Springs grocery union workers voting today, expected to reject latest contract offer
Unionized grocery workers in Colorado Springs are poised today to follow their coworkers from the Denver area in rejecting contract offers from King Soopers and Safeway amid a leadership struggle of the local representing them.
More than 1,700 members of United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 7 working for the two chains in the Springs area are voting today on the offer, which includes raises totaling $1.35 an hour for the highest-paid workers over the five-year deal as well as nearly $40 million in additional contributions to an underfunded pension plan, reduced waiting periods to get medical benefits for family members and new preventative health care benefits.
Union officials say the offer is little changed from the initial offers from the chains and would require cuts in future pension accruals by up to 62 percent, raise the minimum retirement age for Local 7 members from 50 to 55 and end a $200-a-month supplemental payment for retirees age 60 to 62. Union members have rejected two previous offers from Safeway and one other from King Soopers, and have been working without a contract since the previous deal expired Sept. 12.
Jeralee Gonzalez, a general merchandise manager for the Safeway store at 840 Village Center Drive, said she has worked 27 years for the chain “for nothing” because of the cuts in future pension benefits that the offer will require.
“What they are not telling you is that the money they are putting into the pension fund is coming out of the health and welfare fund (that pays for medical coverage) that we built up,” Gonzales said. “They will deplete that fund in order to fund the pension, yet they won’t tell us what the rates will be in the new contract for our health coverage or how much the co-payments will be. They only thing they will tell us is that those rates and payments will change under the new contract.”
Stephanie Malone, a file maintenance manager with the same store who has spent 19 years with the company, said she views any reductions in future pension benefits as “essentially a pay cut because that’s exactly what it is. They need to compensate us fairly for what we do. I enjoy my job, but I am frustrated and saddened when we take a step back in pay and benefits every five years,” each time the union negotiates a new contract with Safeway.
Sandy McLean, a customer-service clerk and 16-year employee at the King Soopers store at 2910 S. Academy Blvd., said she is worried that retirement benefits for Local 7 members are being cut so much that “our retirees will eventually end up on welfare. They need to treat everybody fairly so people don’t end up without a retirement. I’m thankful to have health benefits and I am happy with my wages, but I don’t like the way they keep cutting our retirement.”
No strike can begin until balloting ends Oct. 6, but union officials say the hope to resume talks if the offer is rejected. Any strike would be the first since the union staged a 42-day strike against King Soopers in 1996, triggering a lockout of union members by Safeway. Both chains have agreed to lock out workers if the union goes on strike against the other and have been advertising for temporary replacement workers who would be hired only if the union calls a strike.
