Category: Negotiations

Bargaining for your new contract will continue over the next few days. We look forward to continuing our discussions with union negotiators and coming together on a contract that confirms our commitment to our associates, bolsters Ralphs long-term success and sustains our continued presence in Southern California.

Our goal is a fair and balanced contract that recognizes you for your hard work. Here are some facts for you to consider on our current proposals.

• Ralphs is investing more than $108 million in new money in wages, health care and pension over the three-year term of the contract. This is above and beyond what we currently spend today.
• Wages are just one part of your total compensation, which also includes investments in your health care benefits and a pension when you retire.
• The union has been downplaying our offers on wages. What does another nickel really mean? Every additional nickel above our current wage offer means $3.6 million over the three-year term of the contract. A nickel is a significant investment!
• We are proposing no changes to your health care coverage and no changes to your premiums. And, we are investing additional money to keep your pension stable and secure.

We believe our proposals represent a balanced investment in you and Ralph’s future. As negotiations progress this week, we’ll continue to keep you updated.

You can also check your store communication board, FEED, and the Ralphs hotline number 800-615-7279. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for your patience in this process. We appreciate all that you do for our customers, communities and each other.

The company and union will return to the bargaining table next week August 12-14.

We are hopeful that we will continue to make progress toward reaching an agreement that is good for you – our associates – and the company too.

We want to reach a fair and balanced contract – one that recognizes you for your hard work, including good pay, affordable health care coverage and a secure pension when you retire.

We hope the union agrees that we can get a good contract again by working together.

We’ll continue to keep you updated as we have information to share next week.

You can check your store communication board, FEED, and the Ralphs hotline number 800-615-7279. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for your patience in this process. We appreciate all that you do for our customers, communities and each other.

As a valued member of our team, we’re keeping you updated on the negotiation process. Through these updates, you’ll know when we meet with the union, what we discuss, and how negotiations are progressing.

The company and union will return to the bargaining table this week July 30-31 and August 1. We look forward to meaningful and productive discussions and hope to reach an agreement soon.

As a reminder, we ended our last sessions with some positive momentum. We provided a wage offer as well as health care and pension proposals. These proposals invest significantly more money in your contract, including a generous total compensation package of good wages, affordable health care and a pension for your retirement.

With a balanced approach this new agreement can be a win for everyone – our associates, our communities and our company.

You can check your store communication board, FEED, and the Ralphs hotline number 800-615-7279 for updates. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

We appreciate all that you do for our customers, communities and each other.

To keep negotiations moving forward and gain some positive momentum, we presented the union with a few comprehensive proposals before ending our session today, July 12.

We want to continue to reward and recognize you with a generous total compensation package that provides you with a good wage, affordable health care benefits and a pension for retirement.

Our proposals invest significantly more money in your contract over the next three years. These are fair and balanced proposals.

Here is a summary of our proposals in terms of total compensation – wages, health care and pension:

With a balanced approach this next agreement can be a win for everyone – our associates, our communities and our company. You can check your store communication board, FEED, and the Ralphs hotline number 800-615-7279.

We have more bargaining dates set next week on July 17-19. We will continue to keep you updated. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader. Thank you for all that you do for our customers and each other.

Thank you for your continued focus on your job and our customers through this negotiation process. Our goal is to keep you updated as we meet with the union, exchange proposals and come to a fair and balanced offer.

The company and union will return to the bargaining table this week July 10-12. We look forward to meaningful and thoughtful discussions.

As we have said all along, we are committed to continuing to invest in our associates – providing secure, stable jobs with competitive pay and benefits. We also need to keep our company strong. With a balanced approach this agreement can be a win for everyone – our associates, our communities and our company.

We have additional bargaining dates set for the end of July and early August.

You can also check your store communication board, FEED, and the Ralphs hotline number 800-615-7279. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for all that you do for our customers and each other.

Regular updates on the negotiation process are important. They help you stay informed, while letting you focus on your work and our customers through the negotiations process. We met with the union bargaining committee on June 10-11.

We made very little progress this week. We continued to discuss several language items but failed to come to an agreement on them. We still need to work through wages, health care and pension. We continue to share with the union that our total compensation package either currently meets or exceeds that of your peers in this market.

As we have stated from the very beginning of negotiations, we are committed to providing good stable jobs and competitive pay and benefits for our associates. We also need to keep our stores competitive in this changing retail environment.

We have heard that the union plans on taking a strike authorization vote later this month. We encourage you to attend any meetings and vote no on strike authorization. Strike authorization doesn’t necessarily mean a strike will take place. It means that the union can call a strike at any time if they get authorization from its members during the voting meetings.

We have more bargaining dates set for July 10-12 with additional tentative dates for the end of July and early August.

You can visit www.ralphscba.com to get updates as negotiations progress – no username or password required. You can also check your store communication board, FEED, and the Ralphs hotline number 800-615-7279. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for all that you do for our customers and each other.

Thank you for your continued focus on your job and our customers through the negotiation process. Our goal is to keep you updated as we meet with the union, exchange proposals and come to a fair and balanced offer. We met with the bargaining committee on June 3-4 and here is the latest.

Both parties continued to exchange proposals and seem to be far apart on wages. Wages are just one piece of your total compensation, which also includes health care benefits and a pension for your retirement. More discussion needs to take place on wages, and we have shared with the union our total compensation package either currently meets or exceeds that of your peers in this market.

In our discussions, we also reminded the union bargaining committees of the presentation during our first negotiations session, which provided information about how competition, pricing and market share, has affected our business in the past, now and in the future in the Southern California market.

As we have stated in the past, we are committed to providing good stable jobs and competitive pay and benefits for our associates. We also need to keep our stores competitive in this changing and competitive retail environment.

In addition to our discussion on wages, we also exchanged some proposals on work language but did not come to agreement on those.

Our next round of bargaining will take place on June 10 and 11. You can also check your store communication board, FEED, and the Ralphs hotline number 800-615-7279. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for all that you do for our customers and each other.