Pension-benefit cuts have taken center stage in contract negotiations between three of Colorado’s grocers and the union that represents their workers.
Contract talks began two weeks ago and continue this week among King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7.
Pension benefits, health care and wages are the top three issues, said Kris Staaf, Safeway spokeswoman.
The grocers point to the downturn in the economy and the changed grocery landscape as factors in the negotiations. The current five-year contract expires in May.
“Consumers have a lot of choices now,” Staaf said. “The economic crisis has affected all of us and it’s going to require all of us to be flexible and reach mutually agreeable solutions.”
But the union points to recent profits by the grocers as evidence they should not change how pensions are given or operate, said Laura Chapin, a union spokeswoman.
“At the same time their profits are increasing, they are asking workers to take cuts in pensions,” she said. The pension fund losses “do not negate the fact that workers have made money for the company.”
Safeway posted a 12 percent gain in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the previous year; Kroger, the parent company of King Soopers, showed an 8 percent increase in profit for the same period.
The grocers, union and experts agree this is not the time for drastic standoffs.
“This would be a horrible time to go into a strike,” said Peter Orazem, a professor of economics specializing in labor at Iowa State University. “You might want to talk a good game, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be like two professional wrestlers yelling at each other before the fixed fight.”
Safeway and King Soopers are asking for pension cuts after the fund lost more than 30 percent last year.
The Employer Retirement Security Act requires firms to keep pension plans funded at certain levels.
