After grocery store workers in the Seattle area voted to move towards a strike last week, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the stores are returning to negotiations on Thursday. The union represents around 17,000 workers at grocery stores. Their contract expired in May, with an extension expiring on Monday. The stores want to cut pay, hours and benefits, saying that the contracts are comparable to others, and that they need the cuts. The workers say that they have already taken cuts and they cannot afford more. If workers voted for a strike again, they could shut down stores during the Thanksgiving holiday.
See "Grocery workers, companies to return to bargaining table with federal mediator", Nicole Tsong, The Seattle Times, November 15, 2010