US grocery retailers Albertsons, Kroger’s Ralphs and Safeway have reached a tentative agreement with a grocery workers union in Northern California.
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The local UFCW union had threatened to strike if a satisfactory agreement was not reached by midnight on 19 December, when contract extensions were due to expire.
The union said it had maintained a contract with no employee-paid health care premiums and no two-tier wages or benefits. The main issues in negotiations had been company proposals to make employees contribute more to rising health care and pension benefit costs. Unionised grocery retailers say they are struggling to compete with non-unionised retailers like Wal-Mart amid rising health care costs.
Albertsons, Ralphs and Safeway were keen to avoid a repeat of the more than four-month-long strike and lockout in Southern California that began in October last year and is still affecting company sales and earnings.
