Bakers’ union demands fair pay as talks break down with grocery giant

Published 12:15 pm Tuesday, July 21, 2026

EVERETT — Talks over a new contract have broken down between grocery retailer Albertsons and the bakers union, representatives say.

The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers Local 9 have created a petition urging the grocery giant, which also owns Safeway and Haggen, to make living wage increases.

After meeting with representatives from the grocery giant 12 to 13 times in the last year, no new meetings are scheduled, said Cheryl Stone, the union’s financial secretary, treasurer and business representative. The union’s previous contract expired in September.

“All we’re asking for is fair treatment,” Stone said.

As of Tuesday, Albertsons has not responded to requests for comment.

The local union represents employees at Albertsons, Safeway and Haggen stores across Washington and in some Idaho and Oregon locations, Stone said. Those workers, responsible for pastries, breads and decorated cakes that fill the bakery section, are asking for the same consideration and living wage increases other employees received.

“With cost of living going up, we have a lot of people who are leaving,” Stone said.

The bakers union is not the only union representing store workers. Other unions include the Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers, Stone said.

Last year, the food and commercial workers union reached a contract with Kroger and Albertsons that provided workers with a $2.7 wage increase over two years.

When companies like Albertsons build up monopolies through mergers, it has an unfair advantage when unions come to the bargaining table, said Jeff Terpening, a UFCW 3000 executive board member and Safeway worker, in a message to The Daily Herald.

“As they’ve embraced this consolidation tactic, Albertsons has taken more aggressive stances in contract bargaining, which makes the struggle for fair contracts much harder,” he said. “But when workers stand together with our communities, we can win.”

Terpening pointed to when the Federal Trade Commission and an Oregon federal court rejected an attempted Albertsons and Kroger merger in 2024, a merger that the food and commercial workers union voiced against. A King County judge also ruled against the proposed merger.

Working in the bakery requires skilled workers, but “the company values versatility over skill set,” according to BCTGM Local 9’s Business Representative Steven Peters. As negotiations reach a stalemate, bakery workers receive less pay than the people packaging the products, he said.

“The only increase in two years that the bakers have seen is in the cost of their medical,” Peters said.

Peters and Stone claimed that when enrolling employees in medical coverage, the company categorizes employees’ hours as part-time, even if their hours reflect more.

The union’s petition, form.jotform.com/261664714351154, is open for anybody to sign. As of Monday, it received around 700 signatures, Stone said.

Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com. X: @JennaMillikan