Progressives and lefties fully embrace joining and supporting unions, but how do we deal with a union that continuously encourages members to approve contracts they don’t want?

There are roughly 12,500 Kroger United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) 1059 members. Most are in Central Ohio, and during the pandemic they risked their lives to meet the community’s needs. They were never furloughed, didn’t receive a dime of unemployment, and were paid an insulting extra $2-an-hour or given a one-time modest bonus.  

Keep in mind Kroger UFCW 1059 members are the adults who work fulltime. They toil day-in-day out stocking fridges and shelves, working the cash register, or unloading trucks in the backend. And every three or four years their contract with Kroger comes up for a vote.

In 2021, they voted down Kroger’s proposed contract three times, followed by membership voting to authorize a strike. But union bosses wouldn’t let them. As improbable as this sounds, this same leadership had endorsed all three contracts and persuaded members to vote on one last offer from Cincinnati-based Kroger corporation. It passed, angering those members who wanted to form picket lines.

Their contract was up again this August, and membership voted it down in the first vote. The Free Press would like to offer exact numbers for the vote, but the Whitehall-based UFCW 1059 never returned our calls.

After the first rejection, word spread through membership the second offer would also be rejected and a vote to authorize a strike would follow.

“Some union reps were urging us to approve it [the second offer]. But others were asking us what our availability would be for picketing. They didn’t do that [back in 2021] that I know of,” said a Kroger member who asked for anonymity. Another member said UFCW 1059 reps told them “This is the best we can get for you” even though Kroger made $4.5 billion in profits in 2022.

Nevertheless, a second vote was taken, and the four-year contract was approved and ratified. Only half of the 12,500-membership voted. Most members received a $1 raise, but Kroger is now two weeks late in paying it, said members. Kroger is second only to Walmart in revenue and profits, and the average pay for rank-and-file hovers around $15-an-hour.

One question which nags the Free Press is, why does UFCW 1059 leadership never publicly disclose they are in contract negotiations with Kroger corporate? Leadership never reveals this to the media, and it’s rarely ever mentioned on its own website. What’s more, UFCW 1059 and Kroger negotiations are closed-door, and membership is not allowed to take part.

Back in 2021, we heard how union leadership demanded members “stop talking to the media.” Which is ironic, considering just two media orgs covered the 2021 negotiations. That being the Free Press and the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS.org), which has called UFCW 1059 leadership “corrupt.” UFCW President 1059 Mike Nichols makes just over $200,000 a year.

Most major local media is sold-out to the Kroger ad dollar, and buying their silence is probably the calculated plan. Leaving the local media out of any labor dispute is further evidence that UFCW 1059 and Kroger corporate are collaborating to keep Kroger rank-and-file from striking.   

“They [UFCW 1059] don’t want to pay for a strike,” said another member anonymously. “One hundred percent they [UFCW 1059] are in collusion with Kroger.”