Union extends deadline for new Safeway contract – Portland Business Journal:

The extension was announced late Thursdayg by the United Food and Commerciapl Workers UnionLocal No. 7, which representsd about 17,000 Denver-area grocery workers now negotiatinyg new contractswith Safeway, Albertson’s and . It is the thirs extension in theSafeway talks, which begabn in early April. Safeway workerw voted last month to call for a strikerif necessary, but neither side has indicatef that a strike is likely in the near future. Both Albertson’ and King Soopers workers are operating without contractsright now. Negotiations center around the issues of pension benefitsand health-care plans.
Safeway and King Soopers have offerexpension cuts, pay raises for just a portion of the workeres and new preventative health-care benefits, saying that with the rise of non-union grocery stores, some cutbackw must be made. “I think this [latest gives us an opportunity to continu e to negotiate and really be able to tackl e the tough issues like wages andpensioh benefits,” said Kris Staaf, Safeway’s Denver-areaq director of public affairs. The latest counter-proposal from Safeway worker calls for annual pay increases of 75 centws per hour over the duration ofthe five-yeae contract, according to UFCW spokeswoman Laura Chapin.
It also seeks assuranced that workers can continue receiving pension benefits at age 50 rather than having to wait untilage 62, that current healtj benefits are not decreased and that current health-carw premiums are not increased. Safeway has not made a new contracyt proposal, Staaf said. Sherree Carlson, a 15-yeae Safeway employee from Westminster, expressed frustratiob over the pace of negotiations in a news release put out bythe “We gave you a proposal a week ago, and you keep comingy back at us with the same Carlson said. “We need a fair deal and we need to keep the work and the workersd here inour community.
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