Looks like NO grocery strike: Unions announce tentative deal

The unions representing thousands of grocery-store workers at chains including QFC, Safeway, Albertsons, and Fred Meyer say they have reached a tentative contract deal. So it looks like NO strike. Here’s their statement via Facebook:

We are very pleased to announce that today at 5 PM the union member bargaining team from UFCW 21 & 367 and Teamsters 38 reached a tentative agreement with the national grocery chains in contract negotiations. This tentative agreement has been unanimously recommended by the union member bargaining team. Details will not to be released until after union members themselves have had the opportunity to review the tentative agreement and vote on it. The times and locations of those vote meetings will be announced in the coming days after arrangements have been made to schedule the vote.

The announcement came with just a few hours left in the strike countdown.

Genesee Hill October 21, 2013 (6:31 pm)

Great news. I do not cross picket lines, and remember the last grocery strike in 1989. The T-baggers may love crossing picket lines, but not this cowboy.

Line crosser October 21, 2013 (7:30 pm)

I don’t blindly support causes. I’m curious about what the points of contention were. Anyone?

JanS October 21, 2013 (7:40 pm)

I was torn. I need quite a few prescriptions for a health condition I have, and Safeway is my pharmacy. It meant that I would have had to cross the picket line. I know quite of few of the checkers, and that bothered me. Glad they’ve agreed on things…hope it’s a good deal…

JoB October 21, 2013 (8:41 pm)

one big point of contention was that the stores wanted to end time and a half for working holidays..

Breezy October 21, 2013 (8:44 pm)

I’m glad there will be no disruption in grocery/pharmacy services for many people are in the same boat as JanS.
I’ve been a union member as well as a non-member. I’ll take non-union any day of the year. I’ve no problem crossing the line, but that doesn’t mean I ‘love’ it nor does it mean I’m a ‘T-bagger’ as GH so eloquently phrased it. We all have our reasons for making the choices we do and none of us have to explain them to anyone. But we do enjoy the occasional spar on the blog..

Neighbor Mom October 21, 2013 (9:22 pm)

Great news! I stocked up yesterday, just in case. And when I told our bagger we wouldn’t be back until the strike is over, he was visibly touched. Glad an agreement is in the works.

DarkHawke October 21, 2013 (10:54 pm)

@Line crosser: Here’s a link from KOMO’s story about a month ago, after the strike vote was taken but before they begged off in favor of further talks: http://bit.ly/179O175 Make of it what you will, but I say that sans Obamacare and the Obama economy, these points of contention wouldn’t have come up, let alone brought us to the brink of this strike.

Nw mama October 21, 2013 (11:12 pm)

So no strike… Why was the produce section EMPTY when I stopped in at 8:30pm?

sophista-tiki October 22, 2013 (4:42 am)

good , maybe I can actually go to the store in the morning. QFC has been such a zoo for the last couple of days . People are acting like a major natural disaster is coming and shopping like its the last time they’ll ever see a grocery store.

JoB October 22, 2013 (8:46 am)

DarkHawke..

“I say that sans Obamacare and the Obama economy, these points of contention wouldn’t have come up, let alone brought us to the brink of this strike.”

Profits are up, the CEO got a whopping raise as a result…

and ending time and a half pay for workers on major holidays and freezing wages… which by the way were already cut to the bone to add to that bottom line during the Bush economy… are due to the Obama economy?

daring to ask for compensation to keep the grocery store open on Thanksgiving or Christmas
or to ask for a starting wages better than the legal minimum
or to ask for the benefit of their company’s health plan if they are scheduled for an hour or two less than their company’s full time standard

these things are due to the Obama economy?

Isn’t it more likely that the American worker has finally said enough…
that the “cost saving measures” they accepted during bad times should end with those bad times..
not be extended to enrich an already bloated bottom line?

there go them pesky facts again…
they sure to mess up a good storyline

JTB October 22, 2013 (9:40 am)

Thanks, JoB.
It’s important to provide facts to offset misinformation and/or bias.

DelridgeV October 22, 2013 (9:49 am)

Another big issue was that they wanted to slash benefits for employees working less than 30 hours. Basically, they wanted to preserve profits, while making taxpayers subsidize them, i.e., the Walmart model. Boycott Walmart!!!

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