached this idea to the management of a Newport Beach grocery store, he was immediately thwarted. "I called the manager ... and he hung up on me," Klunder said. But the 17-year-old was undeterred. Through legal research, cold-calling and perseverance, Klunder transformed his kernel of an idea into the Youth Community Organization Serving Others, which delivers food and clothing to various social service agencies in the Newport-Mesa area.