Category: Negotiations

After many weeks of bargaining virtually with a Federal Mediator and addressing various concerns that the union had on our initial proposals, we provided a Comprehensive Best Offer to Settle to the UFCW Local 400 on October 22, 2020.

It is a strong offer. We are investing more money on you in this contract than we have in the past, including significant investments in your pay while increasing our contributions to help keep your health care coverage affordable for those who qualify and want coverage. In general, here’s what our Comprehensive Best Offer to Settle would do:

Your Pay

• Provides more pay for all associates
• Increases pay for Department Heads, Backups and Leads
• Improves premiums in a number of areas
• Increases night shift premium
• Improves starting wages
• Provides eligible associates with a first-time ratification bonus

Your Health Care

• Increases company’s contributions for your health care benefits
• Keeps your medical and dental the same while improving your vision benefit
• Keeps your contributions the same through 2021
• Increases associate contributions modestly in 2022 and 2023

Your store leader will be providing more details on our Comprehensive Best Offer to Settle in the coming days, including specific information on what our proposed wage increases mean for you and more details on our health care proposal.

You can also download and review our Comprehensive Best Offer to Settle. We hope you will see that we have worked to ensure that no matter where you are at in the wage scale that you’ll see a pay increase and that your health care is still an affordable and exceptional benefit to you. This offer is contingent upon reaching a ratified agreement no later than November 6, 2020 and is subject to change if not successfully ratified by this date.

Thank you for all that you do for our customers and communities.

Kroger MidAtlantic and UFCW Local 400 will resume contract talks on October 21, 2020.

Even though the contract extension expired on October 17, it’s business as usual and you should continue to report to work. The company is continuing to honor current hours, wages and benefits.

Both parties continue to work through concerns and are making progress. The company is committed to reaching an agreement that provides a competitive package of wages and benefits. We hope to reach an agreement soon.

We will continue to keep you informed as negotiations progress. You can stay up-to-date on negotiations 24/7 by visiting www.krogermidatlanticcba.com,  through your store communication board and through your store leader. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for your service to our customers and communities!

The company and union bargaining committees are working hard to reach an agreement that is good for you and for the company. As a reminder, your current contract has been extended through October 17, 2020.

We continue to exchange proposals and make some progress. Negotiations are a process. The bargaining parties are carefully reviewing proposals and counter proposals to make sure the next contract is a win for everyone. Bottom line the bargaining committees want the same thing: to reach an agreement that meets your needs and keeps our stores competitive, which will provide good and stable jobs through the life of the contract.

You can stay up-to-date on negotiations by visiting www.krogermidatlanticcba.com,  through your store communication board and through your store leader. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for your service to our customers and communities!

Kroger Mid-Atlantic and UFCW Local 400 continued to meet this past week with additional dates scheduled over the next two weeks leading up to expiration of the contract extension on October 17, 2020.

We continued to exchange proposals on wages, health care and language items. This is the time where the most work takes place between the company and union bargaining committees. Remember during this time, we are making proposals and coming up with ideas and solutions – nothing is set in stone.

Negotiations is about finding areas of agreement and working through issues where we disagree. It’s about using the company’s available resources in a balanced way for your wages, health care, pension and other benefits.

It’s about meeting your needs and keeping our stores competitive in the challenging West Virginia market. Both bargaining committees are working hard to reach an agreement and it can take time.

You can stay up-to-date on negotiations by visiting www.krogermidatlanticcba.com,  through your store communication board and through your store leader. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for your service to our customers and communities!

Virtual bargaining between Kroger Mid-Atlantic and UFCW Local 400 continued this week with a Federal Mediator. The parties have agreed to extend the contract for associates working in West Virginia stores to October 17, 2020.

We have confirmed several new dates to continue our discussions over the next several weeks. Both bargaining committees are working hard to reach an agreement that is both good for associates and the company, too. As we have shared, it can take time to reach an agreement.

You can stay up-to-date on negotiations through your store communication board, FEED, and through your store leader. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for your service to our customers and communities!

