Reuters
Arizona Supermarket Workers Reject Company Proposals,   Grant UFCW Local 99 Authority to Call a Strike
Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:44pm EDT
 
PHOENIX--(Business Wire)--At four meetings around Arizona, members of UFCW Local 99 voted in overwhelming numbers to give their union leaders authority to call a strike, should one
become necessary, against the Fry`s and Safeway supermarket chains.

"Our number one priority is to negotiate a fair and equitable contract for our
members, and we will leave no stone unturned in that endeavor," UFCW Local 99
President Jim McLaughlin said after the votes were counted. "This vote shows
that the members are united in achieving our goals."

"The results expressed the members` emphatic rejection of recent contract
proposals by the supermarket companies," he said. "Those proposals would have
resulted in a loss of earnings for our members at a time when everyone is
struggling just to get by."

McLaughlin declined to speculate on the likelihood of a labor dispute. "We are
not revealing our strategies through the press," he said. "We have a number of
resources at our disposal at this time and we intend to evaluate all of them."