Agreement is hardly positive

I am a member of UFCW Local 44, one of the UFCW locals involved with contract negotiations with Safeway, Albertson’s and Kroger-owned QFC and Fred Meyer. I disagree with The Herald’s characterization of the negotiation sessions as being “positive.”

While it is true that the UFCW locals and employers involved in the negotiations reached a tentative agreement on the grocery clerk pension, the employers still will not budge from their hard-line position on gutting our health care and installing a destructive 2-tier system under which new hires would receive substantially less wages and benefits than current employees.

Most of my coworkers do not find these employer positions to be “positive” at all, and we are ready to do whatever it takes to protect our affordable health care!

Andrew Heyman

Everett