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Grocery workers approve contract

By Blanca Torres
Seattle Times business reporter

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The three-year contract requires employees for the first time to contribute to the cost of their health-care plans, the crux of the dispute, but in a way that will keep costs affordable, said Sharon McCann, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1105.

"This is the best offer we could get short of a strike," McCann said. "After four months and long hours, this is it."

The new contract provides raises and does not include the grocers' proposal of a two-tier system that would have allowed new employees to be paid less than existing employees.

Employees did not see the agreement until yesterday morning when they met with union leaders in KeyArena to discuss it and vote. The polls closed at 1:30 p.m.

The contract, which will affect about 11,000 grocery clerks and meat-cutters in the Puget Sound area, calls for employees to pay 15 percent of their insurance premiums, plus chip in $7 per individual or $18 per family per week for coverage as well as pay for deductibles. Sunday pay was reduced from one and a half times regular pay to one and a third.

The unions, representing UFCW Locals 44, 81, 381 and 1105 and Teamsters Local 38, met with leaders from Albertsons, Safeway and Kroger-owned QFC and Fred Meyer several times starting in April. A federal mediator joined talks in June before a tentative agreement was reached Aug. 7. The previous contract, which expired May 2, was extended six times.

Highlights from the new grocery contract Insurance premiums: Employees will pay 15 percent; employers 85 percent. Weekly employee contributions: In addition, workers will pay $7 per individual or $18 per family per week. Deductibles: Not previously required; will depend on individual plans. Sunday pay: Reduced from 1-½ to 1-1/3 of regular pay. Raise: 30 cents per hour (retroactive to May 2) in the first and third year of the contract. A second-year raise will be paid in a lump sum. Two-tier pay system: Not introduced. Source: United Food and Commercial Workers Union members

As of late last night, union members from UFCW locals 44, 81 and 1105 had approved the contract by margins large enough to assure its overall approval. The other two locals had yet to report.

Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman for the grocers, called the agreement fair. "We all worked hard to come up with something that was reasonable," she said.

For years the employers provided 100 percent coverage of insurance premiums and did not require weekly contributions or deductibles.

Several employees last night said they were pleased; others said they were glad the uncertainty was over.

"I wasn't totally happy with it," said Jeri Peninger, 46, who has worked as a meat wrapper at an Albertsons in Kent for 21 years and voted for the agreement. "Overall, the Sunday pay was the only thing I was upset about. The time and a third, it just sucks. It used to be double pay when I first started. With each contract, they've whittled it down. Next time it will probably be straight pay."

The new health-care contributions were "pretty fair," she said. "To be realistic, we can't expect to keep the coverage that we have and not pay anything."

Sarah Bright, 35, of Federal Way, who works at the Safeway store in downtown Kent, said many employees were willing to strike on the two-tier pay issue alone.

"A two-tier system is a union-buster; with that kind of division you can't get a vote," Bright said. "Senior employees would lose hours to people who are paid less. I disagree with the idea of bringing in new people to do the same job and be paid less. It's not fair. To me, two-tiered was the worst thing they could do.

"What this contract does, in my opinion, is it keeps us alive and well to fight another day. ... It could have been so much worse."

The last time Seattle-area grocery workers struck was in 1989. They also struck in 1983.

Union officials think the new contract will help guide negotiations involving 50,000 workers in Northern California.

Blanca Torres: 206-515-5066 or btorres@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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