San Francisco (AP) 5.4.04, 10:25a -- A supermarket strike that lasted for nearly four months is being blamed for a dramatic drop in profits at Safeway. The Pleasanton-based grocery chain reported this morning that its profits for the first three months of the year fell by 73 percent. Safeway says net income for the first quarter came in at just over $43million, or ten cents a share. That compares to a profit of nearly $163 million, or 36 cents for the same period a year ago. The company says a strike that began last fall and lasted through February against its Vons and Pavilion stores wiped out a large percentage of its profits. Safeway says the strike reduced profits by $122 million, or 27 cents a share.

And yet they STILL made a profit!