Last updated on September 4th, 2012 at 04:53 pm
Raley’s said Friday it will close two more stores as a protracted labor struggle continues, according to the Sacramento Business Journal.
The West Sacramento-based grocery chain said it would close its Bel Air store on East Gibson Road in Woodland and its Raley’s store in Pittsburg in October. Jobs will be eliminated but employees will have the chance to fill openings elsewhere in the company.
Raley’s operates 128 stores—including those with the Bel Air, Nob Hill Foods and Food Source brands—in Northern California and Nevada.
Like two competitors, Safeway and Modesto-based Save Mart, Raley’s has been at odds with UFCW Local 8, the union representing grocery clerks, over contract extensions.
“We have repeatedly requested to restart negotiations with the union but our requests have been ignored,” said company spokesman John Segale of Precision Public Relations.
Squeezed by nonunion competition in the low-margin grocery business, Raley’s—like Save Mart—has been closing stores. In March it announced closure of stores in Rancho Cordova and Milpitas. Earlier it closed stores in Elk Grove and North Highlands, the Journal reports.
