SEATTLE (FNS) -- Representatives of labor and management told SN last week that both sides are satisfied with a new three-year contract covering some 7,000 employees of Safeway, Albertson's, Fred Meyer Inc., Quality Food Centers, Haggen Inc. and several smaller operators in the Northwest.
United Commercial and Food Workers Union Local 1105 here said its members got a raise and stronger retirement benefits. A spokesman for the supermarket negotiators said employers successfully negotiated to reduce payments into the union pension fund and health and welfare fund.
The contract gives employees a $1.20 raise over the next three years, the union said. The UFCW also negotiated stronger benefits for some retirees. Randy Zeiler, attorney and negotiator for Allied Employers, said the companies also felt good about the negotiations. For several years, the employers tried to reduce the amount they paid into the pension fund and for health and welfare benefits because both programs were over-funded. This year they succeeded.
The employers' payments into the health and welfare program will cease from June 1, 1998 until November 1998. When the employers' payments begin again, they will be $1.95 an hour, down from $2.07 an hour.
Payments to the pension fund will also decrease for all classes of workers, but the most notable cuts will be for meatcutters and grocery employees.
Right now, employers pay $1 an hour into the fund for meatcutters. The amount will decrease to 22 cents. Payments for grocery employees will decrease from 55 cents to 22 cents an hour.
"We're happy that both sides walked away from this thing in a win-win situation," Zieler said.
The two parties had been negotiating since last summer. The new contract takes effect May 3, the day the old contract expires.
