The UFCW reports that the vote was 61 percent against the proposed contract; a two-thirds majority is needed to authorize a strike. Grocery workers will stay on the job until another proposal is made. Safeway and Albertson's filed a federal lawsuit last week against the union alleging irregularities in contract voting.

Grocery workers here make between $7.50 and $18 per hour. Earlier this month the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimated that a full-time worker need to make $33.60 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco.

Bill Kalman is a meat packer and member of UFCW Local 120.  
 
 
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