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Striking workers Michael Joseph (middle) and Richard Prowse promote their cause with a shopper at

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As the curtains close on the 13th week of the United Food and Commercial Workers union strike on several major grocery stores, some question whether anything positive can result from continuing the seemingly endless strike.

The union may lose its leverage to negotiate as the strike moves out of the public eye and as temporary workers become more experienced. Without these crucial elements, the union would be less likely to win increased health care benefits.

The strike began on Oct. 13, 2003 in response to lowered health care benefits for employees. A date for further negotiation has not been determined.

Locked-out employees also became ineligible for medical benefits beginning Jan. 1. Because striking workers have worked so few hours, many must pay to receive medical benefits and insurance through March. Supermarket chains have not completely contributed to funds that would have provided such coverage.

The union began its strike in hopes that corporate sales would plummet due to union worker absence, forcing store management to agree to the union’s terms.

Though sales have greatly plummeted in the third quarter of the fiscal year, the longer the strike persists, the less likely it is that workers will receive all the benefits for which they are striking.

Over time, the public also tends to support a strike less, and sales may become less strongly affected.

Some UCLA professors say lessening public support and decreasing corporate revenue indicate that the strike should end.

“This is too broad a strike because they are striking against the whole industry, not just one or two markets,” said economics Professor Earl Thompson.

“The supermarkets are out to crush their union, and they will almost certainly succeed,” he added.

But others suggest that there might be more cooperation than expected.

“No one is privy to what is really going on,” said another UCLA economics professor, William Zame. “They may not be talking officially, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t talking unofficially or that decisions aren’t changing.”

“My impression is that it is frequently the case with strikes that it appears very little is happening right up until the dispute is settled,” he added.

Some community residents believe the costs of the strike are not worthwhile.

Strikes eventually become expensive and are not worth the cost to either side, said Westwood resident and UCLA alumnus David Weiss.

Some shoppers still support union workers by purposefully avoiding stores impacted by the strike.

Zame and his spouse, who normally shop at Ralphs, currently frequent grocery stores that are not affected by the strike out of respect for picketers.

Though the strike may have less negative impact on the grocery stores in the future, the strike of the past three months has severely lowered store earnings and share prices.

Albertsons recently reported a sales decrease of as much as 51 percent this financial quarter. Its stock has dropped as much as 47 percent over the last three months.

The company was on track to meet estimates before the strike, but lost ground on expenses this quarter, said Albertsons CEO Larry Johnston in a press release.

The strike – which has resulted in increased employee promotions, lost sales and decreased prices – largely contributed to the loss, he added.

The grocery strike has only affected a third of the 2003 third fiscal quarter, which ended Dec. 5.

Kroger, the corporate parent of Ralphs, also announced that its quarterly earnings were down by 57 percent. Stock have dropped as much as 47 percent per share.

Exact financial figures from Safeway, the Vons parent company, are not available until next month, but the company did indicate in a press release that its quarterly earnings will not meet analysts’ expectations.

According to the union, Vons sales figures may drop as much as 70 percent because the strike has affected 17 percent of Vons locations, compared to only 11.2 percent of Albertsons locations.