Southern California grocery workers have reached a tentative labor agreement with the Ralphs and Albertsons chains. In the 2003-04 strike, workers drew from unemployment and a union strike fund, but most did not get as much as they earned working normally. Rick Icaza, the president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 770, said the two sides hammered out a deal Thursday. The specter of the last major grocery strike, which started in 2003 and lasted 141 days, loomed over this year’s negotiations. The strike cleared the way for the expansion of ethnic grocery stores and the entry of new chains into the region.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 04, 2016 21:27 UTC