David Fredrick was in his late 20s when he took a job with Kroger. He started as a cashier making $7.25 an hour.
“It was just a job,” Fredrick, 48, told Mirror Indy in August, “because I just needed to get back on my feet.”
Two decades later, Fredrick found himself organizing coworkers during labor contract negotiations with Kroger, a company valued at $45 billion.
Fredrick, who works at the Kroger at 10th Street and Shadeland Avenue, was ready to keep pushing back for higher wages and better staffing. But last week, his colleagues at Kroger stores across Central Indiana voted to approve a new three-year contract.
The agreement ends months of negotiations, during which Fredrick and other rank-and-file members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union 700 rallied against Kroger’s contract proposals. At one point, the company was offering a $200 gift card.
The local chapter’s president, Tracy Bartak, said the approval is a win for the union.
“By sticking together in solidarity, our members were able to secure a contract that not only raises their pay, but also protects health benefits and more,” Bartak said in a statement.
Colleen Juergensen, president of Kroger’s Central Division, also celebrated the contract’s approval.
“Our goal throughout these negotiations was to invest in your pay and well-being while keeping groceries affordable,” she said in a video to employees. “We are proud of this contract.”
What’s in the agreement?
The agreement includes a $2.75 pay increase throughout the three-year contract for workers who average at least 36 hours per week. The increase is retroactive to June 1.
The union was trying to get a $3 increase. The average wage for Kroger workers in Central Indiana is $18 an hour.
Evan Robbins, a spokesperson for the local union chapter, said about 60% of the union’s roughly 8,000 members qualify for the increase. Employees who work fewer hours will see an increase of 90 cents.
But Robbins said the agreement makes it easier for workers to get more hours. For example, there is now a more formal way to request hours. And it’s supposed to be easier for workers with more seniority to get more hours than employees with less experience.
The agreement also adds health coverage for spouses, which wasn’t included in the most recent contract that expired in May.
The agreement passed with 56% of those who voted in favor. The union, which also has members in food packing and manufacturing plants, represents about 14,000 workers. In Kroger stores, the union represents everyone outside of management, including gas station workers.
Workers previously rejected two tentative agreements reached by Kroger and union leadership, spurred on by those like Fredrick, who wanted to keep up the fight.
Although he’s disappointed, Fredrick said Kroger workers in Indianapolis are more organized now than at any point over his 20 years with the company.
“Now,” he said, “we have three years to prepare for the next contract.”
Negotiating is ‘unappreciated’
Juan Ruffin has worked at nearly every Kroger in Indiana. He used to be a floater, going to whatever store needed someone to fill in.
Now, he works in the meat department at the Linwood Plaza Kroger on East 10th Street.
“I’m the guy with the long, silly beard,” he said.
Ruffin, 52, is part of the union’s negotiating committee. This was his fourth time negotiating a contract.
“It’s intense, it’s frustrating, it’s long, it’s tedious,” he said. “And it’s unappreciated.”
Ruffin spoke to Mirror Indy the day after the bargaining committee reached the agreement with Kroger that members went on to approve.
Some of the Local 700 rank-and-file have said they didn’t feel well represented during negotiations and wanted more communication from union leadership. Their rally earlier this summer was in part to demand more transparency from the people negotiating on their behalf.
Ruffin said he sensed the frustration.
“I wish people could see how not easy it is to negotiate with a billion-dollar company,” he said.
And Ruffin said he wants critics to understand the reality of negotiating.
“You give some,” he said, “and you get some.”
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Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers housing and labor. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick and Bluesky @tyfenwick.bsky.social.
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