Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 22, 1995 TAG: 9507240023
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jim Guynn, president of Teamsters Local 171, tonight will urge workers who deliver groceries to about 70 Kroger supermarkets in Virginia and nearby states to reject a contract offer and authorize the union to call a strike, he said.
A vote is scheduled during a 7 p.m. meeting at Salem Civic Center.
The local union includes mechanics and laborers who handle goods in Kroger's distribution center off U.S. 11/460 west of Salem.
Company spokesman Archie Fralin said the contract offer is a good one and that talk of a strike is premature.
"We wish the union leadership was endorsing it, but if they're not, they're not," he said. "We hope it passes."
Today's vote is an attempt by the union and company to replace a contract that expired Feb. 26, 1994. Workers have stayed on the job under terms of the old contract that are in effect until a new agreement is reached.
In the contract up for consideration, Kroger offers a cash settlement in lieu of a wage hike retroactive to when the old contract lapsed, Guynn said. The union wants a wage increase and cash settlement as if the hike had taken effect 17 months ago, Guynn said.
The proposed contract would supplement a master agreement between the national offices of Kroger and the union and covers 15 Kroger warehouses, including the one in Roanoke County. When passed in November, it was the first national master contract in the grocery industry, but Guynn said it has little direct effect on working conditions for local Kroger warehouse employees and drivers.
If workers reject the contract, the union would be prevented from striking until after the national negotiating committee looks into the dispute. The national committee would make a recommendation that the local could accept or reject and begin a strike, Guynn said.
by CNB