DENVER (KDVR) — Union employees of Safeway and Albertsons locations across the state are being asked to consider striking during a series of scheduled meetings that begin Friday.
According to UFCW Local 7, which represents the union workers of Safeway and Albertsons, the company and union have been negotiating for eight months, most recently meeting on Friday, May 23. The union stated in an update posted to Facebook that Safeway agreed to “important language items” sought by the bargaining committee, “including a new drug and alcohol rehabilitation policy and protection of Drive Up and Go shopper work.”
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But the union says that the company “remains far behind” on certain economic issues the union has brought up. The union said the company is proposing:
- Lower wage increases than are being offered by competitors
- Health care cuts, “along with increases that are too small to prevent even more mid-contract health care cuts”
- Pension contributions that “would cut benefits for current workers and retirees”
The union says the stores are understaffed and that the company is backtracking on an agreement for retroactive pay and benefit increases, which the labor union cited as an unfair labor practice.
“We have been bargaining with Safeway and Albertsons for eight months now,” UFCW Local 7 stated. “Unfortunately, the company has chosen to follow the path of King Soopers and City Market by insisting that workers take unwarranted concessions. Workers have had enough and the bargaining committee is fed up.”…