 

Kroger Mid-Atlantic and UFCW Local 400 resumed virtual bargaining sessions this past week.

Labor negotiations can be complicated. Bargaining is about working through ideas & concerns and coming to a solution that is both good for our associates and the company. It can take time to reach an agreement.

Our goal during negotiations is to share facts. During proposal exchanges, we do not have agreed upon solutions and all the facts to move forward with communicating our proposals. Remember during this phase, we are proposing ideas and solutions – nothing is set in stone.

We have more meetings scheduled this week. We will keep you up to date on negotiations with regular updates posted on your store communication board, FEED, and through your store leader. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for all that you are doing during the challenging times to take care of your customers and each other.

Kroger Mid-Atlantic and UFCW Local 400 have agreed to extend the contract for associates working in West Virginia stores to September 26, 2020.  Discussions continued this week virtually and we are making some progress.

Both parties continue to share ideas, ask questions and communicate concerns on each other’s proposals. Bargaining is about working through ideas & concerns and coming to a solution that is both good for our associates and the company. It can take time to reach an agreement.

We will keep you up to date on negotiations with regular updates posted on your store communication board, FEED, and through your store leader. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for all that you are doing during the challenging times to take care of your customers and each other.

 

Over the last few weeks, Kroger Mid-Atlantic and UFCW Local 400 bargaining committees have been meeting to discuss a new contract for West Virginia associates.  We know these discussions are important to you. They are important to our division and the company, too.

Kroger is committed to a contract that will do several important things:

1. Provide good stable jobs and a competitive package of pay and benefits for our associates
2. Keep our stores relevant in this changing and competitive retail environment

During these negotiations, we encourage you to learn as much as you can. We will provide you information about key issues, so when the time comes for you to vote on an agreement, you can make the decision that is right for you.

We will keep you up to date on negotiations with regular updates posted on your store communication board and through your store leader. If you have any questions during this process, please talk to your store leader.

Thank you for all that you do for your customers and each other.

Dear Valued West Virginia Associate:

Negotiations for your new contract began this week and I know this is very important to all of you. It is important to our company, too. As with every contract, we have two important goals:

1) Offer you a competitive package of pay and benefits for this market

2) Offer operational flexibility to enable our stores to compete in a drastically changing retail    environment

The Kroger Mid-Atlantic division has faced some tough competition from retailers like Walmart, Aldi, and Amazon since our last contract.

Perhaps the biggest challenge we’ve faced together has been the COVID-19 pandemic. During the last several months, our business has changed rapidly and will continue to evolve in ways we never anticipated. Our team of associates has pulled together during this unprecedented time to be here for our customers and communities in their time of need. Thank you for all that you have done and will continue to do for our customers.

Throughout this difficult time, Kroger has ensured that your safety remains our top priority. We’ve partnered with the UFCW to urge federal and state governments to designate you as emergency personnel and put you in line after healthcare workers for access to personal protective equipment.

We’ve invested and will continue to invest in safety measures to protect you, including adding protective plastic screens and social distancing decals to customer service areas, as well as providing supplies of masks and gloves to associates. We also introduced temperature checks for all associates at the beginning of each shift and are offering to test associates based on symptoms and CDC guidelines either thru drive-thru or at home.

We’ve also invested in you by providing additional pay, emergency leave, and other financial and wellbeing assistance to help you through these trying times.

As we move forward and bargain your new contract, we need to continue to be flexible and adapt in order to make decisions that advance what is best for our associates, customers, communities and the sustainability of our business.

We will be sharing information and updates with you as negotiations progress. We are introducing a few new ways to keep you informed. You can visit www.krogermidatlanticcba.com for updates – no username or password required – and you can also opt-in to our new emergency notifications by signing up on FEED.

If you have questions about negotiations, please talk to your Store Leader. We will make sure we get answers to your questions.

We appreciate all that you do every day for our customers and stores. Thank you for making a difference!

Sincerely,

Paula Ginnett

President, Mid-Atlantic Division