Union Reaches Tentative Agreement with Raley's, Bel Air and Nob Hill; Talks with Safeway, Albertson's and Ralphs Near Dec. 19 Deadline; President Loveall to Reveal Status at Monday Briefing.

ROSEVILLE, Calif. -- After five months of hard bargaining, UFCW 588-Northern California and Raley's, Bel Air and Nob Hill have agreed on tentative terms for a new labor contract.

Terms and conditions of the agreement will not be released until the affected members have received the details.

Negotiations with Safeway, Albertsons and Ralphs are ongoing and a negotiations deadline of midnight, Dec. 19, imposed by the Union is still in place. A media blackout is in effect until that time.

UFCW 588-Northern California President Jack L. Loveall will reveal the status of the Safeway, Ralphs and Albertson's negotiations on Monday, Dec. 20, at a time and location to be announced.

Two possibilities are foreseen at the time of this advisory:

    1.  Negotiators for the supermarket companies have failed to reach
        a settlement with the Union and the Union will recommend that
        its members authorize a strike, or...

    2.  The two sides have reached a tentative agreement and the Union
        will recommend ratification by its members.

In the event that negotiations have failed, the Union has organized strike vote meetings throughout the region.

Some 19,000 UFCW 588-Northern California members work in nearly 300 stores from the California-Oregon border in the north to the Merced River in the south.