Bloomberg BNA’s recently published Calendar of Negotiations is predicting fewer extra-large bargaining sessions this year than in 2012.

Unlike last year, when settlements covering more than 10,000 workers were being negotiated in what seemed like every industry, most of the large contracts expiring in 2013 are confined to three types of workplaces—supermarkets, construction sites, and state governments.

The United Food and Commercial Workers will be busy all year, working to renew contracts expiring at Costco nationwide (12,000 workers) in January; at Stop & Shop in New England (36,000) and a coalition of Twin Cities grocers (11,000) in February; at four Pacific Northwest chains, including Safeway (25,000) in May; at ShopRite and other New York City-area stores (24,000) and at Washington, D.C.-area Giant Food stores (15,000) in October; and at three different  Kroger regions (totaling 28,000) throughout the year.

In the construction industry, there are six contracts set to expire that affect at least 10,000 workers each, headlined by a pact expiring in May between Chicago-area contractors and 24,000 laborers, plasterers, and cement masons.

The largest state government bargaining sesson on the calendar is in Michigan, where contracts with 33,000 members of various unions are set to expire in December. But given Michigan’s recent conversion to a right-to-work state, that total could change dramatically by the time the ink is dry on a new pact. I think it’s safe to predict, however, that negotiations there will be among the most contentious in the country.

The two largest single contracts up for renewal in 2013, however, belong to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The union’s national master freight agreement with Trucking Management Inc., covering 50,000 drivers, expires in March. But that’s nothing compared to what’s coming down the pike in July, when more than 220,000 UPS employees will see their contract expire. The last time around, in 2007, UPS and the Teamsters were able to settle their negotiations seven months before the expiration date, but the negotiations were not without tension, and the contract passed with only 65 percent of voters’ support.

Other major expirations on the 2013 calendar include:

February: AT&T Mobility—Communications Workers of America, 20,000 workers

April: AT&T Southwest—Communications Workers of America, 27,000 workers

July: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.—United Steelworkers, 10,300 workers