UFCW Averts Grocery Worker Strikes as Federal Mediators Join Negotiations

Read our editorial on the significance of strikes here.

The United Food and Commercials Workers Union (UFCW) Locals 135 and 324, representing 12,000 Stater Bros workers in southern California, announced that they reached a tentative agreement with the company August 6, averting a strike after workers overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike at the end of July. This comes as the union stalls and averts strikes against grocery store companies Stater Bros, Albertsons, and Kroger across several states over the past few months while workers fight for better pay and conditions.

Following five months of negotiations, a federal mediator joined talks between the UFCW and Stater Bros on August 1. While the union had previously called for a consumer boycott of stores at limited locations in southern California while continuing negotiations, the boycott was postponed as the involvement of the federal mediator gave the union bureaucracy “hope” for “making incremental progress.” The union later admitted the mediated negotiations led to “no movement” and called for a 5-day consumer boycott of Stater Bros locations in San Diego as negotiations continued through early August until the tentative agreement on August 6.

On July 27, UFCW Locals 5, 8, and 648, representing 25,000 Albertsons workers in northern and central California, announced that they had reached a tentative agreement with the grocery monopoly, averting a strike after a 95% strike authorization vote in July. The union brass delayed the original strike deadline on July 25 stating that they are “working towards negotiating an agreement that avoids a work stoppage” after a federal mediator also joined their negotiations. The following night, the union accepted the tentative agreement upon the mediator’s request.

In Indianapolis, a third round of negotiations continues between UFCW Local 700 and Kroger after workers rejected the second proposed agreement last month. The rejected agreement included a meager $0.90 increase over three years in starting hourly wages.

While the union locals claim that the tentative agreements “addresses our priorities” and “reflects [workers’] value and delivers real improvements for their families and futures,” workers on social media have expressed skepticism in the union’s words, citing the UFCW’s recent sellout contract covering Kroger and Albertsons workers in Colorado.

Pay raises and increased staffing were the Colorado workers’ primary demands, but the union brass-backed contract included wage increases only for topped out workers, and staffing is addressed vaguely by the mention of a “staffing test and learn trial.” Workers on social media have expressed disbelief in the Colorado ratification vote, with one stating, “How did this pass when everyone I’ve talked to is pissed at this contract? Is the union crooked?”

While UFCW grocery workers continue to pass strike votes and push for better working conditions, the union leadership continues to avert and stall strikes across the country while grocery monopolies increase work tempo and roll out layoffs in an attempt to maintain profitability.

Kroger will be closing 60 stores over the next 18 months and laying off an unspecified number of workers for “profit saving”, according to the monopoly. This March, Stater Bros laid off workers for the first time since its establishment 89 years ago.

Image: Workers organized under UFCW rally outside a Stater Bros location in southern California, Grocery Workers Rising.

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