Union Rejects Kroger Contract Offer At 38 Stores

Union workers at 38 Kroger stores in West Virginia and two other states have voted to reject the grocery chain’s contract proposal and give their bargaining committee the authority to call a strike, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Kroger workers will remain on the job unless the bargaining committee tells them to walk out. I Photo: PR Newswire

Members of the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400 Union voted 1,375 to 214 against the three-year contract offer and 1,347 to 229 to authorize a strike.

Workers will remain on the job unless the bargaining committee tells them to walk out, the union said in a statement Friday. A contract involving about 3,000 workers at 32 Kroger stores throughout West Virginia, four in southern Ohio, and two in Ashland, Kentucky, expired on Feb. 24.

"This vote has sent a powerful message to Kroger that they must do better if they expect us to ratify a contract," the union said.

Later on Friday, the union announced that it agreed to resume negotiations and that "we are hopeful that Kroger is prepared to negotiate an agreement we can recommend for ratification."

Union spokesperson Jonathan Williams mentioned that the proposed pay raises in the earlier offer fell well short of keeping up with inflation. The offer also included unacceptable potential increases in health-care costs during the contract's duration, he added.

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