Bakery workers who make the pastries, breads, and decorated cakes at Albertsons, Safeway, and Haggen stores have been working without a contract since last fall and negotiations with their employer have ground to a halt.

The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers Local 9, based in Everett, said Tuesday, July 21, that no new bargaining sessions are scheduled after 12 to 13 rounds of talks since the contract expired. The union represents bakery employees across Washington and in some Idaho and Oregon locations.

"With cost of living going up, we have a lot of people who are leaving," Cheryl Stone, the union's financial secretary, treasurer, and business representative, told The Daily Herald.

The stalemate unfolds against a backdrop of rising local wage floors. Everett's minimum wage for large employers (500 or more employees) hit $20.77 per hour on Jan. 1, 2026, and the tier for covered employers with 15 to 499 workers rose to $19.77 on July 1.

Albertsons Companies, which operates more than 2,200 stores under 22 banners, falls into the large-employer category. Those rates were established by City of Everett Initiative Measure 24-01, approved by voters in November 2024.

What workers say they're losing

Business representative Steven Peters said bakery workers earn less than the employees who package products in the same stores. The only change to bakers' compensation in two years, Peters said, has been an increase in the cost of their medical coverage, effectively a pay cut.

Peters and Stone also allege that Albertsons categorizes employees' hours as part-time when enrolling them in medical benefits, even when their actual schedules reflect full-time work.

Albertsons had not responded to requests for comment as of Tuesday, July 21.

A broader pattern

The bakers' dispute follows a separate contract fight at the same stores.

In June 2025, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 3000 ratified a deal with Kroger and Albertsons that gave Puget Sound grocery workers a $2.70 wage increase over two years. That agreement came only after a strike authorization vote.

Jeff Terpening, a UFCW 3000 executive board member and Safeway worker, said Albertsons has taken "more aggressive stances in contract bargaining" as the company has pursued consolidation.

The Federal Trade Commission and courts blocked a proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger in December 2024.

What's next

BCTGM Local 9 launched a public petition calling on Albertsons to provide living-wage increases. As of Monday, July 20, the petition had collected approximately 700 signatures, Stone said. No date for a return to the bargaining table has been set.