The last time Southern California's largest supermarket chains battled with their employees' union over a labor contract, the dispute escalated into a strike-lockout that dragged on for nearly five months. With little more than a month to go on the current deal, a new slate of negotiations could produce another brawl over health care benefits and a two-tiered wage system ? the same contract issues the union begrudgingly agreed to three years ago. The United Food and Commercial Workers' Local 770 in Los Angeles, the largest union local in the region, is scheduled to begin contract talks Monday with Ralphs Grocery Co. Talks between UFCW Local 324 and Albertsons Inc. have been under way since last month.
See "Grocery Workers Prepare for Labor Talks", Alex Veiga, San Francisco Chronicle, February 4, 2007