Grocery workers rally ahead of contract's expiration
6,000 Food 4 Less, Foods Co. employees calling for equity, fair pay and safe stores
Scores of Food 4 Less and Foods Co. workers representing nearly 6,000 local employees rallied Thursday in Baldwin Park, calling for equity, fair pay and increased safety measures ahead of their June 8 contract expiration.
The workers, who are employed at stores throughout Southern and Central California, are gearing up for a united contract negotiation with Kroger, parent company of the two supermarket chains. They are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
UFCW Local 770 President Kathy Finn said employees are frustrated by the wage disparities between Food 4 Less and Ralphs, which also is owned by Kroger.
“A checker earning the top wage at Food 4 Less makes $22.50 an hour, but a top wage-earning checker at Ralph's earns $26.75 an hour,” she said. “That's a difference of more than $4 an hour.”
Labor negations are expected to begin in about a month, Finn said.
Carmen Manzur, who has worked at a Food 4 Less in Lancaster for 34 years, makes $22.85 an hour and only logs 28 hours a week.
“I've been fighting to get full-time work for years,” she said. “With food costs going up and the overall cost of living going up, I should be making a lot more.”
In a statement issued Thursday, Kroger said its Food 4 Less stores are investing in its employees.
“Over the last five years, Kroger and its family of stores have invested more than $2.4 billion in incremental wages,” the company said. “We look forward to negotiations with our goal to further reward our associates in ways that puts more money in their paychecks and invests in their future.”
Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said grocery wages aren't what they used to be.
“A union job at a supermarket used to signify a pathway to the middle class, yet with Food 4 Less it appears more akin to a race to the bottom,” Wheeler said in a statement. “The fact that these essential, frontline grocery workers sometimes can't even afford to buy groceries themselves is shameful. “
Janasha Carter, a cashier and gas attendant at another Food 4 Less in Los Angeles, said management at her store shows favoritism to some employees regarding job openings, while others aren't offered the chance to move up in the company.
“When new positions come up they don't even ask us if we'd like to try for them anymore,” she said. “They just don't care.”
Carter said she and her coworkers also have been subjected to threats and potential violence from customers.
“We get people cussing at us, and one time someone came into our store with a gun,” she said. “The lines were piling up and taking too long because we didn't have enough employees and this guy lifted up his shirt to show a gun. It's draining and we don't get paid enough.”
Finn said the grocery workers are determined to see their concerns addressed.
“They're in this for the long haul,” she said. “Kroger will hear our proposals, and they'll have to address these concerns. Their pensions and benefits are also lower than they should be. A lot of these employee say they've been quiet for a long time — but no more.”
If Kroger fails to address their concerns, a labor strike could be next.
“That's the final weapon we have,” Finn said.
Employees at Thursday's rally didn't focus on the proposed $25 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons. But grocery workers throughout the U.S. are wary of that scenario.
The Federal Trade Commission recently sued to block the merger, saying it would reduce competition, raise prices and hurt workers, and several states have joined in the lawsuit.
Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said the supermarket giant is “committed to litigating” its proposed $25 billion merger with rival Albertsons.
“While we're disappointed by the FTC decision, we're not surprised given the political environment,” McMullen told Wall Street analysts during a Thursday discussion of the company's annual earnings.
McMullen said Kroger has a solid track record of lowering prices and growing union jobs.
Southern California grocery workers who fiercely oppose the merger vented their concerns in a virtual news conference in late January.
They say a union of the two mega supermarket chains would undermine competition, hike prices and result in job losses and store closures.