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Grocery chains near agreement

The five-month impasse between three leading grocery chains and nearly 60,000 striking workers appeared to be near an end last night with both sides saying only formalities need to be resolved.

Sources close to the negotiations for the supermarkets and the strikers said a deal could be announced as early as today.

"The final details are being hammered out and an agreement is imminent," said one source. Talks in the labor dispute lasted through a 15th straight day yesterday.

The primary disagreements between the United Food and Commercial Workers union and Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons are cuts in medical benefits and a proposed two-tier wage system that would reduce compensation for new employees.

UNITE to merge with HERE

Two unions representing hotel and restaurant employees and retail, textile and laundry workers are merging to create a single labor organization with more than 500,000 members.

The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, called HERE, and the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, known as UNITE, are scheduled to announce the merger today, several union sources said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

UNITE officials would not comment on the merger last night. A spokesman for HERE was not available.