Following two days of negotiations, Kroger has reached a tentative agreement with its unionized store associates. A team of Kroger employees who make up UFCW Local 400’s bargaining committee voted unanimously to accept the company’s latest offer. “If we didn’t stand up for ourselves, this never would have happened,” said Sarah Williams, a nine-year Kroger associate from Charlottesville who served on the bargaining committee. “What we were shown last week was supposed to be Kroger’s ‘last’ and ‘best’ offer – but we proved it wasn’t either.” The tentative agreement affects 41 Kroger stores in the region stretching from Kingsport, Tennessee to Harrisonburg, Virginia. The proposal will be voted on by the union membership next week.
The Metro Washington Council will join allies supporting the Fair Shot Minimum Wage Amendment Act at this morning’s DC City Council hearing on the bill. The proposed legislation would increase the minimum wage in the District of Columbia to $15 per hour by July 1, 2020, and increase the tipped minimum wage to $7.50 by 2022. “We applaud Mayor Bowser for taking the lead on legislation that helps workers take a big step forward along the pathway out of poverty,” said Jackie Jeter, president of the Metro Washington Council. The legislation coincides with a slew of recent reports documenting D.C.’s rising cost of living. On today's labor calendar, Verizon strike picket lines continue throughout the metro area; go to dclabor.org and click on calendar for the latest list of locations and times. Complete details, as always, at dclabor.org, click on Calendar. Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1913, the Actors’ Equity Association was founded by 112 actors at a meeting in New York City’s Pabst Grand Circle Hotel. After producer George M. Cohan said that “I will drive an elevator for a living before I will do business with any actors’ union,” a sign appeared in Times Square reading: “Elevator operator wanted. George M. Cohan need not apply" In 1937, Ford Motor Company security guards attacked union organizers and supporters attempting to distribute literature outside the plant in Dearborn, Michigan in an event that was to become known as the “Battle of the Overpass.” The guards tried to destroy any photos showing the attack, but some survived—and inspired the Pulitzer committee to establish a prize for photography. Oh, and three years later, Ford signed a contract with the union. Today’s labor quote is by Walter Reuther “There is no power in the world that can stop the forward march of free men and women when they are joined in the solidarity of human brotherhood.” Walter Reuther was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party and the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the mid 20th century.
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