Grocery companies have rejected an offer by union leaders to end the supermarket strike and submit their contract dispute to binding arbitration. The strike has been going on for four months, and the last mediated negotiations broke off more than a month ago.
The arbitration offer was intended to put pressure on the supermarkets to end the strike because many union members are anxious to return to work. Some labor leaders saw this tactic as a show of desperation on the part of the union, and felt that the grocers had no incentive to agree to arbitration because they are still doing well financially.
See "Supermarkets Reject Union Bid for Binding Arbitration", Nancy Cleeland, Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2004