Clerks Ratify Southland Market Pact

26

Axcel Flores was upbeat as he joined thousands of co-workers from Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons supermarkets in voting for a new labor contract that won approval Sunday.


“I’m very happy,” said Flores, a supervisor at a Vons in Studio City, where he has worked for 12 years. “We got a pay raise, we got to keep our benefits and we don’t have to go on strike.”


“You can’t ask for anything else,” he said. Clutching his 9-month-old son Miguel in one hand and a crumpled copy of the union agreement in the other, he cast his vote in Burbank , one of 25 voting spots throughout the Southland.


The enthusiasm was widespread Saturday and Sunday as grocery workers across Southern California voted to ratify the agreement that ended protracted contract talks with the region’s largest supermarket chains.


The four-year contract would give workers their first scheduled raises since 2002.


Although vote tallies were not available Sunday night, the contract covering members of the United Food and Commercial Workers was “overwhelmingly ratified” said union spokeswoman Sandra M. Lloyd-Jones.


“I expect a better than 90% acceptance,” said Rick Icaza, president of UFCW Local 770 in Los Angeles. “I’m ecstatic.”


Supermarket executives were just as positive.


Read the full L.A. Times story

. (registration required)