The union representing 19,000 Sacramento-area grocery workers is threatening to take a strike authorization vote if a contract isn't reached by midnight Sunday, a move that could push 30,000 Bay Area grocery workers closer to a similar vote.
Jack Loveall, who heads the Sacramento local of United Food and Commercial Workers, did not return a Mercury News phone call Wednesday. But in an online newsletter he said Tuesday that Albertsons, Safeway and Ralphs had been informed of the deadline, which doesn't apply to Bel-Air, Nob Hill, Raley's, Save Mart and other grocers involved in the talks.
The union and grocers have been negotiating a contract since July 17.
``The primary issues at the bargaining table continue to be company proposals to dramatically shift the cost of health care and pension costs to employees, to gut critical job-protection language and to introduce lower wage levels for new employees,'' the newsletter said.
Those same issues are central to the Bay Area labor talks, which began Sept. 8.
If a strike authorization vote is approved in Sacramento, that could prompt a similar vote in the Bay Area when that contract expires Jan. 15, according to Ron Lind, spokesman for the unions here. But Lind said he'd prefer to avoid that.
``We hope they come up with a fair settlement'' in Sacramento, he said.
Pleasanton-based Safeway issued a statement saying its discussions with the Sacramento union ``have been slow and difficult, but progress has been made and we believe it is well worth continuing the negotiations process.''
The statement added, however, ``If negotiations fail to produce an agreement, we are prepared to continue serving our customers by keeping our stores staffed and running as usual.''
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