Unions

Union transit workers have accepted a new contract agreement, avoiding a strike at the public transportation agency in western Colorado.

The Daily Sentinel reported Friday that the union members at Grand Valley Transit approved the final offer from operator Transdev Services.

The union representing workers at Kroger-owned grocery stores in Colorado says it is withdrawing from an agreement to keep employees working under an expired contract.

The Daily Sentinel reports the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union announced Monday that it had ended a contract extension after the previous collective bargaining agreement started expiring at stores across the state last month.

The union for workers at a Colorado public transportation agency unanimously voted to authorize the union's executive board to call a strike if future negotiations are unproductive.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1776, which consists of 32 Grand Valley Transit bus drivers, dispatchers and utility workers, says its union leaders could set a strike date after the latest contract offer from Grand Valley Transit's operating contractor, Transdev Services, was deemed unsatisfactory.

Frontier Airlines pilots approved a new contract in voting that ended Thursday following nearly three years of negotiations.

Of the pilots for the Denver-based budget carrier eligible to vote, 77 percent backed the deal, the Air Line Pilots Association International said. The pilots union said the contract, which will take effect next Wednesday, will provide an average 53 percent pay increase.

Commuters can rest a little easier — another threatened strike at the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system has been avoided, at least temporarily.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed a board of investigators to look into the contract dispute that had threatened to shut down the system.

It's unclear Monday when the first strike in 16 years on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system may end, after BART said in a statement that it wasn't sure when talks with striking workers will resume.

Retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores' annual shareholders' meeting this week showed signs of the company's recent turbulence, as protesters assembled at corporate headquarters to shout slogans and demands.

Despite a court-issued restraining order, the protesters, including workers who are on strike, decried low wages and called for better safety procedures for supply-chain workers. And some of their views were heard inside the meeting, as well.

A bill that would overhaul the nation's immigration laws is headed to the Senate floor early next month, where it will need all the friends it can get to pass. The measure would give the estimated 11 million immigrants in the United States illegally a path to citizenship, as well as tighten border protections.

The union that represents 12,000 officers who process immigration applications said they will oppose a bipartisan bill that seeks to overhaul the nation's immigration policies.

As Fox News reports, The National CIS Council is the second union to oppose the bill being discussed in Congress. The National ICE Council, which represents Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, has expressed its opposition to the bill for a while now.

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