SAFEWAY OFFERS BUYOUTS IN CALIFORNIA

Elliot Zwiebach

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway here said it is offering voluntary severance packages to approximately 5,800 retail clerks in the San Francisco Bay area, with similar offers scheduled later in the year to employees across the rest of Northern California.

The company said it is "still in discussions" on buyouts with Southern California clerks working at its Vons division. That contract was settled in February 2004 after a 141-day strike, "and there has been no voluntary severance offer there yet," a spokeswoman told SN.

The discussions reportedly involve the union's concerns about the financial impact of a buyout on the union's pension and trust funds.

The goal of the severance offers is to enable Safeway to replace higher-paid senior clerks with new hires working at a lower pay scale. Safeway said senior employees in the Bay area could receive severance pay of up to $35,000.

The ability to offer buyouts was part of the contract the union signed with Safeway, Albertsons and Kroger, but only Safeway has begun offering severance packages.

Safeway reached agreements on new contracts in the Bay area in mid-February and with clerks across Northern California soon after. Because the chain is making its offers in employee meetings, "it's a long process," the spokeswoman said, and the chain has not yet scheduled meetings with clerks outside the Bay area.