
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 23, 1995                   TAG: 9507240096
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TEAMSTERS LOCAL REJECTS CONTRACT WITH KROGER CO.

Members of Teamsters Local 171 voted overwhelmingly Saturday evening to reject a proposed contract from Kroger Co. Only one of 233 members present at the Salem Civic Center voted in favor of the contract, the local union president reported.

However, the warehousemen, drivers and mechanics at Kroger's Roanoke distribution center who deliver groceries to about 70 stores in Virginia and nearby states are not on strike yet.

"Our stores will continue to operate as normal, and no disruptance to our customers is anticipated," the company said in a statement Saturday night.

That may be true, though, only until the union gets a recommendation from its national negotiating committee. Workers will continue to work under terms of a contract that expired Feb. 26, 1994.

Jim Guynn, local union president, said the national committee will recommend that his local either accept the contract or reject it and begin a strike. Guynn said before the vote that he would urge workers to reject the contract and authorize a strike.

"I expect their support completely," Guynn said. Guynn wouldn't say if the local would strike against the national committee's urging.

"I'll make that decision when I come to it," he said.

Kroger spokesman Archie Fralin doesn't believe a strike is imminent. He said the company is disappointed with the vote, but confident any differences can be resolved in subsequent negotiations.

Guynn said wages and a proposed cash settlement are at issue. In the contract offered by Kroger, the company offers a cash settlement in lieu of a wage hike, retroactive to the end of the old contract, Guynn said before the vote. The union wants a wage increase and cash settlement as if the hike had taken effect 17 months ago, he said.

The proposed contract would supplement a master agreement between Kroger's national offices and the union; it 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 has said it has little direct effect on working conditions for local Kroger warehouse employees and drivers.

Guynn said he's not sure how long it will take to get the national committee's recommendation, but said he will expedite the process as much as possible.

No new meetings on the contract between union and company officials have been scheduled.

by CNB