By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2009-12-20 13:04:55 | Word Count: 503
About 25,000 Arizona Fry's and Safeway grocery workers have voted to accept a new three-year contract that provides for wage increases and health coverage at no additional cost.
The vote officially ended prospects of a general grocery strike in Arizona. Workers were preparing to strike last month over a proposal to charge weekly premiums for health insurance. But with a Nov. 13 strike deadline just 12 hours away, the companies withdrew the proposal.
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Jim McLaughlin, president of Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 99, said the contract, approved by members late Thursday, represents a significant improvement over the employers' previous offer.
The initial proposal would have charged employees weekly health-insurance premiums from $5 to $15, depending on the coverage, and was rejected by the workers in September.
Although modest by some standards, the union argued it would be a burden for many workers who earn between $7.25 and $12 per hour on average.
While the union won concessions from the companies on health care, it gave up ground on wages. The union initially asked for a 35-cents-per-hour increase retroactive to Oct. 26, 2008, and two 40-cent raises effective Nov. 1, 2010, and Nov. 1, 2011.
The new contract includes 25-cent-per-hour increases on Oct. 24, 2010, and Oct. 23, 2011, and a ratification bonus in the form of $150 to $500 gift cards depending on length of service. It also provides for higher company contributions to health-care and retirement funds and no health-care premiums.
"We are glad the companies were able to come to terms with us, and we look forward to working with them over the next three years in a spirit of trust and mutual support," McLaughlin said in a statement.
Safeway spokeswoman Cathy Kloos said the company was "extremely pleased" that the negotiations came to a satisfactory conclusion. Safeway has about 9,000 union members and Fry's, about 16,000.
A month ago, Safeway and Fry's were bracing for a strike and had lined up thousands of temporary workers to fill in for striking employees and scores of security guards to keep the peace. It would have been the first Arizona grocery strike in decades and could have cost billions of dollars in lost sales and wages.
Employees were preparing to hunker down through the holidays, subsisting on $100 per week in strike pay.
McLaughlin said the "unshakeable strength and solidarity" of union members during a 13-month negotiating process made the new contract possible.
The contract replaces a 2005 pact that expired last year and was extended for 12 months while the parties negotiated. The extension expired Oct. 2.
