ROANOKE (WSLS 10) -- Kroger union members walked out of a meeting at the Berglund Center on Wednesday after voting 426 to 366 to accept a new contract, avoiding a strike.
But not everyone is happy with the agreement.
Recommended Videos
"I voted against it," said Judy Toney as she left the special events center.
"Kroger could afford better," continued Toney. "They could do better by their employees."
She said Kroger is a great company, but said specifically, she wanted more for its employees and retirees.
"Some people weren't happy with the pay increases. Some people still would like to see more done for the retirees' health benefits," said Rick Howell. "The corporations are moving away from that all across the country and you can't blame just Kroger for that."
Howell is part of the bargaining committee, which has been in negotiations with the company. The committee voted to accept the company's latest offer, described as an improvement to what was deemed its "last, best offer," prior to Wednesday's vote before the entire union membership.
"The important thing is that we wouldn't have gotten this far and been able to get a contract if we had stood up to the previous offer which was not good. We feel like we got a better deal today."
Better, in that starting pay will go up for all employees, including courtesy clerks, who bag groceries and push carts, and currently get minimum wage. Full and part-time workers will get raises. Instead of zero personal days, employees will now get four. Kroger planned to cut health care benefits for retirees, but agreed to maintain coverage through June 2017.
"Everybody wants the same thing," Howell said. "That's better pay and better benefits, but I think we made some progress today."
Howell says the key to getting everything they want now, is to build the union and make it stronger.
"In the union movement we always talk about solidarity. We do agree on one thing and that is we need more members we need to sign up more members. We need our members to be more active and we need to let Kroger know in no uncertain terms that we will continue to fight for what we think we need," he said.
Kroger says specific details won't be released until the contract is signed.
"We are pleased to reach an agreement that is good for our associates," said Joe Fey, president of the Mid-Atlantic Division. "This new contract provides wage increases, affordable health care and ongoing investment in our associates' pension fund to support their retirement."
The agreement covers 5,100 Kroger associates in Virginia from Bristol east to Appomattox and from Martinsville north to Harrisonburg, and three stores in Kingsport/Johnson City, TN and two stores in the Bluefield WV area.