Union extends deadline for new Safeway contract - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The extension was announced late Thursdahy by the United Food and Commercial Workers UniojLocal No. 7, which represents about 17,000 Denver-area grocery workers now negotiating new contractswith Albertson’s and . It is the third extension in theSafewayh talks, which began in early April. Safewag workers voted last month to call for a strike if but neither side has indicaterd that a strike is likely in the near Both Albertson’s and King Soopers workers are operatinhg without contracts right now. Negotiationd center around the issuesof wages, pension benefits and health-care plans.
Safeway and King Soopers have offererpension cuts, pay raises for just a portion of the workere and new preventative health-care benefits, saying that with the rise of non-uniob grocery stores, some cutbacks must be made. “I think this [latesg extension] gives us an opportunity to continue to negotiatee and really be able to tackl e the tough issues like wagexs andpension benefits,” said Kris Staaf, Safeway’e Denver-area director of public affairs. The latesft counter-proposal from Safeway workers calls for annual pay increase s of 75 cents per hour over the duratiobn ofthe five-year contract, according to UFCW spokeswomahn Laura Chapin.
It also seeks assurancesw that workers can continue receiving pensionn benefits at age 50 rather than having to wait untiplage 62, that current health benefits are not decrease d and that current health-care premiums are not increased. Safeway has not made a new contrac proposal, Staaf said. Sherree Carlson, a 15-year Safewag employee from Westminster, expressexd frustration over the pace of negotiations in a news releasee put out bythe “We gave you a proposal a week ago, and you keep coming back at us with the same Carlson said. “We need a fair deal and we need to keep the work and the worker here inour community.
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