WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Despite a strike authorization vote last week by one of its subsidiaries, Raley's here said contract talks overseen by a federal mediator will resume Wednesday, with another meeting scheduled for Friday.
United Food and Commercial Workers Union Locals 5 and 8 met with Raley's under the aegis of the federal mediator for the first time last Friday, after Raley's had agreed to extend the contract through June 6. Direct talks with the union, free of a mediator, are scheduled early this week with Safeway and next week with Save Mart Supermarkets, Mike Henneberry, a spokesman for Local 5, told SN.
Related story: Raley's, Unions Extend Talks
Henneberry said Save Mart has extended its contract through May 29 and Safeway has extended its agreement on a day-to-day basis, subject to a seven-day cancellation. Contracts with all three chains expired last fall.
Henneberry said the union had already scheduled a vote for members at Nob Hill Foods, a Raley's subsidiary, before the parent company agreed to continue negotiations with a federal mediator present, "and because it's logistically challenging to get a strike vote together, we moved ahead with it," he told SN. He said the vote at Nob Hill showed 96% in favor of authorizing a strike.