Employee Benefits

Negotiators for the big grocery chains and store clerks have reached a tentative agreement on the thorny issue of health benefits, making it increasingly likely that Southland shoppers won't endure a strike this summer. Both sides are guarded in their public comments, noting that hurdles remain. But "we are closer than the rhetoric would lead one to believe," said one person familiar with the talks. The optimism at the bargaining table has filtered down to the rank and file.

New rules require local governments, school districts and other public agencies to calculate and disclose the tab for retirement healthcare benefits promised to workers. In many cases, the costs have proved staggering, spurring some government entities to cut benefits or begin setting aside funding. Others have taken little or no action. Here's the outlook for some entities. The totals at the top are aggregate amounts over 30 years. The budget percentages are for a 20-year span.

MARY Alplanalp worked 19 years for the San Diego County welfare department, spurning higher-paying jobs to stay in a position where the most she ever made was $8 an hour. It was worth the low wage, she figured, because of a benefit package that promised she would never be destitute in old age. Or so she thought.

The NFL will speed up the process of getting benefits to disabled former players by using the Social Security Administration's standards for defining disability. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Players Assn. Executive Director Gene Upshaw agreed that any retired player who qualified for Social Security disability benefits will be automatically approved for NFL disability, league spokesman Greg Aiello said in a telephone interview.

*--* CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND LAX $1,245 Air New Zealand, Qantas *--* *--* HELSINKI, FINLAND LAX $1,142 American, British, KLM, Lufthansa *--* *--* LISBON, PORTUGAL LAX $1,010 Air France, American, Continental, KLM, United, US Airways *--* *--* LONDON, ENGLAND LAX $842 Air New Zealand, American, British, Continental, United, Virgin Atlantic SNA 842 American, Northwest, United BUR 842 American ONT 842 American, Delta *--* *--* MADRID, SPAIN LAX $1,020 Air France, American, Continental, Delta,

Brent Boyd was a 23-year-old rookie scrambling to stick with the Minnesota Vikings when he suffered his first concussion as a professional football player. Nearly three decades later, the preseason-game collision that left Boyd temporarily blind in one eye continues to haunt. "I couldn't tell you how many [concussions] I had," said Boyd, who was born in Downey, graduated with honors from UCLA and spent six years as an NFL offensive lineman. "We didn't count them.

Four former football players Tuesday told a House panel that the NFL's disability retirement system is broken, and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) chastised league and union leaders for failing to treat injured retirees and their families in a dignified manner. "The [retiree disability] system does not work," Mike Ditka, a Hall of Fame player and coach with the Chicago Bears, told the lawmakers. "There's a difference between perception and reality.

When Jerome Post and his partner, Paul Renwick, decided to leave California and move here six years ago, the couple wrestled with a common family concern: One of them needed a job that offered good health insurance. The pair was drawn to the area by family and the desire for a slower pace of life. Plus, Post said, the city since 2000 has offered health coverage to same-sex partners of municipal employees.

Two members of the new Los Angeles school board majority have introduced a proposal to give health benefits to all cafeteria workers, a top labor priority that could cost the school system as much as $45 million a year. The prominence of the issue signals the newly elected Board of Education's eagerness to cement ties with organized labor. These board members were elected this year with substantial support from business leaders who have complained about previous members' ties to employee unions.

Despite a strong economy, the number of Californians with job-based health insurance declined from 2001 to 2005, underscoring the challenge faced by the governor and legislators as they strive to overhaul healthcare in the state. According to a study scheduled to be released today by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 6.5 million people in the state were uninsured for all or part of 2005.