Safeway's Seattle Division Employees Ratify New Labor Contract

Business Wire, August 29, 2007

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Safeway's Western Washington retail employees today ratified new three-year retail food and meat agreements with UFCW Locals 21, 44, 81 and 367 and Teamsters Local 38. The new agreements will expire on May 1, 2010.

"These new agreements will provide employees with among the best wages, benefits and working conditions in the Northwest, while making certain Safeway can compete effectively in a very competitive marketplace," said Greg Sparks, President of Safeway's Seattle Division.

The new agreements contain unique and groundbreaking reforms in the healthcare plan that will create an improved health plan for the company's Western Washington employees. The contract focuses on improving their health through prevention and wellness while simultaneously helping control escalating healthcare costs. "Everyone involved recognized the tangible benefits of these programs and worked together diligently to craft innovative healthcare solutions," said Mr. Sparks.

Specifically, this contract creates a restructured healthcare plan that provides each employee with health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) and also strongly emphasizes preventive care, wellness programs, behavior change and management of chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, smoking, high cholesterol and asthma. For example, the plan provides for reimbursement of 100% of the cost preventive care measures such as mammograms, annual physicals, well-baby care, childhood immunizations, and prostate cancer screenings.

ABOUT SAFEWAY

Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,740 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $40.2 billion in 2006. The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.