Washington grocery workers may strike following union vote

The union that represents about 56,000 mostly grocery and health workers across Washington, North Idaho and northeastern Oregon voted Thursday night to authorize a strike of employees working at grocery stores owned by Albertsons and Kroger.

The vote, however, simply authorizes a strike and does not immediately call for one. It does not involve workers of Rosauers, Safeway, Albertsons and Fred Meyer in the Spokane area because they authorized a contract that does not expire until next year. Safeway is owned by Albertsons, and Fred Meyer is owned by Kroger.

Tom Geiger, special projects director for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, or UFCW, said the vote Thursday night mostly involves workers at Albertsons and Kroger stores in Western Washington.

“We authorized a strike to fight for better wages, better staffing, and a fully funded health care plan so that we can deliver the kind of service our customers deserve,” Vickie Logerstedt, a cashier at Redmond Ridge QFC, said in a news release. “We have been more than patient for months, but these companies have offered nothing but crumbs and mealy language. Time has run out.”

Efforts to reach the corporate offices of Albertsons, which is based in Boise, and Kroger, based in Cincinnati, were not immediately successful on Friday.

The strike-authorization vote follows two major events: The UFCW launched major opposition to the now-failed merger attempt between Albertsons and Kroger, and ongoing contract negotiations for workers in Western Washington, Colorado and California, Geiger said.

A federal judge in Oregon and a Washington state judge ruled against the merger in December .

The proposal would have been the largest merger of grocery store giants. Had it gone through, it would have led to the loss of Safeway stores on the South Hill and Spokane Valley, based on a previously released list of store sales.

The two grocery companies first announced merger plans in 2022 to get bigger to take on retail competitors Amazon and Walmart.

That proposal spawned lawsuits from the attorneys general of Washington and Colorado, and the Federal Trade Commission filed a federal suit in Oregon. All sought to block the deal over concerns that it would reduce customer choices and bargaining positions of employees across the country.

Then in January, the UFCW began negotiating new contracts for workers of stores in Western Washington for a contract that expired in the first week of May.

Geiger said the union and grocery stores agreed to extend the terms of the former contract during negotiations.

But talks stalled after the company’s offer, said Rich Smith, communications director for the UFCW.

“The wages were insulting; staffing is a core issue, and right now they are underfunding the health care,” Smith said.

Based on that offer, the union put two questions to its membership, Geiger said: whether workers approved the offer, and authorized a strike.

Some “97% rejected the offer and voted to authorize the strike,” Geiger said.

“We feel it is a pretty clear message. Often, they have boiler-plate statements that say, ‘We believe the best way to reach a good agreement is at the bargaining table.’ We agree.

“But we’ve been at the bargaining table for five months telling the employers what is needed, and they haven’t been good listeners.”

Despite the vote to authorize a strike, the extension of the former contract calls for a 72-hour notice before the workers can begin one, Geiger said.

The parties are scheduled to resume talks on a potential new contract.

“Hopefully, we’ll see something change up next week,” Geiger said.

Fred Meyer president Todd Kammeyer said in a news release that his company is committed to reaching a balanced and fair agreement with his workers.

“A strike at this stage is an unnecessary and disruptive action – especially given the meaningful wage increases and industry-leading healthcare we’re offering at the bargaining table,” Kammeyer said in the release. “We remain committed to continuing negotiations in good faith and urge union leadership to do the same.”

While the negotiations are separate, Albertsons workers in Colorado voted on Thursday night to authorize a strike. California worker votes for the strike are continuing.

All told, if all the UFCW workers do decide to walk out, it could affect up to 100,000 employees across the western U.S.

Joe Mizrahi, secretary-treasurer of UFCW local 3000, the largest private-sector union in Washington, said the support of the strike-authorization votes should serve as a wake-up call.