Negotiations began in January between United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1189 and a group of St. Paul grocers, including Cub, Jerry’s Foods, Rainbow Foods, Kowalski’s, and Festival Foods. As of June 23, all the grocers except Kowalski’s had agreed to contract extensions.

“The extension allows for any party, with 14 days notice, to end the extension,” said Don Seaquist, president of Local 1189. “Without any party giving this notice, the extension remains in place until we ratify a new agreement.

“In addition, our bargaining session had a significantly different tone than in the past. All parties engaged in discussion over issues that concern our members. We also agreed to re-visit all remaining open issues from both sides, in an effort to move forward in our goal of reaching an agreement that is unique to St. Paul. Over the next couple of weeks the bargaining parties will identify and put together their list of remaining open issues. Upon completion of this task, we will then schedule additional bargaining dates.”

For more information
See bargaining updates on the Local 1189 website