Significantly, the agreement, ratified March 4, maintains current health insurance benefits for the life of the agreement at no cost for both full-time and part-time employees.

In contract negotiations, the grocers group sought worker contributions towards the health benefits but the union held its ground.

"The key issue that was the sticking point right up to the end was the health benefit," said Jim Vossen, UFCW Local 653 political director.

The contract provides workers an average annual increase of three percent for each of the three years, inclusive of wages and benefits. In addition, the employees’ current pension program was preserved with no reduction in benefits. The new contract also provides job security guarantees.

To express thanks for the new contract, UFCW Local 653 ran a quarter-page ad in the March 12 Star Tribune listing union grocery stores and encouraging shoppers to patronize those stores.

The contract covers 12,000 retail meat and grocery workers who work for 25 employers at 100 Minneapolis area grocery stores.

Reprinted from the Minneapolis Labor Review.