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  February 28, 2007 
Members of Local 911 are ready to
fight for a good contract.Toledo Members Begin Bargaining with Kroger UFCW members of Local 911 in Toledo began negotiations with Kroger Co. on February 21st. Members presented Kroger with a comprehensive proposal that would provide a living wage, quality health care coverage and a secure retirement for all workers. In response, Kroger spent its time with opening remarks centered around the competition and its need to become more competitive in the market. Kroger is already the #1 market leader in Toledo with almost 2 1/2 times the market share of its closest competitor--another unionized grocery company, Meijers. The parties next met on February 26-27th. Kroger presented Local 911 members with a "partial" opening proposal with what it described as "non-economic" issues for Retail, Meat and Non-Food. Under the Retail contract the Company proposed: Unlimited/unrestricted vendor stocking (but assured the workers that they would not reduce the hours of any current employees) To delete the words "including days off" from the scheduling by seniority language. To delete overtime after 8 hours in a day, 32 hours in a holiday week, 6th day overtime or any other reference to overtime other than over 40 hours in a week. Under the Non-Foods contract the Company proposed: To delete overtime after 8 hours in a day, 32 hours in a holiday week, 6th day overtime or any other reference to overtime other than over 40 hours in a week. Under the Meat contract the Company proposed: To limit part time scheduling for employees hired after 4/30/2003 to seniority at each store. To delete overtime after 8 hours in a day, 32 hours in a holiday week, 6th day overtime or any other reference to overtime other than over 40 hours in a week. To expand current language to allow wrappers to clean and operate a power saw. To expand current language to allow meat clerks to operate the power saw. The Company rejected several of the Unions proposals and agreed on some issues most of which involved clean up of current language. Future negotiations are set for March 9th, March 15th, and March 20th. The contract is set to expire on April 7th.
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