Grocery Worker Strike Averted As Union Members Vote On Contract | Phillip Molnar Brittany Meiling

The looming threat of a grocery store strike throughout Southern California was dissolving Monday as workers began voting on a new employment contract that appears to appease all parties. Clerks and other grocery staff from Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons are casting votes Monday through Wednesday on the new deal brokered over the weekend between the stores and the workers’ union, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Roughly 47,000 members of seven union chapters across Southern California and parts of Central California are eligible to vote on the new three-year contract. Worker sentiment appears strongly positive on the deal, which secured a bump in wages, healthcare benefits and pension contributions.