Sunday, June 12, 2011

Grocers, Union Disagree on Progress

The three major Southland grocery chains and their unionized workers Saturday seriously disagreed on how far apart they remain on a new labor contract.

The supermarkets Saturday called the agreement on pension issues "important" and "noteworthy." But the workers strongly disagreed, and called the pension agreement "small progress."
 
The two sides "still remain far apart on health care, and have not even discussed wages," said United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 president Rick Icaza.

The companies and their workers have not had a contract for more than three months. Union members voted in April to authorize a strike.

The union's Icaza said the current contract offer is "an unfair shifting of costs by hugely profitable corporations, companies that made more than $5 billion in profits and paid more than $500 million to Wall Street and investors."

"We compromised on the pension issue," Icaza said Saturday. "Now is the time for management to compromise on health care."

LAMediaWatch.com

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