Safeway workers in Colorado reached an agreement with Albertsons on Saturday, ending a two-week strike after local union leaders met with Safeway and its parent company on July 4.
“Attention UFCW Local 7 Safeway/Albertsons members: We have reached a fully recommended tentative agreement!
The union said the agreement, which must be ratified by union membership, included fully funded healthcare benefits, fully funded pension benefits for the cycle of the contract, “strong” wage increases and several other provisions.
Safeway workers in Colorado continued to picket outside of stores on strike on the Fourth.
Kroger owns 148 King Soopers and City Market stores, while Albertsons operates 105 Safeway and Albertsons locations.
On July 4, local union leaders met with Safeway and its parent company, and on Saturday, Safeway employees in Colorado reached an agreement with Albertsons, ending a two-week strike.
According to a post on the union’s Facebook page, the all-day bargaining session took place on Friday. The provisional agreement was posted early on Saturday morning.
The post read: “Attention UFCW Local 7 Safeway/Albertsons members: The strike is over! We have reached a fully recommended tentative agreement.”. According to the union, the deal, which needs to be approved by union members, includes “strong” wage increases, fully funded healthcare benefits, and fully funded pension benefits for the duration of the contract. The ratification vote has no set date.
On the Fourth, Colorado Safeway employees persisted in picketing outside of their striking stores.
Around 20 picketers were present at 10 a.m. in Denver at the Safeway off of Corona Street. M. when the talks began. Outside the building, they stood in a line, holding or donning signs that described the strike. People were asked to shop elsewhere by the strikers as few customers entered and left the store.
Employees from forty-three stores and one distribution center in Denver boycotted work as of Wednesday morning in protest of what the union claims are unfair labor practices. According to The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, workers went on strike to address understaffing and obtain assurances that health and pension benefits would be fully funded.
Ever since the previous contract ended in January, the union has been negotiating a new one with Safeway and Albertsons.
The union posted a statement on its Facebook page stating that the Fourth of July talk discussion was held at the DoubleTree hotel in Downtown Denver. The union continued to post that it was still at the negotiating table into the late evening.
There were only six stores and a distribution center in Denver when the strike began almost two weeks ago. To “allow time for the public to understand the problems these workers are facing, allow Safeway/Albertsons time to understand the seriousness of the workers’ resolve, and at the same time reduce the hardship on shoppers and workers alike that result from a wide-spread strike,” the union said in a statement at the time that it was commencing small. “.”.
Along with City Market and parent company Kroger, the union was also negotiating with King Soopers. The union claims that after 46 hours of talks, they arrived at a provisional agreement on Thursday afternoon. The union, which is in favor of the three-year contract, claims that they reached a consensus on issues like pensions and health care benefits.
In Colorado, aside from Walmart, the two largest grocery chains are King Soopers, owned by Kroger, and Safeway, owned by Albertsons. Albertsons runs 105 Safeway and Albertsons stores, while Kroger owns 148 King Soopers and City Market stores.
