Arizona Grocery Strike Averted With Tentative Deal

JACQUES BILLEAUD

PHOENIX (AP) — Thousands of Arizona supermarket workers won't go on strike as they planned Friday night after union leaders and two grocery chains announced a tentative labor deal 12 hours before the protest was to begin.

Union members will vote on an unspecified date to decide whether to ratify the deal reached late Thursday. Labor leaders were recommending that members approve it.

Until then, the union, Safeway Inc. and The Kroger Co., which owns Fry's and Smith's, agreed to extend the previous contract.

No details of the deal were released publicly.

Ellen Anreder, spokeswoman for Food and Commercial Workers union Local 99, said the union has agreed not to reveal the contents of the deal until its members can vote on it. "We have to give the members an opportunity to review everything first," Anreder said.

A statement released by the union and the stores says there will be no work stoppage and that all stores will continue to operate normally.