UFCW 588-Northern California and supermarket employers have agreed to extend their current labor contract past its July 17 expiration date. The extension allows 19,000 union members to continue working while negotiators carry on with the difficult task of reaching a new agreement.
The terms of the old contract will remain in place as long as both sides agree to the extension.
"Our goal is to negotiate a fair and equitable agreement without a strike," Jack L. Loveall, president of UFCW 588-Northern California, said. "That is what we are working very hard to achieve."
The contract involves 335 stores operated by Safeway (NYSE:SWY - News), Albertson's (NYSE:ABS - News), Ralphs and Foodsco (owned by Kroger Co., NYSE:KR), Save Mart and smaller chains and independent stores from the California-Oregon border in the north to the Merced River in the south.
Health benefits, pension funding and workplace protections are among the key issues being discussed at the negotiations, which are at an undisclosed location.
If either side decides to end the contract extension, affected Union members will vote on the latest proposal by the employers. Approval would require a simple majority of voting members. A vote of two-thirds or more to reject the proposal would authorize Union members to strike.