Clergy urge recognition of picket lines

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A group of clergymen from across the Washington area voted unanimously yesterday to urge their congregations to honor picket lines if 18,000 grocery workers walk out on strike later this month.

Safeway Inc. and Giant Food LLC's contract with grocery workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 is set to expire March 27.

"We would urge members of our churches to send letters to Safeway asking them to do everything in their power to avert any kind of job action," the Rev. Graylan Hagler, pastor of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, said after the vote by about 50 Protestant, Jewish and Muslim clergymen.

UFCW Local 400 representatives met with the clergymen at Israel Baptist Church in Northeast.

If labor negotiations fail, "we will collectively join with the workers if they do go out on strike and urge our members not to cross the picket line," Mr. Hagler said. "Part of our spirit of religious collectivism requires us to stand with our neighbors."

The nation's grocery chains have become the latest battleground for unions as they struggle to maintain power in the U.S. workplace. So far, the effort has been largely disappointing for unions.

Safeway and Giant want to cut back on wages, health care benefits and pensions to compete more effectively with nonunion groceries, such as Food Lion and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Nonunion grocers often pay $8 an hour less in wages and benefits.

The nation's longest grocery strike ended in California last month with union workers returning to their jobs with few of their demands met after 20 weeks on strike.