By Steve Raabe The Denver Post

Updated: 09/12/2009 01:10:36 AM MDT

With the clock ticking toward another contract expiration, Colorado grocers and their union employees are waging a quieter battle this year compared with the militancy of previous ones.
Threats of strikes or lockouts have been muted during five months of negotiations and extensions that end — for now — at midnight tonight, when contracts between United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 and King Soopers and Safeway expire.  Employees are expected to continue working without a contract as union representatives decide whether to put a new offer from the grocers up to a vote or seek a new round of negotiations.

The new offer — similar to a previous one that workers rejected in May — provides wage increases to journeymen but not to less-experienced employees. It also cuts pension benefits in the wake of major stock-market losses suffered by the pension fund.  UFCW Local 7 legal counsel Crisanta Duran said hopes for continued talks and a better deal rest in part with the wording used by Safeway and King Soopers, which earlier this week made what they termed a "final offer."  Duran said the phrase suggests there is still room to negotiate, compared with the often-used phrase "last, best and final offer."  The grocers declined to explain if there is a difference between the two phrases.

*Noticeably less acrimonious*

Analysts say this year's talks are noticeably less acrimonious and seemingly more collaborative than those in previous years, when demonstrations and strikes took place.  A weak economy and the erosion of market share from traditional grocery stores to nonunion discounters has left the union and the companies in a precarious position, experts say.  "I think both sides would like to just settle for what they can get without too much struggle," said Ray Hogler, management professor at Colorado State University. "Neither the union nor the employers have a very strong position."

The last grocery-store contract battle, in 2004, was marked by demonstrations, intervention by a federal mediator and eventually union approval of a deal after seven months of contentious talks. In 1996, workers went on strike for 44 days before agreeing to a new contract.

This year's talks, over five months, represent a far shorter period, to date, compared with other grocery contract disputes across the nation, such as the 18 months that elapsed before UFCW workers approved a deal in July with Philadelphia grocer Acme Markets.

*Hit hard by discounters*

Grocery chains, nationally and in Colorado, say they've been hit hard by the growth of nonunion discounters such as Wal-Mart, Super Target and Costco.  King Soopers and Safeway still control the top two positions in metro Denver, but their combined market share has slipped from 72 percent in 1996 to 60 percent this year, according to the Shelby Report, a grocery industry monitor.  "We've got competition from everybody," Safeway spokeswoman Kris Staaf said.  Duran said the store chains are operating profitably despite the competition and should not be freezing wages for junior workers and cutting pension benefits.  Shoppers could expect the status quo in the immediate future, University of Denver management professor Cindi Fukami said.

"Neither side feels compelled enough to take drastic action," she said.  "It just doesn't seem contentious enough to produce much movement."