“Done Working for Crumbs”

The second tentative agreement did include some improvements from the first — the result of one month of intense organizing led entirely by rank-and-file members. The improvements included shortening the contract from four years to three; new, although limited, staffing language; higher wages over a shorter period; and earlier spousal health care coverage.

Yet the offer still didn’t meet members’ needs — nor their higher expectations, raised by member organizing as well as by strong contract campaigns in neighboring unions, such as Teamsters Local 135.

“Members have seen other union contracts in our area, like Pepsi, Coke, and UPS. They know that there are better results with more action,” said Shahriar Sayeem, who has worked at Kroger in Fishers for eight years. “It has to be a good contract for everybody, not just for the people at top pay or in lead positions.”

“We’ve settled so much. We’ve given away so much,” added Reynolds. “We’re done working for crumbs.”

Despite sky-high operating profits of $3.8 billion in 2024, Kroger is attempting to recuperate lost profits and shareholder value from its failed merger with Albertsons, which was defeated by a coalition of UFCW locals and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in December 2024. Kroger remains the largest supermarket chain in the United States.

Kroger workers across the country report chronic understaffing that results in long lines and higher prices for customers and unsafe conditions for workers. Less hours for workers mean they often rely on public benefits like Medicaid and SNAP, while Kroger offers food pantries for workers in their own break rooms.

No Vote Despite Scare Tactics

Local 700 members reported rumors, misinformation, and scare tactics abounded during the two-day period between the announcement of a TA on July 8 and voting just two days later.

On members’ ballots, rejecting the contract also meant voting to authorize a strike. Approving the contract meant voting no on the strike authorization vote.

The combination vote struck fear in some workers, who recognized that even if they wanted to strike, they couldn’t hack it on $250 a week strike benefits from the UFCW International — benefits that wouldn’t kick in until day eight of a strike.

“In my store, there was a rumor that we were going to be out on strike in the next week,” said Reynolds. “Unorganized strikes are not helpful to the membership. What are we losing by voting down these concessionary contracts?”

Essential Workers for Democracy, a movement for union democracy in the UFCW, fought for first-day strike pay at the 2023 UFCW convention, but the resolution was defeated.

Organizing for More

“After we voted no on the first contract, we started organizing Zoom meetings,” Sayeem said. “We had to start from the ground up — completely from scratch.”

These Zoom meetings, supported by Essential Workers for Democracy, became a weekly deliberation space for members to ask questions, share information, and support one another.

Through these meetings, members put together a petition with five contract demands and made plans to circulate it among their coworkers. The demands are: livable wages with dollar raises, not cents; fair staffing language with teeth, not just labor-management meetings; affordable health care — real family coverage, no givebacks; job security with protection from automation and subcontracting; and no givebacks on disciplinary language.

As of July 17, over 350 Kroger workers have signed the petition.

To highlight their demands to the public, members also put signs in their car windows in the parking lot, so coworkers and customers would read “Indiana Kroger Workers Can’t Survive Off of Quarters!” while walking to the store. Members have also been wearing buttons and stickers reading “Kroger Workers United for a Living Wage” and “Kroger Workers United for a Strong Contract” on their aprons.

OUR Local 700, the rank-and-file committee of Kroger workers fighting for a strong contract, will hold a press conference and rally outside of an Indianapolis Kroger store on August 3.

Solidarity and Shirt Days

In the days before major holidays and moneymaking periods for Kroger, upper management from regional corporate offices visit the stores for a walkthrough.

“We came up with the initial idea for solidarity shirt days at the in-person meeting we held right after we voted down our first contract,” said Sayeem. “We had a corporate store walk coming up for the Fourth of July. We thought, ‘The store will be prepared, we should be, too.’”

Sayeem and two coworkers began talking to others about organizing a Solidarity Shirt Day, where everyone would wear a yellow T-shirt underneath their blue Kroger aprons. They planned it for the same day as their corporate walk, so management would take notice.

The action was a success, but Sayeem realized it could be even bigger next time. “People wanted to join — they came up and asked, ‘When are you guys doing it next?’ And after we voted down the contract [the second time], people came up to me and said, ‘When are we going to do it again?’”

“When you see people all wearing the same color, they feel strong,” Sayeem said. “They think, ‘I’m not alone in this fight.’”