The region’s largest grocery workers’ union said Wednesday, July 2, that it reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract for more than 45,000 workers across Southern California, averting a possible strike just days before the July Fourth holiday.
The tentative deal between Albertsons Cos. and Kroger Cos. and seven United Food and Commercial Workers local unions was reached three weeks after members authorized a strike.
Two of the larger UFCW locals (770 in Los Angeles and 324 in Orange County) said the agreement “secures higher wages, more money for pension contributions, additional health and welfare improvements, staffing and more.”
Last week, negotiations resumed after a month-long hiatus with Albertsons, which also owns Vons and Pavilions, and Kroger, parent company of Ralphs.
Union leaders said their members — from San Luis Obispo to San Diego — will vote next week on ratifying the proposed contract. No date has been set yet on the vote.
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The next round of negotiations begins for San Bernardino-based Stater Bros. Markets, which union officials have said has been one of the toughest chains with which to bargain. The chain irked some union officials when it laid off store clerks earlier this year, a first for the 89-year-old chain.
The pace of the talks between the UFCW and chains was briefly disrupted in late March when the federal mediator assigned to their negotiations was fired by the Trump administration.
Unionized supermarkets negotiating contracts also include Encino-based Gelson’s Markets and Super A Foods, a family-owned supermarket chain based in Commerce that caters to Latino and Asian shoppers in the Los Angeles area.
Gelson’s and Super A Foods have historically gone along with the labor contracts negotiated by Albertsons, Ralphs and Stater Bros.
The UFCW contract expired for all of the chains on March 2, with a strike authorization vote coming June 11.
