News release
Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Locals 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1428 and 1442 have voted to ratify a new three-year contract with Ralphs, a subsidiary of Kroger, and Albertsons (Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions).
The contracts were reached after months of negotiations and active participation from thousands of Southern California grocery workers.
The six UFCW Locals released the following statement:
“The journey to contract ratification saw a record turnout of grocery workers, customers, and community members, all fighting for the same thing – better stores, better lives, better communities. They fought to ensure that grocery workers could feed their own families and afford health benefits and a dignified retirement at the end of a long career. They also fought for more staffing to improve the customer experience at their stores.”
According to the news release from UFCW, key provisions of the agreement include: substantial wage increases; a new supplemental pension plan; increased health care benefit contributions and faster health care eligibility for new hires; and, staffing language that includes the union in evaluating reasonable staffing levels that address efficient operation of the store, the health and safety of employees, and the quality of customer service.
This contract goes into effect immediately for over 45,000 grocery workers in Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions locations across Southern California.
