Employees at 28 Fred Meyer stores in and around Portland planned to go on strike starting Wednesday at 6 a.m. and expect to remain on the picket line until Sept. 3 at 8 a.m., unless a deal is negotiated before then.
The Hawthorne Fred Meyer store is pictured in Portland, Ore., Monday, Sept. 23, 2019.
Kate Davidson / OPB
The bargaining team from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 555 and representatives from Fred Meyer’s parent company, Kroger, have not reached a deal after five bargaining sessions. The two sides are scheduled to meet again on Thursday.
Union leaders say the strike is necessary to encourage Kroger to reach a deal. The sides still disagree on pensions and wage scales, among other items. An unfair labor practices strike, often referred to as a ULP, is a common tool used by organized labor and, by definition, is a limited-duration protest.
“A ULP strike is crucial to force Fred Meyer to comply with their obligations as an Employer to their Employees,” Dan Clay, president of UFCW Local 555 said in a statement, adding that members overwhelmingly approved the strike.
In a statement, Todd Kammeyer, the president of Fred Meyer, said the company believes associates should have a voice in choosing what is right for them.
“While the company supports our associates’ decision, Fred Meyer will remain open to serve the Portland community with access to fresh food, essentials, and pharmacy services,” Kammeyer said in a statement. “Protecting our associates’ right to collectively bargain is why it is so important to secure the future of unionized grocery stores in America, and that is exactly what Kroger’s proposed merger with Albertsons will do.”
Kammeyer added if the merger is blocked “the only winners will be non-union food retailers such as Walmart, Costco and Amazon.”
The strike announcement comes at the same time Fred Meyer parent company Kroger is in federal district court in Portland this week defending a proposed merger. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and multiple states including Oregon sued to halt a merger between Kroger and rival Albertsons. The FTC alleges the merger would be anticompetitive and could lead to lower wages and higher prices.
The UFCW Local 555 had been the only chapter of the union that supported the merger, but earlier this month it pulled its support of the proposed plan. Union leaders said tactics used during the current negotiating process is one of the reasons the group reversed its support.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden told OPB he’s been visiting Fred Meyer locations across the state and talking to workers and customers about the proposed merger.
“The reason concern is so high is that Oregonians believe that this merger would create another mega chain,” Wyden told OPB’s Think Out Loud on Monday. “And that mega chain would stick it to consumers and to employees, and we’d have higher prices and lower wages.”
In a statement to OPB, a Kroger representative said the merger would do the opposite and would instead expand food access in more communities.