Grocery pact concessions detailed

The Southern California grocery union and three major chains made key concessions to reach a tentative contract agreement after more than six months of contentious negotiations, officials revealed Thursday.Julia M. Scott in the Daily News.

The United Food and Commercial Workers agreed to chip in $250million of a $500million employee reserve to help pay for health care, said Greg Conger, president of Local324, the second-largest branch of the UFCW in Southern California. The union has almost 70,000 members across the region.

Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons agreed to eliminate a two-tier system that gives richer benefits to veterans than new workers. That system led to higher turnover, reduced wages and long waiting periods for health care.

Under the new four-year deal, all workers can reach the top pay scale. The markets wanted that process to take nine years, but the union "reduced that dramatically," Conger said.