SAFEWAY WORKERS FILE 'FLIRTING' GRIEVANCE

PLEASANTON, Calif. Safeway said last week it has been served with a union grievance by 12 employees -- 11 women and one man -- who claim they have been propositioned by customers who mistake the chain's smile-and-make-eye-contact rule as flirting.

ints. but believes the problem is limited to fewer than 10 stores in one section of the San Francisco Bay area.

"However, we're not minimizing people's concerns because we don't support harassment in any form, and we've gone to great lengths the past two years to educate employees about what constitutes harassment. But we don't think the problem is related to our customer service efforts, which have been in effect for five years."

Lambert said Safeway is considering more employee training to help deal with customer harassment.