Arbitrator rules in grocery pension flap - Denver Business Journal:

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Former President George W. Bush signedc a law last year allowingg pension funds that shoulr be considered insolvent to continuetheidr “green” status for one year if companies requestesd an extension. The deadline for requestss was Tuesday. The three grocery chains, negotiating a new five-yeatr contract with No. 7, had not requested an extension, meanintg they would have to put millions of dollars more into pensionj funds or makemajor cuts.
The uniomn sued to make them requestthe extension, and a federal judgde sent the dispute to an That arbitrator ruled in favor of the groceryu stores Tuesday, saying that because it is highly unlikely the funde will return to solvencyt with improved investment returns in the next the grocers should deal with problemes immediately. “The facts favor providing the Trustee with the authority to undertake immediate appropriate fixes tothat situation,” arbitratorf Ira Jaffe wrote in his ruling.
Kris Staaf, Safeway’ws Denver-area director of publif affairs, said that Jaffe’s decision affirmed what she calleethe chain’s “reasonable” decision to take care of the problek without delay. Both Safeway and King Soopera have proposed major pension benefit cuts in King Soopers spokeswoman Diane Mulligan added that her chain also was pleases withthe decision, even if they are not pleased with having to cut pensioj benefits. “It’s protecting our associates and ensuring we do the responsiblse thing by making sure we deal with this issue Mulligan said.
UFCW associate lega l counsel Crisanta Duran said that while the stores must fix theproblemm now, they should not do it by cutting benefitsd alone after Kroger Co., King Soopers’ parent company, reported a 13 percentg gain in profits last “This decision doesn’t change the fact that the corporationh is making record profits and shouldn’t be insistint on slashing pensions for the workers who are contributing to their billion-dollafr bottom line,” Duran said in a statement.