‘We have people living out of their cars’: 8,000 Kroger workers strike over wages – The Guardian

More than 8,000 workers at nearly 80 Kroger-owned King Soopers grocery stores around Colorado started a three-week strike on Wednesday as new union contract negotiations stalled.

The dispute is the latest in which workers have accused a corporation of making big profits during the pandemic while not paying high enough wages.

Kenny Sanchez, a King Soopers worker in Broomfield, Colorado, for 10 years has attended new contract negotiation meetings with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union and Kroger – and said there was a gulf between the two sides.

Sanchez said the lawyers from out of state acting on behalf of Kroger don’t get that the cost of living in Colorado has been soaring, and the workers’ wages aren’t keeping up with it. “We’re not making a living wage. We have people living out of their cars and struggling to pay bills,” said Sanchez. “This company does not get it. We can’t survive on what they’re paying out here and the competition is paying more.”

Union members voted nearly unanimously to authorize the strike over unfair labor practices against Kroger, as the company’s last, best and final offer included several concessions such as permitting the company to lower wages, use non-union gig workers, shortening leave of absence periods, relying on a part-time workforce, and offering only a $0.13 wage increase for some workers.

Workers have pushed for a $6-an-hour wage increase for all employees, while the final proposal only included wage increases up to $4.50 an hour based on job classification and tenure, with a $16-an-hour floor, just $0.13 higher than minimum wage in Denver.

“A pay raise is nice, but if you’re forking out a bunch more for health insurance, then there is no raise. That’s why it’s a crooked deal,” added Sanchez. “Healthcare costs around the country have been going up and we need the company to put a little extra money into our health insurance to keep it affordable.”

Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, said the unfair labor practice charges the union filed against Kroger included refusal to furnish information necessary for bargaining over issues such as safety, and the company directly contacting workers and threatening to discipline or send home workers from wearing anything that identifies them as a union supporter.

“The strike is over unfair labor practices, but we’re far apart over the issues of negotiations,” said Cordova. “The CEO was bragging to the shareholders on Wall Street about how well Kroger has done during the pandemic while restaurants and businesses were shut down. They thrived, they made record profits, their investors were the recipients of about a billion and a half dollars in stock buybacks and then they come to the bargaining table and say, ‘we can’t afford it.’”

Kroger has also brought in outside workers and hired temporary staff to continue operations during the strike, while King Soopers had already been operating with 2,400 fewer employees than normal due to attrition.

“It’s an insult. Our workers are paid $16 an hour to start with or less. Then they offered to pay temporary workers $18 to do our jobs that we’ve been doing, and they expected us to train temporary workers to do our jobs for less money,” said Carol McMillan, a King Soopers worker in Aurora, Colorado, for seven years.

She explained that through the pandemic, grocery workers have faced staffing shortages and long hours, and been treated poorly by employers and customers.

“In the beginning of the pandemic we were heroes and then we were kind of forgotten,” she added. “We just need them to recognize that without us they can’t run their stores.”

A survey of over 10,000 Kroger workers in California, Washington and Colorado published on 11 January by the Economic Roundtable found 14% of Kroger workers experienced homelessness in the past year. Food insecurity among workers surveyed was rampant, as 34% reported skipping or reducing meals because they couldn’t afford food and 14% of workers rely on Snap assistance.

Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the US, have seen profits and sales soar through the pandemic. The company reported a profit of $2.6bn in 2020 and the Kroger CEO, Rodney McMullen, received a wage increase of 45% to $20.6m. The company authorized another $1bn toward stock buybacks at the end of 2021, after repurchasing $1bn in stocks through the first three quarters of 2021. In their latest quarterly earnings, Kroger reported an increase of 7.2% in sales compared with 2020, and saw sales increase 1.3% over the first two quarters of 2021.

A Brookings Institution analysis published in December 2021 found Kroger raised average wages from $15 an hour in January 2020 to $16.25 an hour in October 2021, but with recent inflation rates the wage gain equates to just $0.17 an hour.

In a press release, the Kroger-owned King Soopers and City Market president, Joe Kelley, criticized the strike and filed unfair labor practice claims against the union after the union had filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

“It’s time for Kim Cordova to put our associates, her members, first instead of denying them the opportunity to vote on this unprecedented investment. Creating more disruption for our associates, their families, and Coloradans rather than negotiating for a peaceful resolution is irresponsible and undemocratic,” Kelley said.