Union extends deadline for new Safeway contract – South Florida Business Journal:

and representatives for its workers have agreed again to a contract extension, this time pushing the expiration date back to June 26.
The extension was announced late Thursday by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No. 7, which represents about 17,000 Denver-area grocery workers now negotiating new contracts with Safeway, Albertson’s and
.
It is the third extension in the Safeway talks, which began in early April. Safeway workers voted last month to call for a strike if necessary, but neither side has indicated that a strike is likely in the near future.
Both Albertson’s and King Soopers workers are operating without contracts right now. Negotiations center around the issues of wages, pension benefits and health-care plans. Safeway and King Soopers have offered pension cuts, pay raises for just a portion of the workers and new preventative health-care benefits, saying that with the rise of non-union grocery stores, some cutbacks must be made.
“I think this [latest extension] gives us an opportunity to continue to negotiate and really be able to tackle the tough issues like wages and pension benefits,” said Kris Staaf, Safeway’s Denver-area director of public affairs.
The latest counter-proposal from Safeway workers calls for annual pay increases of 75 cents per hour over the duration of the five-year contract, according to UFCW spokeswoman Laura Chapin. It also seeks assurances that workers can continue receiving pension benefits at age 50 rather than having to wait until age 62, that current health benefits are not decreased and that current health-care premiums are not increased.
Safeway has not made a new contract proposal, Staaf said.
Sherree Carlson, a 15-year Safeway employee from Westminster, expressed frustration over the pace of negotiations in a news release put out by the UFCW.
“We gave you a proposal a week ago, and you keep coming back at us with the same crumbs,” Carlson said. “We need a fair deal and we need to keep the work and the workers here in our community.”

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