2006

Collective Bargaining, Economic Justice, Health Care, Kroger, Press Releases, Retail Food, UFCW Industries, UFCW Values

Kroger Workers Stand Firm Against Company

Aug 21, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. — After a grueling 72 hours, contract negotiations between Kroger Company and Raleigh- Durham area grocery store workers broke off Wednesday evening. United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 204 and Kroger have been at odds since negotiations began in late July, after Kroger proposed to raid employee health care reserve funds and force workers to pay $1 million from their own paychecks to cover the difference.

During the negotiations, UFCW members made several fair and equitable proposals. Kroger, however, refused to move on key issues like health care and wages, effectively ending negotiations at that time. Kroger workers were angered that the company’s negotiators appeared unable to make decisions on any of the proposals the UFCW offered.

UFCW members are hoping to schedule negotiations for Thursday and Friday of next week.          

The UFCW is committed to the bargaining process and will continue to bargain with Kroger as long as it takes to secure a good contract for grocery workers in North Carolina. However, if Kroger is unwilling to provide workers with affordable health care and wage increases, a strike may become a reality.

UFCW Local 204 members voted to authorize a potential strike at the beginning of August. The threatened strike would affect 1,917 workers from 19 stores in the Raleigh-Durham area.

Corporate Responsibility, Packing and Processing, Press Releases, UFCW Industries, UFCW Values

Statement by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) on H.J. Heinz Company

Aug 14, 2006

Washington DC—The UFCW—which  represents 2,400 workers at six Heinz plants—fully endorses the Heinz management business plan for long-term growth in the food processing industry. The management plan offers the best opportunity for the kind of stable growth that will best benefit all stakeholders—employees, communities and shareholders.

The Peltz plan for re-orienting the direction of the company via a slate of Board of Directors candidates would put the company at risk by incurring excessive debt. The Peltz plan is short-sighted, narrowly gambling on a quick—but perhaps fleeting—spike in company value. The plan would disrupt key customer relationships, sell off operations, eliminate jobs, and close plants with no clear, long-term purpose of building a strong and growing company presence in the industry.

The UFCW agrees with the financial analysts who have concluded that the Peltz plan would place too much financial risk on the company without any real business plan for long-term sustainability.

The wisest and best choice for all stakeholders would be a rejection of the Peltz slate of directors at the company’s annual shareholder meeting next week in Pittsburgh. UFCW international Vice President Mark Lauritsen who heads the UFCW Manufacturing, Packing, and Food Processing Division, will attend the meeting where he will urge shareholders to cast a positive vote for the management plan that puts stability and growth over quick fix schemes.

Collective Bargaining, Economic Justice, Health Care, Kroger, Press Releases, Retail Food, UFCW Industries, UFCW Values

NORTH CAROLINA KROGER WORKERS FIGHTING BACK FOR HEALTH CARE

Aug 03, 2006
(Raleigh, NC) – North Carolina Kroger workers are preparing to walk off the job, if forced, over company demands that would make health care unaffordable for workers and their families.  Meetings this week, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 204 voted overwhelmingly to reject Kroger’s latest contract demands and authorized a strike.  Members voted by 96.5 percent to reject the latest proposals and authorize a strike.
The UFCW is committed to the bargaining process and will continue to bargain with Kroger as long as necessary.  However, if Kroger is unwilling to provide workers with adequate health care and wage increases, a strike may become a reality as early as mid-August. The threatened strike would affect 1,000 workers from 19 stores in the Raleigh-Durham area.
North Carolina Kroger workers rejected company demands because:
  • They would be forced to pay an extra $1.4 million out of their own paychecks towards health care.
  • They would have to choose between health care and things like rent, food, and other basic necessities.
  • Any wage increases workers would get under the new contract would be eaten up by the proposed increased health care costs.
UFCW members are prepared to fight to maintain grocery jobs that can sustain a family and provide affordable health care.  Kroger workers are among the most productive in the retail food industry, and have generated more than $60 billion in sales for their company in the last year.