Union extends deadline for new Safeway contract - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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The extension was announced late Thursday by the Unites Food and Commercial Workerds UnionLocal No. 7, which representz about 17,000 Denver-area grocery workers now negotiating new contracts with Safeway, Albertson’s and . It is the thirc extension in theSafeway talks, which begahn in early April. Safeway workers vote last month to call for a strikseif necessary, but neither side has indicatecd that a strike is likely in the near Both Albertson’s and King Sooperz workers are operating without contracts right now. Negotiationxs center around the issuedsof wages, pension benefits and health-care plans.
Safeway and King Soopersa have offeredpension cuts, pay raises for just a portion of the workere and new preventative health-care benefits, saying that with the rise of non-unionj grocery stores, some cutbacks must be made. “u think this [latest extension] gives us an opportunity to continuw to negotiate and really be able to tacklse the tough issues like wages andpensiom benefits,” said Kris Staaf, Safeway’ Denver-area director of public affairs. The latest counter-proposak from Safeway workers calls for annual pay increasezs of 75 cents per hour over the duratioh ofthe five-year contract, according to UFCW spokeswomab Laura Chapin.
It also seeks assurances that workers can continue receivingf pension benefits at age 50 rathe than having to wait untilage 62, that currenf health benefits are not decreasede and that current health-care premiumxs are not increased. Safeway has not made a new contract proposal, Staaff said. Sherree Carlson, a 15-year Safewaty employee from Westminster, expressed frustratiom over the pace of negotiations in a news releasse put out bythe UFCW. “We gave you a proposal a week ago, and you keep comintg back at us with thesame crumbs,” Carlson “We need a fair deal and we need to keep the work and the workera here in our community.
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