More than 600 warehouse workers represented by Teamsters Local 630 at two Smart & Final supermarket warehouses have entered a third week of strike action, protesting mass layoffs of about 150 truck drivers and nearly 100 unfair labor practices.
The work stoppage has caused the dairy and ice cream refrigerated shelves of Smart & Final stores located on Via Campo in the city of Montebello to be empty, and customers have stopped shopping there and have joined the daily boycott of the still unionized workers at the Commerce and Riverside stores.
“If they mistreat people, this is the last time I will be in this store,” said Enriqueta Hernandez, a Monterey Park resident, as she left the store.
“In the United States we have rights and laws that must be respected,” said Hector Montes, a winemaker who has worked for Smart & Final for 24 years. “It seemed like an ideal job, but now they are turning it into a nightmare.”
Montes, who is part of the union’s negotiating table, told La Opinión that even Carlos A. Smith, executive director of Chedraui USA, the company owned by the Mexican billionaire of Lebanese origin, Alfredo Chedraui Obeso, “told us point-blank that if the State of California does not force them to respect the laws, they will not do it.”
In addition to supermarkets in Mexico, Grupo Comercial Chedraui operates more than 300 stores in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. In Los Angeles, the company owns El Súper, Fiesta Mart and Smart & Final stores.
Announcement of closure of unionized warehouses
On May 9, 2023, Smith said in a letter to Chedraui USA associates that as part of the company’s transition, distribution centers would be closed beginning in January 2024. [donde los trabajadores están sindicalizados en Commerce y Riverside] “and exit the contract with third parties.”
In addition to plans to open three additional Smart & Final stores in Lancaster, Lompoc and Madera, the company sought to improve its distribution network at a massive facility in Rancho Cucamonga, with the goal of reducing freight costs and building rental costs. A copy of the letter was provided by Teamsters Local 630 to La Opinión.
“The problem created by the company [Chedraui] “It was when they made the announcement immediately after the union’s first election on February 9 and in the middle of the second unionization vote on May 18,” said Oscar Ruiz, political organizer and divisional representative for Teamsters Local 630.
They want to pay them less
“They announced to all workers that the two warehouses in Commerce and Riverside were closing, and that anyone who wanted to work in Rancho Cucamonga would have to reapply for the job, at $12 less an hour,” said Oscar Ruiz. “That is a violation of California’s AB647 law on worker retention, and they should be given preference before hiring someone else.”
Currently, a Smart & Final warehouse worker earns an average of $32 an hour. If someone wants to be rehired, they would initially earn $20, according to the company’s offer, union members said.
The Teamsters are currently filing numerous unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board. Chedraui USA/Smart & Final is also accused of negotiating in bad faith and maintaining an illegal proposal that violates Assembly Bill AB 647 by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-District 41/San Gabriel Valley), which went into effect in January 2024 and guarantees grocery distribution center workers lien rights when the facilities they work at undergo a change in control, operations or ownership.
The law includes stricter enforcement mechanisms, including giving employers 33 days to resolve a violation before a worker can sue, as well as preventing layoffs. Grupo Comercial Chedraui and its subsidiary Bodega Latina Corporation acquired Smart & Final in May 2021 for $620 million and assumed some debt.
The company is under investigation by the California State Labor Commission.
“We drivers were deceived”
Roberto Carlos Ramirez, who is not a member of the truckers union, had been working for Smart & Final for six years and earned an average annual salary of $90,000 for accumulated overtime hours worked at the Riverside, Commerce and Fontana warehouses.
Ramirez and 150 other drivers were terminated on July 1.
“They deceived us,” he said. “First, they told us not to worry, that everything would be fine, and then, as a surprise, they took all our jobs away from us.”
Ramírez refused to continue working for Smart & Final. He and other drivers were allegedly told that their salaries would be respected until November, but that after that they would have to comply with the company’s conditions.
“I was paying $62 every two weeks for health insurance, and they said that if I wanted to continue with the same plan, I would have to pay that same amount, but every week,” she said. “The problem was that those of us who were laid off were not part of the union and if we wanted to continue with them, we only had seven days to think about it.”
Rehiring under new terms
The Teamsters’ work stoppage is the second in less than a year. The first strike occurred before Thanksgiving 2023.
“As production operations are progressively wound down at each of the current independent facilities, the employment of associates at those locations will end,” Carlos A. Smith announced.
“When the Rancho Cucamonga facility becomes operational, current associates may apply to join the new Rancho Cucamonga team along with applicants from the general public.”
If someone were hired, they would work under the new terms and conditions of employment set by the company.
“Of course, we will comply with state and federal notice laws that apply to facility closures. [en Commerce y Riverside]including provisions of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act,” reported the CEO of Chedraui USA.
Department of Transportation investigation called for
On behalf of his constituents, Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez (District 34/Los Angeles) requested intervention from Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Acting Secretary Julie Su, and Katherine Tai, representative of the U.S. Trade Office.
“Constituents have shared troubling reports about a supply chain riddled with safety and labor violations, raising questions about the operations of both Smart & Final and its parent company Grupo Comercial Chedraui,” the congressman’s letter reads.
Jimmy Gomez raises his concerns and allegations with these agencies, in order to understand whether their departments consider oversight or legislative reform necessary.
“I have long been concerned that regulatory and legal loopholes in our existing trade framework could be exploited by powerful corporations, resulting in downward pressure on wages and working conditions in our communities and subversion of our laws,” the lawmaker said.
“The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) included labor provisions to ensure that trade between our two countries would uplift workers, rather than enable their exploitation,” he added. “However, beyond the scope of the Rapid Response Mechanism, more work is required to protect the fundamental rights of workers on both sides of the border to organize and collectively bargain for improvements in their wages and working conditions.”
Legislators pressure Chedraui
Based on the company’s plans, Assemblyman Chris Holden wrote to Chedraui USA CEO Carlos A. Smith, indicating that he believes the company is violating state law.
“For the sake of our communities and affected employees, I urge you to immediately correct your violations by compiling a comprehensive preferential hiring list of eligible workers at the Chedraui-owned facilities being closed, which would include Smart & Final distribution centers (in Commerce and Riverside) and an El Super distribution center (in Ontario).
The legislator requests that this list be provided exclusively to employee collective bargaining representatives when applicable and to inform employees that they will be offered a position and allowed to transfer to the new facility in Rancho Cucamonga if they so desire.
It also calls for a hiring process for the new facility to be conducted in compliance with the requirements of AB 647, including hiring and exhausting the preferred hiring list for all available Rancho Cucamonga job openings.