Hoping to jump-start stalled negotiations in the supermarket strike, interfaith clergy led striking and locked-out workers on a pilgrimage from Los Angeles County to the Alamo home of Safeway CEO Steven Burd Jan. 27-28.

"Often when people are very polarized it takes a third party to help bring about dialogue," said Rev. James Conn, an urban strategist for the United Methodist Church on Jan. 27. "Clearly the government isn't doing it. Maybe the faith communities can."

If clergy were hoping for a quick turnabout, they didn't get it. As of Feb. 3 no new talks had been scheduled between grocery management and the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

But Rev. Conn said that pilgrimages offer unique opportunities for grace. "A pilgrimage goes deep into the history of faith communities. There's a moment of reflection in each place along the way and then again on arriving," he said.

While the struggle between the unions and grocery management centers on economics and power, Rev. Conn hoped that the faith communities could introduce new questions: "Are we going to live together? And what will be the quality of our lives?"

Burd, whose Safeway corporation heads up Vons and Pavilions, is considered by many to be the leading force behind the hard-line position taken by Safeway, Ralphs and Albertsons. Contract talks have been at an impasse over cuts in wages, affordable health care and pension benefits.

New hires would receive up to $3 to $4 less in hourly wages and reduced benefits, a proposal the union rejects as a "two tiered" worker system. The supermarkets insist the concessions are necessary to compete with the likes of Wal-Mart and other non-union stores.

The dispute -- now in its 17th week and the longest grocery strike in UFCW history -- has impacted 70,000 workers in Central and Southern California at more than 850 stores.

The two-day "Grocery Workers Justice Pilgrimage" began with a morning prayer service Jan. 27 outside a Pavilions in Sherman Oaks, where more than a dozen Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders blessed grocery store workers and appealed to Burd to return to the negotiation table.

Grocery workers and their children boarded the "prayer bus" and stopped to pray with workers in Ventura and Paso Robles. An interreligious journey, they ate dinner at Temple Emanu-El in San Jose, slept on mats on the gymnasium floor of Holy Names Catholic Girls High School in Oakland and had breakfast at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Lafayette.

A Jan. 28 morning prayer service outside a Safeway in Alamo was followed by a procession by 200 workers, clergy and supporters to less than a mile from Burd's wealthy hillside gated community. Sheriffs permitted a smaller group of six clergy to hike a private road closer to the CEO's residence and deliver 10,000 postcards to a Safeway representative who promised to deliver the letters to Burd.

Cardinal Roger Mahony also faxed a letter Jan. 28 to Burd and to Ricardo Icaza, president of UFCW, urging both men to return to the bargaining table and to negotiate "in good faith until a fair contract is attained."

Religious leaders from other Jewish and Christian traditions have been issuing statements in recent weeks calling on Burd to -- in the light of his own faith -- reconsider workers' demands for affordable health care. Burd is believed to be an active member of a Christian church in Walnut Creek.

Evangelizing both sides

The pilgrimage was organized by Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), a Los Angeles County group that includes some 400 religious leaders.

At a moment when many workers and managers are deadlocked in heated animosity, religious leaders hope that an appeal to universal spiritual and human values might persuade Burd and workers to look at the negotiations from a different perspective.

Linda Gregory has worked for the Safeway company for 15 years, most recently at a Vons in Ventura. "Financially we're struggling. Emotionally we're losing it," said the tearful 42-year-old mother of two of the strike's impact. "It's a struggle to stay strong."

Gregory said she welcomed religious leaders offering their support. "These clergy pick us up a little bit," she said.

While many workers are bitter towards Burd, Ron Jackson, a grocery clerk at Albertsons in Northridge, took a different tack.

"These are good men confused by the bottom line and the balance sheet," said Jackson. "This is a situation that needs heavenly help."

When asked by The Tidings if community prayer and pilgrimage could convert one man's heart, Rev. Jarvis Johnson, senior pastor of CME Calvary Church in Pasadena paused and speculated that Burd might experience a very bad dream -- perhaps a reference to Charles Dickens' classic Scrooge tale.

"Because he is a person of faith, it is his faith that will convict him," said Rev. Johnson. "I hope Steve Burd gets some of what he wants and the workers get some of what they want. Ultimately that's our prayer."

But civil rights leader Rev. Jim Lawson was more cautious. "I'm not persuaded that Steven Burd wants his heart changed," said the Methodist minister. "But I am convinced that if the workers hang on, the unions will prevail."

Father Mike Gutierrez, pastor of St. Anne Catholic Church in Santa Monica, reflected on his previous efforts to back poor and immigrant hotel, restaurant and janitorial workers to win the most basic of living standards. He noted that in this grocery labor dispute, middle-class workers are fighting to preserve their lifestyle.

"This is not a poor person's strike," said Father Gutierrez. The middle class, he feared, "are a vanishing breed."

On a lighter note, clergy said they discovered that Burd had donated money to animal rescue efforts. Cognizant of the need to engage community residents weary of the strike, religious leaders periodically addressed their public while holding puppies. They urged Burd to demonstrate the same compassion for people as he has for animals.

As clergy become more involved in the dispute, some are openly urging congregations not to cross the picket line. Other churches are adopting stores and helping striking families with food and rent. Some said they are participating in acts of civil disobedience such as linking arms in front of grocery store doors. More frequently, they are sharing notes across faith traditions.

"All the religious communities are tuned into what's happening around them," said Father Gutierrez. "We're in solidarity together."