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A Charleston newspaper said today the Kroger Company has an "800-pound gorilla in the United Food &
Commercial Workers Union strike against The Kroger Company."
Kroger employees are on strike essentially trying to secure their benefits.
The gorilla has WalMart written on its back.
WalMart mostly pays low wages, with few benefits, some below the national povery level.
The public has spoken again and again: They want cheap prices.
Although the immediate strike issue is employee health care costs, the real issue is: How can unionized
Kroger compete against nonunion Wal-Mart?
Kroger, in a press release over the weekend, said it believes its "final offer" to employees is fair,
"particularly in light of the increased competition Kroger faces from lower-cost, nonunion retailers in West
Virginia.
Kroger said "Those retailers pay considerably less in wages and benefits, and many don't provide
affordable health care benefits to their employees," mostly referring to WalMart.
Business Week reported that: Wal-Mart's labor costs are 20 percent less than those at unionized
supermarkets. "In 2001, its sales clerks made less, on average, than the federal poverty level."
Retail Forward Inc., a market research firm said that 30 supermarkets in Oklahoma City closed after
Wal-Marts came to the city. "For every Wal-Mart supercenter that opens in the next five years, two other
supermarkets will close," Business Week said.
Kroger has done a lot of things right, including streamlining its distribution system; closing marginally
profitable stores; remodeling many of its stores into one-stop shops with pharmacies, floral shops and even
banks and gas stations; installing self-serve checkouts; and locating stores in convenient locations.
"Probably the best thing that could happen to Kroger and the union would be for Wal-Mart's 10,600
employees in West Virginia to unionize. Lacking that, Kroger and its 3,300 union employees in West
Virginia need to keep their eyes on the 800-pound gorilla," said the Charleston Daily Mail.
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