UFCW Locals 400 and 27 Extend Contract with Giant and Safeway
Tuesday, November 12, 2013(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 400
and 27 today
agreed to extend their members' collective bargaining agreement with Giant and
Safeway through December 20th. The contract originally expired on October 31st.
It was extended through November 15th and now will continue for another five
and a half weeks, while both parties continue discussions in the hope of
reaching an acceptable agreement. "Like virtually all negotiations taking
place around the country today, the number one obstacle to reaching agreement
is the impact of the Affordable Care Act on multiemployer Taft-Hartley funds,
like the one that provides health coverage to our members at Giant and
Safeway," said Local 400 President Mark P. Federici. "Between this
and the pervasiveness of corporate greed, virtually all bargaining in our
industry across the country has resulted in lengthy delays and
extensions," Federici said. "For example, bargaining in the Seattle
area between Safeway and other grocers and various UFCW Local Unions, affecting
30,000 members, took more than seven months to reach agreement. I don't
anticipate it will take us that long, but this is the environment in which our
negotiations are taking place.” Federici thanked his members for their
“patience
and solidarity," assuring them "that we will work tenaciously to
secure a new collective bargaining agreement that provides them with the
security, respect and dignity they have more than earned." UFCW Local 400
represents 40,000 members working in the retail food, health care, retail
department store, food processing, service and other industries in Washington,
D.C., Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.
photo:
still from the catchy “We
Know What We Want!” video of the November 7 flashmob by Giant and
Safeway workers.