Retail strike averted
Retail strike averted
Apparently neither side was willing to go through the type of strike that crippled Southern California retailers last year, as the three major California supermarkets reached a labor agreement with their Northern California employees late Sunday, Jan. 23.
Both sides were declaring victory, but it was clear that each side made concessions in an effort to break the impasse and sign an agreement. The previous labor pact between eight United Food & Commercial Workers locals and the supermarket coalition of Safeway Stores, Albertson?s Inc. and Kroger-owned Ralphs Grocery Co. expired on Jan. 1. The union indicated that it would begin strike activity as soon as Monday, Jan. 24, after four-and-a-half months of negotiations failed to produce an agreement. But as is often the case, 11th-hour talks proved fruitful.
The union called the Jan. 23 agreement an "improvement? over that which was signed by its sister locals in Southern California last year. However, some rank-and-file union members were quoted liberally in the consumer press voicing their opposition to the pact and vowing to vote against ratification.
However, the agreement is expected to be approved by the rank-and-file membership, with the vote expected by mid-February.
For its part, the union did keep its health benefits with only a relatively small initial shift in employee-shared costs. The retailers did get a system that allows them to treat new hires differently when it comes to reaching the top pay level. The union claims it is not a two-tier wage systems as was finally approved in the Southern California talks, but that is a matter of semantics. Future hires will be able to get to the same pay level as current employees, but it will take them much longer.
For example, new employees will have to work three times as long as current employees to reach the top pay scale. They won?t be eligible for any health-care benefits for six months and won?t reach the highest level of benefits for six years.
While the union held firm in its efforts to avoid health care premiums on a monthly basis, the worker health care deductible will now range from $200 to $1,800 annually. In the last contract, most workers had no deductible. The contract also caps employer-paid health-care premiums. If rates go up, workers will have to make up the difference over the three-year life of the contract.
This Northern California pact with the three chains is now expected to be the template used in negotiations with other unionized Northern California retailers. The contract is also expected to have an effect on other negotiations between UFCW and retailers across the country. Negotiations in Denver are expected to resume Feb. 4 on contracts covering 17,000 retail clerks.
While these three same retailers weathered the four-and-half-month Southern California strike, the stock prices of these public companies have not rebounded and analysts said they could ill-afford another strike.
Union workers, on the other hand, were considered the "losers? in the Southern California strike, and Northern California workers did not want to repeat that debacle.
Both sides were declaring victory, but it was clear that each side made concessions in an effort to break the impasse and sign an agreement. The previous labor pact between eight United Food & Commercial Workers locals and the supermarket coalition of Safeway Stores, Albertson?s Inc. and Kroger-owned Ralphs Grocery Co. expired on Jan. 1. The union indicated that it would begin strike activity as soon as Monday, Jan. 24, after four-and-a-half months of negotiations failed to produce an agreement. But as is often the case, 11th-hour talks proved fruitful.
The union called the Jan. 23 agreement an "improvement? over that which was signed by its sister locals in Southern California last year. However, some rank-and-file union members were quoted liberally in the consumer press voicing their opposition to the pact and vowing to vote against ratification.
However, the agreement is expected to be approved by the rank-and-file membership, with the vote expected by mid-February.
For its part, the union did keep its health benefits with only a relatively small initial shift in employee-shared costs. The retailers did get a system that allows them to treat new hires differently when it comes to reaching the top pay level. The union claims it is not a two-tier wage systems as was finally approved in the Southern California talks, but that is a matter of semantics. Future hires will be able to get to the same pay level as current employees, but it will take them much longer.
For example, new employees will have to work three times as long as current employees to reach the top pay scale. They won?t be eligible for any health-care benefits for six months and won?t reach the highest level of benefits for six years.
While the union held firm in its efforts to avoid health care premiums on a monthly basis, the worker health care deductible will now range from $200 to $1,800 annually. In the last contract, most workers had no deductible. The contract also caps employer-paid health-care premiums. If rates go up, workers will have to make up the difference over the three-year life of the contract.
This Northern California pact with the three chains is now expected to be the template used in negotiations with other unionized Northern California retailers. The contract is also expected to have an effect on other negotiations between UFCW and retailers across the country. Negotiations in Denver are expected to resume Feb. 4 on contracts covering 17,000 retail clerks.
While these three same retailers weathered the four-and-half-month Southern California strike, the stock prices of these public companies have not rebounded and analysts said they could ill-afford another strike.
Union workers, on the other hand, were considered the "losers? in the Southern California strike, and Northern California workers did not want to repeat that debacle.
