Kroger Inks Labor Pact in VA

Members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 working at Kroger stores in the Roanoke, Va., area successfully ratified a new, three-year collective bargaining agreement that raises their living standards and maintains their health and retirement benefits.

“This agreement is as good as any in the country,” said Local 400 president Mark P. Federici. “Despite the damaging impact of the Affordable Care Act on the joint labor-management Taft-Hartley Funds providing health care to our members, we were able to maintain current benefits. And despite the still-struggling economy, we were able to negotiate actual raises and bonuses. Our members deserve all the credit for this strong contract, because their solidarity and activism is what made everything possible.”

Highlights of the new agreement for Kroger associates include pay raises of nearly $2 per hour over the life of the contract, including wages and employer contributions to the health and retirement funds, plus bonuses; maintenance of health and retirement benefits for current employees; and expansion of job classifications that increase the number of lead positions, creating new paths for career advancement and increases in earnings.

UFCW Local 400 represents 35,000 workers in the retail food, retail, health care, manufacturing and other sectors in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.