Bay Area Supermarket Contract Is Ratified

The United Food and Commercial Workers union said a contract covering more than 20,000 supermarket workers in the San Francisco Bay Area had been approved.

More than 60% of the workers approved a three-year contract that establishes the wages and benefits for clerks and butchers in Bay Area stores owned by the nation’s three largest grocers -- Kroger Co., which owns Ralphs; and Safeway Inc., which owns Vons and Pavilions; and Albertsons Inc.

The union and supermarkets reached the agreement last month, ending months of discord that echoed the antagonism leading up to a costly 4 1/2 -month strike that disrupted Southern and Central California during late 2003 and early 2004.

Among the concessions, the Bay Area workers agreed to pay for a bigger portion of their current and future healthcare.

From Associated Press

* The United Food and Commercial Workers union’s Canadian arm said it planned to file a complaint against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for bargaining in bad faith after the retailer said it would close its first unionized store in North America.