BUENA PARK, CA.—Over 700 union grocery workers rallied outside an Albertsons store here on February 28, demanding a new contract as the previous agreement was set to expire on March 2. According to United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 324, the “Big Grocery” companies—Kroger and Albertson’s—have yet to present serious proposals on wages, healthcare, and staffing levels.
“We know how important we, the workers, are to these companies. We keep their shelves stocked, their food fresh, their customers happy, and their profits high. We deserve a contract that respects our contributions,” the union said in a statement.
One bright spot in negotiations, the union reported, is a tentative agreement to prevent “subcontracted” (read: scab) workers from crossing picket lines in the event of a strike. This comes after King Soopers, a Kroger subsidiary, used scab labor twice against UFCW Local 7 members in Colorado during a recent two-week Unfair Labor Practice strike.
Colorado workers there just secured the right to return to work with health coverage intact and a 100-day extension to align with other grocery workers across the Western U.S. whose contracts are also expiring.
Mirrors earlier bargaining
The bargaining process in Southern California mirrors the contentious negotiations in Colorado. “It’s clear from Kroger’s and Albertsons’ actions that they won’t offer serious proposals until we show how united and strong we are at every action, event, and meeting,” the union said.
Last year, a proposed mega-merger between Kroger and Albertsons was defeated after two years of rank-and-file activism. The effort was led by UFCW Locals 770 and 324 in Southern California, Local 7 in Colorado and Wyoming, Local 3000 in Washington State and Northern Idaho, and Local 400 in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Despite the merger’s failure, Kroger and Albertsons have funneled billions into stock buybacks rather than reinvesting in local communities. Kroger spent $7.5 billion, while Albertson’s spent $2 billion—funds that could have addressed staffing shortages and lowered food prices.
“Not too long ago, a job at the grocery store was an entry into the middle class and grocery workers could afford to live, raise a family and save for retirement,” said Andrea Zinder, president of Local 324.
“However, working conditions for grocery workers have declined rapidly over the past 20 years and grocery companies are trying everything they can to make executives and Wall Street investors rich.”
This is what Big Grocery looks like: monopoly control of the industry’s food prices, supply chains, and labor markets, to name a few. They operate thousands of stores and have significant market power, outcompeting smaller, local groceries.
Kroger and Albertson’s are able to leverage their monopoly position to negotiate favorable terms with suppliers and distributors. This allows it to undercut competitors and maintain its dominant position and rake in enormous profits.
However, UFCW members have an answer to organized capital: broaden their solidarity and activism further than ever before in order to build a stronger organized labor movement.
“You wouldn’t expect a Kroger division to go into bargaining without Corporate at the table, so why wouldn’t we coordinate our own bargaining and match their level?” Isaac Soto, UFCW Local 99 shop steward told People’s World.
Several UFCW locals are now shifting their approach to bargaining. Historically, contracts were negotiated locally, sometimes store by store. But in 2022, a coalition of locals began coordinating efforts to present a united front. This level of solidarity is rare in the UFCW and signals a growing movement against Kroger and Albertsons’ exploitative, finance-driven practices.
Nearly 150,000 grocery workers across the Western U.S. are now bargaining contracts with Kroger and Albertsons. Contracts for UFCW Locals 7, 3000, 367, 770, 1442, 1428, 135, 1167, 5, and 8, as well as Teamsters Local 38, have either expired or will soon. Tens of thousands more workers east of the Mississippi are in similar positions.
“It’s time we take a stand against the grocery companies’ greed that continues to push us back farther and farther. I know that when we all come together and fight, not just for ourselves, but our fellow co-workers, we will win,” said union steward, Daisy De La Vega.
Issue of staffing key
Central to the demands of the leading locals is the issue of staffing. For years, Big Grocery has been cutting back on staffing, a trend that intensified during and after the pandemic. Despite recording massive profits, the companies have accelerated their understaffing model.
They’ve introduced more automation, like self-checkout stands, and relied on gig workers through services like Instacart and DoorDash, undercutting UFCW members who operate ClickList. By leveraging their market power, they’ve reduced hours and staffing levels. The impact is clear: workers and customers face less customer service, higher prices, and often less safe stores.
“Every day, I juggle multiple roles—opening checkstands, managing self-checkout, unloading pallets—all while the front end falls apart because we’re working with a skeleton crew,” said Paszion Horner-Smith, grocery worker and front-end supervisor at her store in Southern California.
“Customers wait in 35-minute lines, abandon full carts, and endure frustrating experiences. Meanwhile, CEOs give billions to shareholders instead of investing in stores and employees. When did customers and workers become the enemy? Aren’t we the ones keeping this company profitable? Make it make sense!”
Instead of tying staffing levels to quality measures like worker and customer satisfaction or safety, Big Grocery uses computer programs to link staffing to sales data. In negotiations, the UFCW locals have requested access to this sales data to refine their staffing proposals. So far, the companies have refused to share it.
The union has requested sales data to support its staffing proposals, but the companies have refused. This refusal was one of the Unfair Labor Practices that prompted UFCW Local 7’s strike in Colorado last month.
“Why won’t they turn over the data? It might reveal the truth behind the staffing crisis—and the food inflation crisis,” Bradley Crowder, UFCW Local 1000 member and chair of the Service Workers Subcommittee of the CPUSA Labor Commission, told People’s World. “This is why the grocery workers’ fight is everyone’s fight.”
As of yesterday, Kroger’s CEO Rodney McMullen was ousted. This was a welcome development for the grocery workers as their working conditions have steadily deteriorated under his reign.
“McMullen weakened the company with his strategy of replacing workers with giant, automated warehouses that didn’t work as promised and thousands of self-checkout scanners that frustrated customers,” UFCW Local 7 said in a statement.
“Though that strategy benefited Wall Street investors in the short term with a $7.5 billion stock payout that McMullen orchestrated in what now seems like a last-ditch effort to save his own job, customers and workers suffered.”
Faye Guenther, President of UFCW 3000 in Washington State, said, “Now is the time for the changes we have been pushing for: Kroger should stop investing in failed tech and mergers and instead invest in stores and communities with lower prices, more stores, and workers with better staffing and better wages.”
The union’s new campaign, Grocery Workers Rising, is rallying workers and allies alike. “Imagine what we can do this year if we all rise up together,” the campaign declared.
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