Sacramento-area grocery workers, by extending their labor contract two months, are firming up an alliance with Bay Area workers that's designed to increase their bargaining power.

Nearly three years after accepting contract concessions, Northern California leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers believe that presenting a unified front of more than 55,000 workers to management will help them recover lost ground.

UFCW 8-Golden State, based in Roseville, agreed late Thursday to a contract extension with Raley's, Safeway Inc. and Save Mart Supermarkets. The contract, which was due to expire today, will now run out Dec. 1.

The move is significant because it means Sacramento's contract expires the same date as contracts covering three Bay Area locals. That "is obviously going to increase our leverage at the bargaining table," said Jacques Loveall, president of the Roseville local.

Ken Jacobs, chairman of the Labor Center at the University of California, Berkeley, called the alliance "a real sea change."

Jacobs said the UFCW has learned its lesson from three years ago. Then, the locals in California were less unified and workers took contract concessions after grocery executives invoked the coming threat from low-cost, nonunion Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

In the intervening years, the locals have bulked up. UFCW Local 588 in Roseville merged with the Fresno local to create UFCW 8, representing 30,000 workers from the Oregon border to Fresno County. Several Bay Area locals merged to create Local 5.

Now those two locals, plus two others in the Bay Area, are forging a united front. After years of discord between the Bay Area and Roseville locals, they are issuing joint statements and cooperating in negotiations. In an interview three weeks ago, Loveall vowed that the locals would all vote on a new contract simultaneously. "We'll get to the finish line together," he said.

Although the negotiators have "made significant progress," he said the extension provides the additional time needed to finish the deal.

Management said it welcomed the extension. "It's clear we need more time," said Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling.

"There are many complex issues," added Raley's spokeswoman Amy Johnston.

It remains to be seen what the finished contract will look like. In their last contract, signed in early 2005, Northern California workers won a pay hike but made concessions in health care. For the first time, for instance, workers are paying deductibles on their health plan.

Workers make between $8 and $20 an hour in base pay, depending on specific job and length of service.

Management negotiators said they aren't rattled by the union's unified stance. Save Mart executive Rick Silva noted that the contract extension includes a clause that any pay raises will be applied retroactively to the original expiration date. That suggests talks are progressing, said Silva, Save Mart's senior director of employee and labor relations.

"If it was contentious, it wouldn't have that (clause)," he said. "It's going to take some work (to settle a new contract), but I think all sides are trying to do the right thing."

One factor that could smooth any wrinkles is Wal-Mart's struggles. The mega-retailer's move into California, with its massive grocery Supercenters, has gone more slowly than expected, Jacobs said. That creates less pressure to bring costs down, he said.

Also, Safeway, which led the charge for concessions in the last round, has since adopted a more upscale strategy. That means greater emphasis on customer service, which could translate into a more worker-friendly contract, Jacobs said.

But in the current negotiations Loveall said the union hasn't made as much progress with Safeway as it has with Raley's and Save Mart.

Still, analysts believe the recent Southern California settlement means it's likely the Northern California contract can be settled peacefully.

Three years ago Southern California saw a lengthy strike that ended with substantial concessions by the union. In July, Southern California workers agreed to a new deal that restores much of what the workers surrendered in 2004.

Analysts say the new Southern California contract reflects a changing supermarket landscape in which the unionized grocers have recaptured some business from the discounters and are less adamant about cost-cutting.

"We're in a very different place than we were three years ago," Jacobs said.

For years the Roseville and Bay Area locals negotiated together. But in 1997 the Roseville local, then led by Loveall's father, Jack, reached agreement with the supermarkets several months before the contract was due to expire.

Although the contract included raises, Bay Area locals felt the Roseville local had left them with little room to maneuver. Some Bay Area workers got so upset they picketed the Roseville headquarters. There was tension for years afterward.

The younger Loveall, who became president in 2005, said the "rift" has been resolved.