Your UFCW Local 5 bargaining committee returned to the negotiation table with Safeway on June 20^th, 21^st, 26^thand 27^th. We continue to push for an agreement that addresses the exceptionally high cost of living in Northern California and improves active and retiree healthcare. Local 5 is scheduled to resume bargaining on July 16^thand 17^th.

While the Bargaining Committee would like to report that we have made progress, very little has been accomplished due to Safeway’s scarce offering of negotiation dates and its reluctance to put any meaningful proposals on the table. Safeway’s profits have been stellar, and the hundreds of millions of dollars they reaped from massive corporate tax cuts places the company in a unique position to reasonably share those huge gains with the workers that created them.

While we remain hopeful that our July sessions will result in an amicable agreement that meets the expectations of our members, the process cannot continue with little to show after 8 months of bargaining. Absent significant progress in July, your bargaining committee intends to plan for a strike authorization vote.

Please continue to visit Local 5’s website for additional updates.