New Raley’s contracts have been ratified by its employees, which will permit the United Food & Commercial Workers to manage some of the chain’s non-union stores. The union will be organizing 22 of these stores and allow greater union access by associates. The contract negotiations took more than one year and the back and forth discussions led to a strike, the first in the chain’s history, in the month of November.
Discussions continued and an agreement, though tentative, was arrived at, which ended a 10-day strike. The Union Food & Commercial Workers local 8 and 5 delayed the vote count after voting had been done to seek members’ acceptance. The unions said that Raley’s had started implementing new pact provisions earlier than agreed. A spokesperson of the chain of supermarkets said that the unions that had impounded the votes had now released the vote totals, whose results showed that the new contract had been approved officially.
The parties to the negotiations have also agreed for arbitration to be expedited to ensure disputes are settled quickly. Raley’s spokesman John Segale said that the company was happy that the contracts had been ratified. Segale further said that the agreement will give the chain flexibility, as well as cost savings that will be useful in the long run. A report featured in the Sacramento Bee stated that the associates at Raley’s would not get bonus pay that they used to receive for holiday and Sunday shifts. The report also added that health care plan costs would rise as well.
The retail industry has witnessed several strikes and threats to the industry in 2012.
I miss Raley’s. I really enjoyed shopping with them. I live in Lancaster, CA. and cannot shop there. I really miss them. They are a good store. Thank you.