SoCal grocery workers to vote on new contract
Thousands of Southern California grocery workers for Albertsons, Ralphs, Pavilions and Vons will begin voting Monday on whether to ratify a new three-year contract.
This comes after it was announced Sunday that 13,000 grocery workers for Stater Bros. voted "overwhelmingly" to ratify their own three-year deal. Members of United Food and Commercial Workers ratified the Stater Bros. deal that was reached on April 1. It will go into effect immediately for workers at approximately 170 Stater Bros. locations across Central and Southern California. The contract is retroactive to March 7, 2022.
Union officials said the deal includes significant wage increases, stronger health care, and protected pension provisions.
On April 4, UFCW 770 successfully negotiated a tentative agreement for workers with Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons and Pavilions. The deal came just about a week-and-a-half after the workers had voted to authorize a strike if needed. It covers roughly 47,000 workers represented by seven UFCW union locals between Central California and the Mexico border. The membership covers workers at more than 500 stores.
The results of the ratification vote will be announced Thursday.
In 2003-04, Southland grocery store workers walked off the job over a contract dispute, and the strike lasted 141 days. That work stoppage was estimated by some analysts to have cost the supermarket chains as much as $2 billion, with the workers losing $300 million in wages.