Grocery workers vote to strike if needed in southern California for
higher wages
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[March 28, 2022] (Reuters)
- Around 48,000 grocery workers voted to
strike if needed when seeking higher wages from stores owned by Kroger
Co and Albertsons Companies Inc in Southern California, the UFCW 770
union said on Saturday.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) has
been seeking significantly higher and equal pay, sufficient staffing and
enough working hours in their negotiations with the grocers, which began
on Jan. 28.
As U.S. food prices rise, workers are pushing big corporations that have
been posting record profits to offer more.
Politicians including President Joe Biden and Senators Bernie Sanders
and Elizabeth Warren have voiced support for such demands.
The union said in a statement it would notify workers if a decision were
made to strike.
It said there was a big disconnect between its proposal and the offer of
an hourly raise of 60 cents, or less than a 1% increase, made by the
grocers, including Ralphs, Albertsons, Pavilions and Vons.
Kroger-owned Ralphs called the union's proposal unrealistic as it is
expensive to do business in California, while proposing to maintain its
nearly $133 million annual investment in health care benefits.
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The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (U.F.C.W)
logo is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., August
30, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
The grocer, which has around 190
stores in California, said it might start making contingency plans,
including advertising for temporary workers, to keep its business
running.
As the previous workers' contract expired on March 6, the labor
union has slapped unfair labor practice charges against the grocers.
The union said bargaining would resume on Wednesday and if talks
failed, it would decide on the next steps.
It warned the workers not to walk out until it notified them and
said it would have strike benefit funds available to support members
if the companies forced the union to take action.
Ralphs said on Monday it hoped the union would return to the
bargaining table with renewed interest in reaching a balanced deal.
Albertsons did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam and Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru;
Editing by Arun Koyyur, Christopher Cushing and Gareth Jones)
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