WASHINGTON — Negotiations between two United Food and Commercial Workers locals and two supermarket chains are scheduled to resume today on contracts covering 23,000 workers in the Baltimore-Washington region. Giant of Landover, Md., and Safeway have been in talks for several weeks with UFCW Locals 400 and 27 to hammer out the new agreements to replace agreements that expire this Saturday. According to local reports, the chains are asking full-time employees to contribute to their health care coverage for the first time. In a posting on the website of UFCW Local 400, the union said no progress was made in last week’s talks and that strike preparations will be in place by this Wednesday. The union said it will present a final proposal from the companies for a vote on April 1.

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