Just three years after grocery workers launched a four-month strike that cost the California grocery industry $2 billion, the United Food and Commercial Workers capped a dramatic turnaround by agreeing with employers to a new four-year contract. The agreement, which includes Safeway, Kroger Co. and other major chains, features improved health care benefits and pensions, along with higher wages. Talks had been ongoing for over five months, with a strike authorization vote staved off at the last minute in December when both sides reached a tentative agreement on the new deal.
See "New contracts cheer union grocery workers", George Raine, San Francisco Chronicle, January 1, 2008