October 15, 2003

Kroger Employees Take Stand for Fairness

CHARLESTON, W. VA. – Poised to walk off the job at 10 o’clock this evening, 3,300 Kroger workers in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky vowed to stay out until the company agrees to provide decent health care benefits.

“This is not an issue of a company struggling to survive in a poor economy,” UFCW Local 400 President Jim Lowthers said. “This is an issue of corporate greed surging ahead at the expense of hard-working employees.”

Kroger earned $2.5 billion dollars over the past several years and has $562 million in profits so far this year. Yet it is underfunding employee benefit plans, refusing to provide adequate health care. This basic unfairness is why members of Local 400 voted to strike after weeks of unsuccessful negotiations, Lowthers said.

“Kroger’s policy apparently is ‘Billions for Profits, No Benefits for People,’” he said. “This policy hurts every community in the tri-state area, not just Kroger employees. If Kroger gets away with this, other employers will try it. We’re standing up for working families and demanding justice.”

Workers are confronting Kroger and other employee-pinching grocery chains nationwide. In California, 70,000 workers have walked off the job at Kroger’s Ralph’s stores, Safeway’s Vons stores and Albertsons, citing unacceptable health care packages. Another 10,000 Shop ‘N Save, Schnucks and Dierbergs workers in St. Louis are striking over pay and health care issues.

“Our members are trying to take care of their families,” Lowthers said. “Kroger is telling its employees that it will not provide the benefits to do that.”

Kroger stores affected include stores throughout West Virginia, Ashland, Kentucky, and Marietta, Ohio.

Click here to view a copy of a UFCW newspaper ad.

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Additional press contact: Nelson Graham, 304-346-9679

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 represents more than 40,000 workers in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee and the District of Columbia. The members work in industries ranging from meat processing plants and retail and grocery stores to nursing homes.