Safeway East Offers Buyouts

LANDOVER, Md. — Safeway met last week with union employees from its Eastern division stores to discuss buyout offers for certain long-time employees, union sources said.

According to a letter posted on the website of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 here, Safeway is offering voluntary buyouts for “Tier 1” full- and part-time clerks, meat cutters, assistant managers and department managers at its Eastern division stores in the Washington and Philadelphia metro areas. This group includes workers hired prior to April 1983 (if represented by UFCW Local 27) or prior to October 1983 for Local 400.

The offer would provide a lump-sum payment of between $35,000 and $50,000, in exchange for eligible employees who choose to resign.

Safeway, Pleasanton, Calif., orchestrated a similar buyout in its California stores in 2005, in an effort to trim payroll and benefit costs.