What happened during our first bargaining session?
Roses are red, violets are blue, it’s time Kroger and Albertsons respect the work we do!
On February 13 and 14, 2025, we met with Kroger/Ralphs and Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions for our very first round of bargaining with the largest bargaining committee we’ve ever had, with thousands of years of service between everyone in the room.
We showed up as a strong, united force of proud members ready to get the contract we deserve. We began the bargaining session by presenting all of our proposals, including fair wages and benefits for the work we do, moving all GM Clerks to Food Clerk wages, increasing staffing in the store, and protecting union jobs from outside vendors.
The companies then gave us proposals that would weaken our contracts and our union. Their proposals include allowing the companies to bring in non-union outsiders to perform our work, eliminating some of our overtime premiums and expanding courtesy clerk duties. They are also proposing eliminating the requirement to have a journeyman meat cutter on duty and the 8-hour daily guarantee for meat cutters.
We have made massive profits for CEOs and shareholders, including payouts of over $10 billion to shareholders just in the past year, but these companies don’t care about our well-being or our families. We should be able to feed our families, have access to healthcare and be able to retire at the end of a long career. Unfortunately, that is not currently the case.
We made our demands and priorities known to Kroger and Albertsons and told the companies about how their proposals would affect our stores. It’s time to fight to make our jobs and our lives better. We will not accept a contract that is anything less than what we deserve. Whether we’re at the bargaining table or in the stores, we have the power to show Kroger and Albertsons that we’re serious about our proposals and that we’re ready to stand together to get a strong contract.
What’s next?
We will meet with the companies again next week on February 19-21st for our second round of bargaining. Between now and then, we must demand that the companies come to the table with serious proposals that value our work.
Thousands of hard-working grocery workers in California are rising up like never before to fight for the contracts we deserve from Kroger and Albertsons. Only by rising up together can we change our workplaces, not only for us, but for our co-workers as well. Rise up by:
1. Following the Grocery Workers Rising website and social media accounts! These platforms are where the most up-to-date information will be housed. Workers can find bargaining updates there and other content about the contract fight, so make sure all of your co-workers also follow the accounts to combat the companies’ misinformation campaign!
2. Joining our campaign kick-off rally on February 28, 2025, at 3:30 PM in Buena Park. After the UFCW 324 Grocery Steward Seminar, 1000 grocery workers from across Southern California, including our brothers, sisters and siblings from the Teamsters, will converge in Buena Park to show Kroger, Albertsons, Vons, and Pavilions just how powerful grocery workers are.
Register for the rally HERE.
3. Signing a petition that demands Kroger and Albertsons provide fair wages, secure health benefits, a reliable retirement, sufficient hours, more full-time positions and better staffing. Union representatives and SPURs are in the stores currently with these petitions.
We will send another update after our next session on February 21, 2025. Remember that Kroger and Albertsons will attempt to control the narrative about bargaining with misinformation and partial truths to try and divide us. These updates that come directly from your union co-workers on your bargaining committee have the most up-to-date information about what is happening at bargaining with your best interests in mind.
If you have any questions about bargaining, or if there is anything we can help you with, please do not hesitate to reach out to your Steward, Union Representative, or Bargaining Committee Member.
In Solidarity,
Your Grocery Workers Rising Bargaining Committee
