Acme’s S. Jersey workers in strike vote tonight

Labor leaders tonight will ask Acme supermarket clerks across South Jersey to authorize a potential strike for the week before Thanksgiving, one of the busiest times of year in the grocery business.

The reason for the full-membership vote, according to union officials, was that negotiations with Acme Markets had been unproductive since contracts expired in April. Members were eager for a settlement but had been frustrated by the slow pace of talks, Sam Ferraino, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1360, said today.

"This isn't us trying to bully anybody," Ferraino said. "This is us trying to get a deal."

Local 1360 represents about 2,300 cashiers and clerks at 28 Acme stores in Camden, Gloucester, Burlington, Salem, Cumberland, and Mercer Counties, Ferraino said.

The meeting is being held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill.

If negotiators are given strike authorization, workers would likely be told to walk off the job on Nov. 19, Ferraino said - the next scheduled bargaining session with Acme. The two sides had not met since last week.

Acme, whose corporate parent is Supervalu Inc. of Minnesota, issued a statement today calling the planned strike authorization vote "unfortunate."

"We do not consider this in the best interests of employees or our ongoing negotiations," said the statement from Acme regional offices in Malvern.

The company said it believed a settlement could be reached without a labor dispute. "We all know that nobody wins in a strike - not our employees, our company or our customers," Acme said.

The tough talk in South Jersey follows a near-confrontation this past July between Acme and its 4,500 clerks at 41 stores across the river in Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs.

Members of UFCW Local 1776 had threatened to stay home from work after being presented a take-it-or-leave-it, "last, best offer" by Acme management after 18 months of negotiations. A settlement ultimately averted a work stoppage.

A major sticking point in South Jersey has been cost reductions for employee health care benefits, Ferraino said. The union found a lower-cost plan that protects most current benefits, he said, but Acme has rejected it while not offering an alternative of its own.

There is incentive for Acme to renew the four-year contract by New Year's Eve, Ferraino explained: If no deal is reached by year's end, Acme's pension fund obligations would rise dramatically next year, he said.

Contact Maria Panaritis at 215-854-2431 or mpanaritis@phillynews.com.