Kroger workers ratify new contract
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Striking Kroger Co. workers in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio ratified a new contract on Thursday, ending a nearly two-month standoff with the Cincinnati supermarket chain over medical coverage. Union officials said the contract, which included improved health care benefits, was approved 962-717. A simple majority was required to ratify the agreement.
The agreement covers 3,300 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 at 44 stores in the three states. It does not affects Kroger’s other labor problems in California and Indiana.
Shares of Kroger rose 1 cent to $17.35 on the New York Stock Exchange following news of the vote.
Under the new contract, Kroger will pay 10.5 percent toward union health benefits. Initially, the company had offered to pay 8 percent a year. That issue had prompted the union walkout, which began Oct. 13, when contract negotiations with the company fell apart.
“The health care issue carried the day,” said Local 400 President Jim Lowthers. “That was our number one issue.”
Kroger also said that 3 of the 44 stores affected by the strike will not reopen. Other details of the contract were not immediately available but a Kroger official said it allows the company to manage costs so that it can compete with a growing number of nonunion retailers.
Those retailers include Wal-Mart.
“We are extremely pleased to have a new contract in place so that our employees can return to work and we can begin serving our customers again,” said Pete Williams, president of Kroger’s Mid-Atlantic marketing area.
The contract agreement was reached earlier this week by union and Kroger officials under federal mediation in Cincinnati.
Talks to settle a Southern California grocery store labor dispute that has idled workers since Oct. 11 broke off Sunday. Kroger-owned Ralphs is one of three chains involved. Also, nearly 4,000 Indiana Kroger workers have worked without a new contract for nearly a month. The labor troubles have taken a toll on Kroger’s bottom line. Earlier this week, the company reported a 57 percent drop in third quarter earnings, primarily because of the strike.
The company also reduced its forecast for the rest of the year.