Wake-Up Call: State of the union

At the entrance to my local Safeway, just off Federal at 26th Avenue, a small plaque in the ground commemorates two grocery-store workers who were killed when a car crashed into the store's parking lot back in 1996.

On a door to the store are fliers advertising job opportunities at Safeway -- evidence of the state of the union today. Safeway's contract with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 was scheduled to expire on Saturday; now Safeway, King Soopers and Local 7 have agreed to extend that contract until August 15 as Safeway continues to negotiate with the union, largely over pensions.

The plaque to the fallen workers will remain. That's non-negotiable.