ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 2, 1996 TAG: 9604020091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
note: above
The Kroger Co. averted a multistate strike Monday night when its cashiers, meat cutters and other store personnel cast an emotionally charged vote to approve a sweetened contract.
A cheer came from behind the Roanoke Civic Center's closed auditorium doors as leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400 announced the result, which the union said is significant because it locks in a low-cost health-insurance plan for five years.
The workers, who make $5 to $11 per hour, also receive a raise of $1.10 an hour spread over five years. The new contract is retroactive to Sunday and replaces one that expired Saturday.
"It's the best contract they've offered in the 16 years I've been with the company. It went forward instead of backward," said Janet Taylor, a Kroger employee from Princeton, W.Va.
But as the vote of 855-583 made clear, some workers who wanted more from the company were overruled by those who supported the new agreement.
After the vote, as union representatives were handing out "Local 400'' plastic frames for auto license plates, a disgusted union member took a set of frames, broke them over his knee and threw the pieces on the floor.
Newer employees who are paid on the lower end of the scale had expected more of a raise, said Mike McLaughlin, 27, who makes $7.12 per hour. He said it will take him until 1999 to raise his hourly wage a dollar.
"Four years of making another dollar? You can't support a family on that," said McLaughlin, who described himself as a homeowner and father.
If they had not approved the new wages, workers were prepared to strike 37 Kroger stores in Virginia and seven in West Virginia and Tennessee Monday night. Local 400, based in Landover, Md., represents the 4,800 employees of those stores, although only about 3,300 are members of the union.
In support, Kroger-employed drivers were prepared to halt deliveries of goods to the 44 stores from the company's central warehouse in Roanoke County, according to Jim Sherwood, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 171 in Roanoke.
Less than three hours before the strike was to begin, Kroger added language to an earlier proposal, turned down Sunday, to reward employees of stores that meet sales goals with larger bonuses. Thomas McNutt, president of the local, said he could only assume that changed the minds of enough workers for the contract to be ratified.
"We're very happy and pleased that the majority found the proposal to be acceptable," said the supermarket company's spokesman, Archie Fralin.
In addition to giving the workers a raise, the company will pay any increase in health-insurance costs for five years, up to $47.20 weekly. The union thinks that is enough to cover likely increases and will keep health insurance a fully company-paid benefit.
McNutt said the Kroger delivery drivers' most recent contract, approved in November, provided a slightly larger raise than store personnel will get but requires each person to pay $60 per month toward health plan premiums.
For the company, the expanded benefits package alone will cost Kroger $840,000 more per year, McNutt said.
The Cincinnati-based company reported profits of $302.8 million, or $2.38 per share, on sales of $23.94 billion last year. Kroger operates 1,300 stores in 28 states, mostly in the Southeast and Midwest.
The 44 Kroger stores, many of which were staffed Monday night by nonunion employees while their union co-workers attended the meeting, would have remained open if the vote had been to strike, Fralin said. But it would have been hard to maintain customer service with a diminished staff, especially during the Easter holiday week, he said.
Sunday, union members voted 618-538 to turn down an earlier company proposal. Although only about one-third of the union employees cast ballots, the decision was binding on the entire work group. Then, by a margin of about 66 percent, those voting agreed the union would strike unless Kroger offered by about 7 p.m. Monday a contract the membership would accept. The contract approval led the union to call off the strike.
Twenty union representatives from Landover brought 1,000 generic picket signs to Roanoke in anticipation of a strike. They ordered 3,000 more on arrival. Though the order will be canceled, "they never go to waste," said Thomas McNutt Jr., son of the president of the local.
Staff writer Megan Schnabel contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff A broken car-tag holder testifies to aby CNBunion member's feelings about the outcome of the vote as UFCW 400
President Thomas McNutt holds a news conference in the background.
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