How an Arby’s sandwich sparked Ray Jones’ taste for justice

Over the course of 42 years working for Kroger, Ray Jones saw a massive amount of change. But every step of the way, through good times and bad, there was always one constant—he made sure management treated his sisters and brothers fairly. Ray’s passion for fairness and justice led him to become a shop steward for UFCW Local 400 when he was just 20 years old. “I had worked at Kroger in Morgantown, West Virginia for about a year and some of the employees felt there was favoritism, and they felt like I was fair, so I was asked to be an assistant steward,” he recalled. “At first, I wasn’t sure what to do, but a couple of days later, I was having lunch in an Arby’s. I asked for my roast beef sandwich without sauce and the young woman behind the counter told the manager that. But when I got my sandwich, it had sauce. So I brought it up to the counter. Then the manager reamed the poor woman out for his own mistake, and told her to punch out and go home. She was in tears. So I gave the manager a piece of my mind and I decided right then and there that I wouldn’t let anything like that happen at Kroger.” “Being a shop steward has helped me achieve greater success in all aspects of my life,” Ray says. “I’m very grateful for that and for all I was able to do to help my brothers and sisters.” Read more here

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