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Seattle Safeway rally takes tense turn

By Jake Batsell
Seattle Times business reporter

HARLEY SOLTES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Grocery union representatives Scottie Graser and Cynthia Bell stand in front of the Seattle Police East Precinct yesterday to protest the arrest of labor advocate Robby Stern for obstruction during an earlier Capitol Hill rally.

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The rally itself was relatively tame — more than 100 people gathered on a sidewalk outside the store to support grocery workers negotiating a new contract with the Puget Sound region's four largest supermarket chains.

But tensions escalated when the rally's concluding speaker, Robby Stern of the Washington State Labor Council, was handcuffed and taken away by police after leading the crowd in songs.

Minutes earlier, police officers had directed organizers to move the rally to a park across the street, citing concerns that the sidewalk had become too crowded. Speakers had asked the crowd to keep an open path, but some pedestrians opted to walk on the street instead.

Though officers moved the podium aside and pulled away the microphone, Stern continued with his remarks and songs for about three minutes. Once he finished, police arrested Stern, leading him away as the crowd shouted, "Let him go."

Several dozen supporters then marched to the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct at 1519 12th Ave., demanding Stern's release while also voicing support for grocery workers with chants, signs and banners. Police officers, wearing helmets and carrying batons, blocked the entrance to the precinct.

Stern was arrested for obstruction, transferred from the East Precinct to the West Precinct and then released, said Seattle Police spokesman Sean Whitcomb. The city attorney's office will decide whether to press charges.

"We don't make these kinds of decisions capriciously," Whitcomb said. "It was a good decision that was based on probable cause."

Stern, the state labor council's lead lobbyist, said he felt his arrest was unnecessary but worthwhile if it brings more attention to the grocery contract negotiations.

"I want to focus on those grocery workers and the fact their health-care benefits are being threatened," Stern said. "If I have to be arrested to stand up on this issue, that's how it is."

Negotiators have been in talks since mid-April to craft a new contract for more than 16,000 workers at local Safeway, Albertsons, QFC and Fred Meyer stores.
 
Representatives from the employees' union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, have criticized the stores' initial proposals to establish a two-tier system in which new employees would receive lower wages and fewer health benefits than veterans. At yesterday's rally, supporters called for the resignation of Safeway Chief Executive Steve Burd.

Melinda Merrill, a spokeswoman for the grocery chains, said Safeway officials cooperated with the event's organizers and did not ask police to end the rally, though she stressed she did not want to second-guess the officers' decision.

"It's unfortunate this had to happen, because they held a very peaceful demonstration and took care to honor the request to keep a pathway open for pedestrians," Merrill said. "But more than that, it just takes focus away from the really important stuff ... we hope (the UFCW) can come back and continue to focus on moving the negotiations along."

The two sides are scheduled to meet again tomorrow.

Jake Batsell: 206-464-2718 or jbatsell@seattletimes.com