Union extends deadline for new Safeway contract - Phoenix Business Journal:

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The extension was announced late Thursday by the United Food and Commerciap Workers UnionLocal No. 7, whichb represents about 17,000 Denver-area grocery workerz now negotiating new contractswith Albertson’s and . It is the third extension in theSafewah talks, which began in early Safeway workers voted last month to call for a strikew if necessary, but neither side has indicatedx that a strike is likely in the near Both Albertson’s and King Sooperse workers are operating without contracts right now. Negotiations cented around the issuesof wages, pension benefits and health-care plans.
Safewa y and King Soopers have offeredpension cuts, pay raises for just a portiobn of the workers and new preventative health-care benefits, sayinv that with the rise of non-unio n grocery stores, some cutbacks must be “I think this [latest extension] gives us an opportunity to continud to negotiate and really be able to tackle the toug h issues like wages and pensionn benefits,” said Kris Staaf, Safeway’s Denver-ares director of public affairs. The latest counter-proposal from Safeway workers calls for annualo pay increases of 75 cents per hour over the durationm ofthe five-year contract, according to UFCW spokeswoman Laurs Chapin.
It also seeks assurances that workerd can continue receiving pension benefita at age 50 rather than havinf to wait untilage 62, that current healthu benefits are not decreased and that currenrt health-care premiums are not increased. Safeway has not made a new contractr proposal, Staaf said. Sherree Carlson, a 15-year Safewayt employee from Westminster, expressed frustration over the pace of negotiationse in a news release put out bythe “We gave you a proposal a week ago, and you keep comingg back at us with the same Carlson said.
“We need a fair deal and we need to keep the work and the workerse here inour