Southern California grocery workers have reached a tentative labor agreement with three big supermarket chains, averting a repeat of a lengthy strike four years ago. Details of the contract are still under wraps, but observers say the union regained some of the ground it lost in the last round of labor negotiations.
New workers will eventually be able to earn the same top wage as older employees, and the waiting period to qualify for health benefits has been reduced.
Berkeley labor professor Harley Shaiken says the two-tiered wage and benefits package in the last contract backfired on the supermarkets, as employee turnover skyrocketed.
Shaiken : In the service industry, morale is what you're selling in many cases, and if you have poor morale because workers are anxious or resentful, it damages the business as well as creating real problems for the workers.
65,000 workers are set to vote on the new contract this weekend.
