Washington State Union to Vote on Tentative Agreement

Washington State union grocery store employees – consisting of approximately 25,000 workers at Albertsons, Fred Meyer, QFC and Safeway across the region -- plan to vote next week on a tentative agreement reached after lengthy negotiations between the union and the stores’ management.

According to published reports, the agreement with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 will affect grocery and meat workers in Mason County and meat workers in Pierce and Thurston counties. Details of the agreement should be released after union members vote on the tentative agreement Wednesday through Friday.

Grocery union workers in Issaquah and the Puget Sound region voted Nov. 8 to authorize a strike, but it never materialized.

Reports said the union and Allied Employers, the labor relations firm representing the grocery chains, failed to reach an agreement in October after months of negotiations about pay, health benefits, and pensions. Workers have remained on the job under one-month contract extensions.