The United Meals and Industrial Staff Native 7 has rejected the newest provide from the mother or father firm of Safeway and Albertsons and supplied 72 hours’ discover that its staff intend to cancel a contract extension and strike.
Barring a last-minute reversal, picket strains might kind as quickly as Sunday morning.
“We took this determination very severely and concluded that after so many months of bargaining, Safeway/Albertsons was giving us no alternative however to additional escalate our contract marketing campaign,” stated Ivan Lopez, a Safeway distribution heart employee in Denver, in a press launch issued Wednesday evening.
Lopez stated the union had been clear in 9 months of negotiations that the corporate wanted to deal with “staffing, poverty-level wages, and make sure that staff’ well being and pension advantages stay totally funded.” No acceptable compromise was supplied after a contract extension was supplied in January or after staff voted to authorize a strike final week, the union stated.
“For months now, Safeway/Albertsons have been holding palms with their supposed competitor King Soopers and Metropolis Market by proposing staff take concessions on healthcare and retirement, whereas persevering with to refuse to take significant steps to deal with continual understaffing in grocery shops. These firms are even proposing to take advantages from retirees on mounted incomes,” stated Kim Cordova, President of UFCW Native 7, within the launch.
The strike, if it occurs, might contain round 7,000 staff, rating it as one of many largest labor actions in Colorado’s historical past and the second-largest this yr, behind a strike by roughly 10,000 King Soopers and Metropolis Market staff in February. That strike, which ran for almost two weeks, was quickly halted for 100 days to permit for extra negotiating.
The 2 sides have failed to succeed in an settlement, elevating the likelihood that staff at two of the biggest grocery chains within the state might each take to the picket strains, one thing that final occurred in 1996.
Safeway and Albertsons staff voted by a large margin, upwards of 99% in metro Denver, to strike after 9 months of negotiations failed to succeed in a brand new collective bargaining settlement to exchange one which expired in January. Shops in metro Denver, together with Boulder and Fortress Rock, in addition to ones in Conifer, Evergreen, Fountain, Grand Junction, Idaho Springs, Parker, Pueblo, Salida, Steamboat Springs and Vail are concerned within the dispute.
The votes on whether or not to authorize a strike happened in late Might and early June and signify the primary time that Safeway staff within the state have voted to strike over unfair labor practices since 1996.
Again then, Safeway staff permitted a strike in solidarity with placing King Soopers staff. Safeway locked its staff out earlier than they may stroll out. Either side got here again to the desk after two feminine workers of the Safeway retailer at 2660 N. Federal Blvd. in Denver had been killed when a girl fell asleep on the wheel and bumped into the picket line.
With greater than 150,000 UFCW and Teamster staff in Colorado, Washington and California negotiating new contracts, the strike in Colorado might find yourself being a part of a a lot bigger motion at meals retailers. A chief grievance in all three states is that shops are understaffed, which staff say has made life tougher for them and for patrons.
Staff are additionally upset that the corporate has failed to supply a pay increase in 18 months and that administration walked away from a signed settlement to supply retroactive pay and profit will increase, saying that they’d solely present will increase going ahead.
Staff are searching for higher wages, higher staffing ranges, inexpensive well being care and a dependable pension, Cordova stated, including that Albertsons, which is the mother or father of each chains, can be trying to divert $9 million from a retiree healthcare plan funded by staff to assist advantages for present workers.