LOS ANGELES - Tens of thousands of California grocery store workers have approved a new contract with major supermarket chains, avoiding a potential strike, it was announced Thursday.
The tentative deal reached last week was ratified by the Union members in the central and southern areas of the state. Some 47,000 employees are given higher wages, stronger health benefits, increased guaranteed hours for part-time workers, improved store safety and a secured pension, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said in a statement.
The contract also includes provisions to establish health and safety committees at each Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions stores, so employees can have a say on safety issues, the union said.
In the COVID-19 epidemic, frontline workers, including at grocery stores, were hit hard.
We made history! Erika Bentzen, a food clerk at a Ralphs in Thousand Oaks who was on the bargaining team, said in a union statement. This was the first time that members were part of the negotiations and I believe it made a difference. The contract is in effect and covers about 540 stores.
The previous three-year contract expired on March 6 and workers had voted to authorize a strike if an agreement wasn't reached.
The employees of Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions and Albertsons voted to allow a strike in the year 2019 but were unable to reach a strike due to the fact that contracts were reached without a walkout.
Nearly 70,000 Southern California grocery workers were on picket lines during a 2003-04 strike and lockout for more than four months.