Tentative Agreement Reached at Food 4 Less/Foods Co.
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 8GS, 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1428 and 1442, which collectively represent more than 6,000 Food 4 Less/Foods Co. workers across California, have reached a tentative agreement in regard to wages, guaranteed hours and other contract items, thereby averting a strike. The UFCW Food 4 Less/Foods Co. Bargaining Committee has recommended the tentative agreement to its co-workers.
“We are grateful for the solidarity and strength our co-workers have shown throughout negotiations as well as the overwhelming support we have received from our customers and community members,” the committee said in a statement. “We could not have achieved this deal without them.”
[Read more: Meijer Workers Agree to New Contracts]
Further details of the tentative agreement will be shared exclusively with union members in meetings taking place throughout the week. After voting occurs, the results will be tallied, verified, and shared with members. Vote results and further information on the contract will be revealed to the public only after union members have had an opportunity to review and vote on the contract.
As reported in the Orange County Register, Salvador Ramirez, a spokesman for The Kroger Co., parent company of Food 4 Less/Foods Co., said last week that the company had “presented a historic offer that includes over $70 million in wage investments, industry-leading health care and retirement benefits.”
“Our associates are the heartbeat of our company, and we will continue to do everything we can to balance investments in wages and overall associate well-being while keeping food affordable for our customers,” Ramirez noted in a statement last week. “Our stores will continue to be open for business to serve our communities.”
The register also cited company officials as saying that they had offered to increase salaries to $25.80 per hour by 2026 for a full-time cashier with four years of full-time experience, for an annual salary of more than $50,000, and not to increase employee health insurance costs over the three-year contract.
The union’s previous contract expired on June 8. Food 4 Less operates around 100 stores, most of them in California.
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. Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons is No. 9 on The PG 100. PG also named Kroger and Albertsons among the Retailers of the Century.
