Grocery union contract approved by 86% vote
And 96% is obviously an overwhelming vote.
Under the terms of the three-year agreement, current union members will not have to make any contributions toward their health care plan premiums in the first two years and will only need to pay between $5 to $15 in the third year if health care contributions in reserves are not sufficient to cover the costs.
But the contract creates a second, lower tier of supermarket employees who will receive less pay and inferior benefits. New supermarket hires will have to pay about $9 a week for a basic health care plan and will make less than the average wages of $12 to $14.
As I’ve mentioned before, it may be a long time before management tries to hang this tough again in a strike. Both sides suffered, and suffered big. Steven Burd, CEO of Safeway, publicly said he wanted to break the union, and in this he failed completely. The unions and the strikers held the line.
And I’d call that a victory…