Barker and about a dozen other strikers outside a Kroger supermarket on Highway 119 south of Charleston were optimistic about the outcome of their struggle. “We’ve been getting support from many of the customers who used to shop here,” he said, “and from other unionists in the area.” As he and others talked with the Militant one supporter drove up and made a contribution.

The workers are among 3,300 members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 on strike against Kroger at more than 40 grocery stores in West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky since October 13.

One of the main issues in the fight is the giant supermarket chain’s demand for cuts in health benefits.

“This company made $562 million in the first half of this year,” Barker said. Kroger is also asking for a cut in the contributions it makes to the pension fund, he said. “Our last journeyman meat cutter retired with a pension of $900 a month, compared with $2,500 a month that some unionists in the area have managed to win. And they want to cut that. As far as wages go, they’re offering 50 cents an hour over four years and lump sum payments. And we’ve learned our lesson—we don’t want lump sum payments.”

Barker said that in 1987 workers accepted a concession contract. “We took a wage cut of $1.00 an hour, gave up a week’s vacation, four personal days, Easter as a holiday, double time for Sunday work, and two cost-of-living raises. It took us 12 years to get the dollar back. And we still haven’t got back the other things we gave up.”

Picketing at the Kanawha City Kroger, Karen Tinsley, a shop steward with 24 years at Kroger, described the company’s productivity drive and abuse of part-time workers. “This company has cut about 1,000 hours of work over the last year at this store alone,” she said. “It took me 16 years to get on full time. Most of the workers here are part time.”

As the strike enters its second month, workers at Kroger in Princeton, West Virginia, who are under a separate contract, began picketing in solidarity with the Kroger workers on strike in West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky.

“We extended our lines and we’re going to keep doing it,” said Jim Lowthers, president of UFCW Local 400. “This is an ongoing process due to the company’s lack of response,” he said, referring to workers at Kroger in several parts of the state who are under separate contracts.

“We’ve watched the miners go out on strike like this for years,” said Rowena Ballard, a worker with 17 years at the Kanawha City store. “Now we see why they did it. I guess you have to go through it yourself.”
 
 
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