*Safeway Employees Approve Labor Contract*

By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 1, 2008; 1:38 PM

Safeway employees in the Baltimore and Washington region voted this morning to approve a new labor contract with the supermarket chain. Giant employees were gathering for a vote at the D.C. Armory after the Safeway meeting concluded.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents about 23,000 grocery workers in the region, came to an agreement with the stores' management over the weekend after more than a month of negotiations. The contract with workers expired at midnight Saturday.

"We were prepared" to strike, said Berry Hirschman, who has worked at Safeway 28 years, "but this did it. This is very good."
Giant closed its stores today from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. so workers could vote.

Top issues in the bargaining were health-care benefits, wages and pensions. A source close to the negotiation said one sticking point was the companies' request that workers pay a monthly premium for their health insurance. Under the current contract, most employees do not have premiums but are required to pay a $200 annual deductible.

Progress had been slow in the final days of negotiations, as union members prepared for the possibility of a strike. They made hundreds of signs and reached out to elected officials and religious and community groups for support. Activist organizations passed out leaflets in front of stores and conducted phone campaigns.
 

Safeway and Giant had hired scores of temporary employees in case union workers walked off the job. The companies said they planned to keep those employees until the union approves a new contract.

Although the threat of a strike loomed over the talks, negotiations between the union and supermarkets across the country have been less contentious than they were in 2004, when workers in California went on strike for nearly five months. This year, employees at Giant sister chain Stop & Shop authorized a strike over health-care coverage but never took that action. They signed a new contract recently.

A simple majority of votes is needed to ratify the contract.