TEAMSTERS ACCEPT DIMINISHED CONTRACT AT SAFEWAY WAREHOUSE

DAVID GHITELMAN

TRACY, Calif. -- Striking Teamsters at a distribution center here that supplies 245 Safeway stores in three Western states returned to work last week after approving a contract that gave them less than what the warehouse's management had offered in October, before the Teamsters began their 45-day walkout.

Martin Street, president, Summit Logistics here, which owns and operates the warehouse, told SN the six-year contract represents "a reduction in hourly wages and a reduction in benefits" from Summit's final pre-strike offer.

Deborah Lambert, spokeswoman for Safeway, Pleasanton, Calif., the distribution center's exclusive customer, told SN, "We were pleased that the differences [between the Teamsters and Summit] were resolved, although we were prepared for a long strike should it have taken place."

She added, "We felt all along that Summit's [pre-strike] offer was very fair and generous. We felt from the very beginning it was a very good offer, and it was unfortunate that it signaled a strike."

The Teamsters leadership expressed muted disappointment in the settlement. Bob Gamaza, president, Teamsters Local 439, Stockton, Calif., said, "The members understand that they have not won either of their two principal demands -- the end of the activity-based pay system and negotiation of new production standards in the warehouse.

"On the other hand, the company has agreed to establish several new avenues for resolutions of existing problems."