On July 11, over 45,000 members of UFCW Locals 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1428 and 1442 who work at Kroger and Albertsons brand stores in Southern California ratified new contracts.
The three-year contracts, which cover members who work at Ralphs (Kroger) and Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions (Albertsons) stores, were reached after months of negotiations and active participation from thousands of Southern California grocery workers. These ratifications mark a major milestone for the Grocery Workers Rising campaign, a coordinated effort among the locals in Southern California to improve standards across the retail food industry.
Key provisions of the agreements include:
• Substantial wage increases.
• A new supplemental pension plan to help workers in their retirement.
• Increased health care benefit contributions and faster eligibility for new hires.
• Staffing language that includes the union in evaluating reasonable staffing levels that address efficiency, safety and service.
“The journey to contract ratification saw a record turnout of grocery workers, customers, and community members, all fighting for the same thing – better stores, better lives, better communities,” said members of the six locals in a joint statement. “They fought to ensure that grocery workers could feed their own families and afford health benefits and a dignified retirement at the end of a long career. They also fought for more staffing to improve the customer experience at their stores.”
“Their fight took to the streets where they organized numerous rallies and marches that showed their power. It took to their stores where they stood up and demonstrated their unity by signing petitions and wearing buttons. Grocery workers also joined with customers in the fight for better staffing, talking to over 3,000 customers about their shopping experiences and sharing their feedback with these companies that can afford to do better. These actions built the strength needed to reach this agreement. Only by rising up together were grocery workers able to make a change in their workplaces that will benefit all grocery workers and customers in the future.”