Grocery Workers Ratify Contract Agreement With Food 4 Less/Foods Co.
Following months of negotiation, members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 8GS, 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1428 and 1442 voted on July 3 to ratify a new three-year contract with Food 4 Less/Foods Co., a division of The Kroger Co.
“[B]y ratifying this contract, Food 4 Less/Foods Co. workers have secured meaningful raises, increased hours for part-time workers, and a more direct path to top-rate pay over the next three years,” the locals noted in a joint statement. “After countless hours at the bargaining table and in the streets between their shifts, the hard-working members of UFCW stood together for their families and each other and secured a strong contract. This contract is a concrete and direct result of the tireless work of the member-led bargaining committee. Together, our members are fighting for a more promising future, and this contract will help to achieve that goal.”
Among the key provisions of the agreement are wage increases for all workers, more hours guaranteed for all part-time workers, a reduction in the hours it takes to reach top-rate pay, additional premiums for select positions, ratification bonuses for all workers, and an increased starting wage rate.
The ratified contract went into effect immediately for more than 6,000 grocery workers in around 100 Food 4 Less/Foods Co. locations across Southern California. As reported last month, the union’s previous contract expired on June 8 and the tentative agreement was reached by the end of that month.
Based in Washington, D.C., the UFCW International is the largest private-sector union in the United States, representing 1.2 million workers and their families in grocery, meatpacking, food-processing, health care, cannabis, retail and other industries throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
Food 4 Less/Foods Co.’s parent company, Cincinnati-based Kroger, is No. 4 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. View company website.
