August 29, 2007

After over five months of negotiations, grocery workers in King, Snohomish, Kitsap and North Mason Counties have overwhelmingly ratified the 2007 grocery contract by 92%.

This is a three year contract between over 20,000 UFCW Puget Sound grocery workers and Safeway, Albertson’s, QFC, Fred Meyer and other independent grocers who have interim agreements. For details on the contract contact your union representative.

The UFCW bargaining team, including the 23 members who participated in negotiations representing their fellow workers at the stores, wants to thank all the UFCW members who participated in actions and events during these five months. They also wish to thank our community allies who stood up for grocery workers. All your efforts have made a difference in our Share the Success campaign for a fair contract.

Our new MEDICAL PLAN has substantial improvements

• Preventive Care (for annual physicals and things like mammograms) is now fully covered with no cost to you — no deductibles — no coinsurance — no co-pays
• New Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA): Each year, your plan will fund an HRA for employees. Each employee’s HRA will be funded at $500 ($1000 for a family). You may use this money for doctor visits, lab tests, x-rays or any other covered medical expense. (It cannot be used for prescriptions, dental or vision.) Unused HRA money may be rolled over to the next year. The account is available before you pay your deductible.
• Eligibility of Children sooner
• Same Sex Domestic Partners are now covered under the same rules as married couples
• $5-million for wellness incentives: For starters, any employee or covered spouse who voluntarily takes a personal health assessment in 2008, will be paid $50 for themselves—and $50 for their spouse. Other incentives will be rolled out during the course of the contract
• Improved benefits for employees on Plan B
• Better prescription plan with $0 co-pay option
• Improvements to the Dental Plan

WAGES: Annual increases and full retroactive pay

• Journey Appendix A and CCK members will get hourly wage increases each year: 50-cents; 40-cents; 35-cents
• Journey Appendix B/C will get hourly increases of 50-cents; 40-cents; and 40-cents over the three years
• Wage increases to all progression steps in the first year, and some in the second and third years
• We defeated employer demands for lump sum bonuses and an additional 2,600 hours to the wage steps

The contract secures our Pension Plan

• We secured our pension with a plan that will allow no cuts for the life of the contract

The contract makes progress on Family Friendly Scheduling and Sick Leave

• Strong breakthroughs were made in Scheduling Practices
• We got our foot in the door on First Day Sick Leave