Catherwood LibraryILR School

Recently, grocery workers employed by Ralphs and Albertsons voted in favor of authorizing a strike. Approximately 47,000 workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union participated in the vote. The union will now have 10 meetings with the grocery companies over the next month to see if an agreement can be reached. So far, the workers have only been offered a wage increase of 10 cents per hour, as well as some small additional bonuses. The supermarkets have also refused to contribute more to employees’ healthcare, causing the additional contributions to come from the employees themselves. As a result, employees now have to retire at age 65 rather than 60. Ralph and Albertsons is the parent company of Pavilions, Safeway and Vons stores.