DENVER (KDVR) — It’s been about two weeks since workers with Albertsons and Safeway walked off the job to go on strike for unfair labor practices, and union officials provided a brief bargaining update on Saturday.
UFCW Local 7 said that the bargaining committee, led by UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova, met with company representatives to try and reach a new agreement on June 27 and 28, but “despite the Union’s good faith attempt to reach an agreement, the Company chose to walk away from negotiations — choosing to continue the strike rather than negotiating a new contract.”
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The two parties have not yet set new negotiation dates, but union negotiators will be returning to the table on July 1 and 2 for King Soopers and City Market employees, who also went on strike earlier this year before reaching a strike-ending agreement.
The union began the strike because it wants the company to address chronic understaffing, remove two-tier discrimination on vacation from the contract and address the night premium. The union said the company had backtracked on an agreement for retroactive pay and benefit increases, which the union cited as an unfair labor practice.
Bargaining leads to ‘conceptual progress’ but no agreement
On Saturday, the union said that its attempts to reach a new agreement were not fruitless, noting that there was “significant conceptual progress on certain items,” but said the company refused to sign a tentative agreement…