Interfaith clergy unite to influence supermarket strike in California

Published: 2004-02-09

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Tim and Tierra Loftus were hit doubly hard by the strike that has idled 70,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union at more than 850 supermarkets, including Safeway Inc.'s Vons and Pavilions stores and Kroger Co.'s Ralphs and Albertsons stores. Tierra Loftus, 27, was working as a service deli clerk at an Albertsons and her 30-year-old husband was a night crew food clerk at a Vons in Paso Robles when the strike began in mid-October. Nearly four months later, the couple and their three young children depend on monetary help from Tierra Loftus' mother. A sympathetic landlord allows them to send what rent they can. Most of the bills are going unpaid. At first Tim Loftus said he thought grocery store workers were alone in their fight. Then he noticed customers not crossing the picket line. Others have brought food, organized potlucks or barbecues for the striking and locked-out workers. The two also found encouragement in a recent pilgrimage led by a group of interfaith clergy from Los Angeles County to the Alamo home of Safeway CEO Steven Burd in the hope of jump-starting the stalled negotiations. "We didn't realize how vast the support was, especially through the religious community," Tierra Loftus told The Tidings, newspaper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

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