The decision by the owners of Albertsons supermarkets to close 37 underperforming Northern California stores creates another wave of anxiety for the chain's workers, who have been buffeted by fierce competition and wholesale changes in the grocery industry. Some of the workers in stores to be shut will be reassigned if they exercise seniority rights to replace employees at other stores. Others will be laid off.
See "Grocery chain to close 37 stores", George Raine, San Francisco Chronicle, June 7, 2006