SoCal Grocers Come to Pension Agreement With UFCW

Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons have hammered out a tentative agreement on the pension portion of a labor agreement currently being negotiated with seven United Food and Commercial Workers locals covering more than 60,000 employees in the Southern California region.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement on this important part of the new labor agreement,” the grocery chains said in a joint statement. “While we still have more work to do on other important parts of the contract, it is noteworthy we have been able to reach an agreement on the very challenging issue of pension benefits and the employers’ contributions which fund those benefits.”

The companies declined to comment on the details of the pension agreement, which was reached on June 10.

Vons is a subsidiary of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway, Ralphs is a division of Cincinnati-based Kroger, and Albertsons is a banner of Minneapolis-based Supervalu.