Picket signs at the ready for potential grocery workers strike
Oct 18, 2013, 6:19 AM | Updated: 7:09 am
Thousands of picket signs are piled up and ready to go, but negotiations are still underway to prevent a grocery workers strike. (AP Photo/file)
(AP Photo/file)
Thousands of picket signs are piled up and ready to go, but negotiations are still underway to prevent a grocery workers strike.
Talks went late into the night Thursday, on a day the unions representing 30,000 Puget Sound grocery workers said was likely the last day of negotiations before declaring a strike.
Pay and health care benefits remain the top issues, including holiday pay and employee contributions.
The unions would have to give three days notice before walking off the job. Should the union decide to strike Friday, workers could not walk off the job until Monday.
Grocery workers last went on strike in 1989. They were out for 81 days.
A strike would hit Safeway, Albertsons, QFC and Fred Meyer stores in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap, Mason and Thurston Counties.
The stores say they are prepared for a strike, and they will stay open with replacement workers.
The group “Stand With Our Checkers” created a map of alternative grocery stores (below) of “home grown local union employers” that won’t face strikes.
