Food 4 Less Workers in SoCal to Vote on Contract

It appears management of Food 4 Less in Southern California has avoided a threatened strike of its union associates by boosting its contract offer with a deal union leaders say is fair.

“We were able to ensure that the Food 4 Less workers were treated equally with the other grocery store workers at Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons and Stater Brothers,” Mickey Kasparian, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 135, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

About 1,000 associates, who work at the Kroger-owned chain’s 11 stores in San Diego County, are expected to vote Jan. 10 on the tentative deal.

Food 4 Less union workers recently voted to authorize a strike if necessary, over Kroger’s proposed changes to the meat department and other issues. A major sticking point in the negotiations had been meat cutting jobs, an issue that appeared to be resolved in the deal, the U-T reported. The grocer had proposed outsourcing some meat-cutting duties, reducing the hours in the meat department and allowing grocery clerks to cut meat.

In September, grocery workers at Ralphs, Albertsons and Vons in Southern California approved a new contract, narrowly averting a strike after eight months of heated negotiations between management and UFCW leaders representing 62,000 workers.