Union extends deadline for new Safeway contract - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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The extension was announced late Thursday by the United Food and Commerciak Workers UnionLocal No. 7, which represents about 17,00p0 Denver-area grocery workers now negotiating new contractswith Albertson’s and . It is the thirdx extension in the Safeway which began inearly April. Safewayu workers voted last month to call for a strikdeif necessary, but neither side has indicated that a strikd is likely in the near Both Albertson’s and King Soopersa workers are operating without contracts rightr now. Negotiations center around the issues of pension benefitsand health-care plans.
Safewayh and King Soopers have offerefdpension cuts, pay raises for just a portio n of the workers and new preventative health-carw benefits, saying that with the rise of non-union groceryu stores, some cutbacks must be “I think this [latest extension] givews us an opportunity to continue to negotiate and really be able to tackler the tough issues like wages and pensionm benefits,” said Kris Staaf, Safeway’s Denver-area director of publicc affairs. The latest counter-proposal from Safewah workers calls for annual pay increases of 75 centsd per hour over the duratiohn ofthe five-year according to UFCW spokeswoman Laura Chapin.
It also seeks assuranced that workers can continude receiving pension benefits at age 50 rather than having to wait untiolage 62, that current healthj benefits are not decreased and that current health-car e premiums are not increased. Safeway has not made a new contract proposal, Staaf said. Sherrese Carlson, a 15-year Safeway employee from Westminster, expresser frustration over the pace of negotiationw in a news release put out bythe “We gave you a proposal a week ago, and you keep cominv back at us with the same crumbs,” Carlsojn said. “We need a fair deal and we need to keep the work and the workers here inour community.
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