6:30 p.m.Vallerga’s Market hand-delivered letters to 30 employees Tuesday, terminating them from jobs effective April 28.

Because the employee union contract requires terminations based on seniority, layoffs affect Vallerga’s employees from both the Redwood Road and Silverado Trail markets. Vallerga’s estimated half of the 30 employees work at the Redwood Road store and half at the market on Silverado Trail, which is scheduled to close at the end of the month.

The average tenure of the employees notified was five years or less, said Ray Sercu, Vallerga’s president. Terminated employees receive any earned vacation pay as severance. The grocery worker union, Local 5 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), does not provide severance packages.

The union was able to extend apart of the employment contract to allow employees to be called back to work for up to one year without losing seniority, said Derenale. The original contract provides for six months of call backs.

Employees of JV Wine and Spirits are not affected by the layoffs, said Sercu.

Vallerga’s Markets, which operates JV Wine and Spirits, announced April 2 it sold the JV property on First Street. Vallerga’s also it would close its supermarket at First Street and the Trail at the end of April, with JV would moving into that space.

Vallerga’s remaining market is in Redwood Plaza on Redwood Road.

For the full story, pick up a copy of Thursday's Register.