Stater Bros. Markets has laid off dozens of clerks in its Southern California stores for the first time in its 89-year history, blaming inflation and tariffs for its decision.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that in the last four years, we’ve seen significant inflation, more than I’ve ever seen in my career,” Chief Executive Pete Van Helden said in a video explaining the move to lay off 63 clerks among four Southern California stores, announced Feb. 17.
“With the recent announcements of new tariffs and probably more tariffs to come, it’s quite likely that inflation is going to take off even above the 4.5% we’re seeing now. I’m very worried about that,” he said, referring to recent moves by President Trump to place — and then roll back— tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
Retail prices at the San Bernardino-based grocery chain went up by about 30% in the last four years, Van Helden said, leading customers to choose lower-cost grocery stores like Walmart, Aldi, Target, Sprouts and Dollar Tree.
“The other common thing is that they’re all non-union, and frankly, that’s how they sell their products at a lower price. They pay their teammates less. They pay less benefits and they take that savings and they plow it into pricing,” Van Helden said.
Courtesy clerks at Stater Bros. across their 169 supermarkets bag groceries, help customers to their cars and clean checkout stands, according to the local United Food and Commercial Workers Union chapter that represents them.
“Many courtesy clerks have special needs and are long-term employees with limited employment alternatives,” a Wednesday release from the UFCW 324 chapter said.
“Laying off the lowest paid workers in the stores won’t save Stater Bros. any money, but it’s accomplished one thing — showing workers that their company no longer thinks of them like family,” Andrea Zinder, president of UFCW 324, said in the statement.
About 20 years ago, Van Helden said, 90% of Southern California grocery stores were unionized.
It’s now fallen to 35%, and customers have changed their shopping habits to prefer large, non-union box stores over time.
“The enemy for Stater Bros., the enemy for you, I think, is the non-union competition. That’s who we’re really fighting against,” he said.
Instead of continuing to raise prices to keep up, the company chose to lower the cost of operations through layoffs and other cost-saving measures in a bid to keep prices competitive.
“The intention is to take the cost reduction from those 63 jobs and hold the line on pricing, accept those cost of goods increases and not raise our prices if we can,” Van Helden said.
He signaled that future layoffs were almost a guarantee: “I’m pretty certain that in the future we’re going to have to continue to reduce the number of jobs in this company. It’s a fact.”
About 150 workers and union leaders picketed Wednesday at an affected Costa Mesa Stater Bros. store to protest the layoffs, arguing that the move wasn’t about saving money to protect the chain from going under but to chill ongoing labor contract talks. Bargaining for a new contract with Stater Bros. starts Thursday.
“This action only serves to intimidate union members currently undergoing contract negotiations with the company from demanding what they deserve,” Zinder said in the statement.
A representative for Stater Bros. could not be reached for comment.
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