(November 26, 2003) -- Ever since the introduction of a plan that could cut the health benefits of unionized workers in the grocery industry, strikes against major supermarket chains Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons continue to drag on in their seventh week. Replacement workers have quickly started to fill the open jobs. These replacement workers are known as “scabs” to the strikers and by those who frown upon them.

But to senior Anna Sargsyan, “it’s just a word.” Sargsyan and fellow seniors Sargis Chilingaryan, Alek Bartrosouf and Mike Mazmanian work at the Vons on the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue. They are some of the many replacement workers who were hired to keep business going in the midst of the strike.

The replacement workers aren’t bent on trying to defeat the purpose of this strike. “I just wanted to work in my extra time,” explained Mazmanian. Added Bartrosouf, “It was just an opportunity to make some money.”

However, the usually friendly supermarket has sometimes turned into a hostile battleground with former employeespitted against replacement workers. According to Sargysan, profanities and fingers are thrown around in a manner that would be more familiar in a Jerry Springer episode, not in a place where Mom or Dad buys the groceries.

“I know [the strikers] don’t like me because I’ve gotten into fights with two of them,” said Sargsyan. “They all look at me in a bad way, and I look back at them the same.”

The relationships the strikers have with the management are friendlier; after all, many of them had worked together for a number years before complications occurred. Sargsyan said that the management tries to stay neutral, being courteous to the replacement workers while occasionally going into picket lines and sharing laughs with a striker or two. However, Sargsyan recalled that the managements’ anger has stirred on a few accounts when picketers scared customers away or when they had exchanged unfriendly words with a replacement worker.

Inside the Vons, the customers are scarce and are outnumbered by the “scabs” who man every abandoned part of the supermarket. From the deli to the bakery, and even the supplementary Starbucks, no position was left unfilled since, according to Bartrosouf, “the focus should be on [providing for] the customers.” Meanwhile, outside the store, the strikers continue to hold up their pickets even on days when traffic is especially slow.

On the health benefits and pension that are being fought outside, Mazmanian notes that “it’s only $60 a month.” Still, Sargsyan said, “[The supermarkets] are taking away what the workers had.”

The length at which this strike might go on is still uncertain. Local reports have indicated that negotiations have begun after a long drought in communication between strikers and the supermarket representatives in reconsidering the cutting of strikers’ health benefits.