Sunday, December 2, 2007

Strike Averted! UFCW NorCal Unions and Safeway Reach Tentative Agreement

ROSEVILLE, CALIF. (Dec. 2, 2007) - A UFCW work stoppage at Safeway stores was avoided after round-the-clock negotiations resulted in a tentative agreement with four UFCW Unions representing 25,000 workers at some 300 Safeway stores in Northern California.

The four-year agreement was reached the day the contract was set to expire. Strike authorization votes scheduled to take place on Sunday and Monday have been cancelled.

No specifics on the new pact were released pending distribution of the agreement to Union members.

In a statement, the UFCW presidents did reveal: “Our goals were to achieve:

· Substantial wage increases
· No employee-paid premiums for medical benefits
· Improvements to the medical benefits
· Protection of pension benefits
· No concessions

“We achieved our goals reaching an agreement that benefits the specific needs of our members working in Safeway stores,” said Jacques Loveall, president of UFCW 8-Golden State, (http://www.ufcw8.org/).

“We are pleased that we were able to reach this fine agreement. This model contract sets the standard for workers in the supermarket industry. Next we will focus our energies on bringing these benefits to non-union workers doing the same work for less,” Loveall said.

The four Union locals negotiated under the banner of UFCW Solidarity and represent workers from Monterey and Fresno County in the south to the Oregon border.