George Fish is a Kroger worker and rank-and-file member of UFCW Local 700 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Fish has a B.A. in economics from Indiana University Bloomington, is a trained paralegal, and a freelance labor journalist. He gives an update on contract negotiations mentioned in his previous article, Inflation Is Too High to Settle; We Want a Good Contract!
By a vote of 1,892 to 1,243, Central Indiana Kroger workers who are members of UFCW Local 700 (the Indiana mega-local representing Indianapolis and environs, including downstate Bloomington, home to Indiana University’s main campus) voted to approve the new three-year union contract. The vote, on July 13th-15th, 2022, was a re-vote on essentially the same contract that the membership rejected when first voted on June 1st-3rd, but a new vote was rescheduled because in the June voting fewer than 10% of the UFCW members voted. This new vote was more than 10% of the membership, although this writer was unable to determine how many Central Indiana Kroger workers are actually UFCW members. The contract covers over 8,000 Kroger employees in 68 stores, even non-union workers, because, under Taft-Hartley, a union contract must cover all employees in the bargaining units, whether union or not. Indiana being a right-to-work state since 2011 only exacerbates the matter.
In the renegotiations that followed the initial defeat, Kroger did not budge from its original proposals, despite the intervention of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, citing concern about an impending recession, among other things. Essentially, it held a gun to the head of the union’s negotiating committee. That’s the way many Kroger workers see it. However, from the statistics given above, while 60% exactly voted in favor of the contract, a whopping 40% did not—many voting twice to reject the contract. This writer does not think the union was prepared for that vehement opposition—which may bode well for future contract negotiations, which, unfortunately, now with a new contact in place, are three years away.
The major cause of contract rejection was the chintzy wage increases Kroger was offering: only 65¢ an hour for the first year (2022) followed by only 50¢ an hour for the remaining two, not enough to match inflation. But Kroger did agree to “sweeten the deal” financially through offering one time-bonuses to Top-End workers (i.e., those at the top of their pay scales): $2,500 for full-time workers, $1,000 for part-time workers. But a lot of Kroger workers, especially those working part-time, did not qualify for the bonuses. Also, the bonuses were subject to withholding tax, which could be substantial. (In my case, 35% of my bonus was withheld in taxes.) These bonuses were paid on July 21. But Kroger also agreed to make the wage increase retroactive to June 19, 2022, which will be paid, according to the union representative at the Kroger this writer works at, in the checks of August 11th and 25th.
Also, Kroger workers hired after 2008 will get an additional paid personal day, vacation rules were liberalized, and essentially the line was held on increases in healthcare benefits (which are, however, scheduled to rise by a small amount in 2024). Starting pay for new hires was also increased from $13 an hour to $14.25 an hour immediately, to rise to $15 an hour next year, and $15.75 an hour the year after that. New hire pharmacy techs now start at $15.75 an hour, and the overnight shift premium (for third shift workers) rose from $1.00 an hour to $2.00 an hour.
But still, such raises are too little to really attract self-supporting adult workers to fill the many staff shortages, and so, Kroger continues to hire part-time teenagers who lack the work ethic or the need for a job more responsible adult workers hold—much to the chagrin of we self-supporting adult Kroger workers, who have to make up for the deficiencies in staffing! UFCW Local 700 holds to a policy of catering to full-time workers, while largely ignoring part-time and youthful workers—to this writer’s mind, thus to the detriment of building union solidarity, and making part-time youth feel the union is theirs as well. Such, in the long run, certainly, but also in the short run, can only undermine union support and effectiveness—and it is precisely the union presence that makes Kroger a far more bearable place to work than the myriad non-union Central Indiana employers, who abound especially in this right-to-work state!