Kroger Settles with OH/KY Local

The Kroger Co. has reached a tentative agreement with United Food & Commercial Workers Local 75 for about 12,000 grocery workers in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area.

“Thanks to the efforts and dedication of our bargaining committee, we were able to secure a tentative agreement that protects affordable, quality health care and provides livable wages,” Lennie Wyatt, UFCW Local 75 president, said in a news release posted on the union’s Web site. “To get an agreement like this in such a challenging economic environment is really a testament to the strength and solidarity of the membership.”

Union members were expected to vote Thursday on the contract, for which details were not available. Health care had been a sticking point in negotiations, which have been going on since early October when both sides agreed to a contract extension, the Cincinnati Inquirer reported. Kroger officials have said they proposed more bonuses and hourly increases for top-rated associates and regular raises based on hours worked for all others. It also offered more dollars to stabilize the company’s pension fund, the Inquirer reported.

Cincinnati-based Kroger has 76 supermarkets and 39 fuel centers in the greater Cincinnati area and Northern Kentucky.