California Safeway workers approve contract

PLEASANTON, Calif. Union employees in the Bay Area and Northern California have approved a four-year contract with the Safeway supermarket chain.

Workers for the United Food and Commercial Workers union approved a contract that—according to a statement—provides “the largest across the board wage increases in the history of Northern California grocery industry contracts.”

The contract affects more than 25,000 union workers employed at 300 Vons and Safeway supermarkets. In a statement, UFCW leaders lauded the new contract for its wage increases and benefits and said that, “it bucks the national trend in which employers are cutting benefits and shifting the costs of healthy care on to employees.”