November 15, 2009 04:57 PM UTC

"Last, Best and Final Offer"

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• by: Colorado Pols

The latest update on the protracted negotiations between United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) employees of King Soopers, Safeway and Albertson’s stores and management, from the Denver Post:

Grocery workers across Colorado now expect a vote this week on a “last, best and final” contract offered by Safeway and Kroger, the parent of King Soopers.

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7 said the grocery firms will submit the proposal on Monday, the latest development in seven months of talks.

The local union has threatened to strike, but has not been given authorization by the international union headquarters, which said there must be a rejected, best and final offer before a walkout.

It’s unclear why the UFCW workers weren’t given permission to strike last month by the International, but rumors that leadership in Washington DC has lost confidence in the local don’t appear to be a factor–they could have easily dragged the process out past the date that new local leadership is set to take over, but they didn’t. And regardless of how the union rank-and-file may feel about the local, they have consistently rejected contract proposals they find inadequate: we’ll see if the new contract offer makes enough concessions to change that.

And if it doesn’t? Well, you were ready for this a few weeks ago, weren’t you?