By Rachel Pritchett
rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
The two sides in protracted grocery-store labor negotiations
will return to the bargaining table.
According to a statement issued Friday from the United Food and
Commercial Workers Local 21, their negotiators and those from
Allied Employers, which represents Albertsons, Fred Meyer, QFC and
Safeway, will begin a new round of talks next Thursday and
Friday.
The decision was made Friday morning.
This week, 94 percent of the thousands of grocery-store workers
throughout Western Washington voted to authorize a strike. Many
hundreds participated in two voting opportunities in Bremerton.
The strike-authorization vote followed months of contract
extensions affecting a core 15,000 workers after their contracts
expired beginning in May. It remains in effect.
Issues centered on pay for all days workers were sick, and new
wage, hour and benefit levels in a recessionary economy.
