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Hungry at the Table

White Paper on Grocery Workers at the Kroger Company

January 11, 2022 / By Daniel Flaming, Peter Dreier, Patrick Burns and Aaron Danielson
Underwriters: United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770
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Evidence about Wages and Working Conditions

Not too long ago, getting a job at a major supermarket was an entry into the middle class. Most workers worked full-time. A job in the grocery industry meant that one could make ends meet, afford decent housing, provide adequate meals for one’s family, even take a vacation and save some money for a rainy day. That is no longer the case, as this report documents.

The largest independent survey of retail workers that has ever been conducted in the United States provides the foundation for this report. It was carried out at the request of United Food and Commercial Workers locals 7, 21, 324, and 770 to provide reliable, evidence-based analysis about the working and living conditions of Kroger workers.

Share of Workers Employed by Kroger, by BrandThree regions with 36,795 Kroger workers were surveyed: The Puget Sound region of Washington, the State of Colorado, and Southern California. Completed surveys were received from 10,287 workers for a 28 percent response rate.

The living and working conditions of Kroger workers have declined markedly over the past 20 years. Kroger’s current low-wage, part-time workforce strategy relies on poorly-paid, part-time workers with constantly changing schedules.

Even though food surrounds Kroger grocery workers every hour on their job, over three-quarters of Kroger workers are food insecure, based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture food security assessment tool. These workers cannot afford balanced and healthy food. They run out of food before the end of the month, skip meals, and are hungry sometimes. Those with children report they go hungry to provide food and other essentials for their children. Kroger workers’ exceptionally high rate of food insecurity is seven times greater than the U.S. average.

Workplace safety represents another crucial challenge for Kroger workers. We all must eat. Grocery stores have remained open and grocery workers continue to be the essential frontline workforce for providing food to their communities where the COVID pandemic has caused pervasive public apprehension about health risks, social isolation, financial uncertainty, and anxiety about obtaining food and household necessities.

Kroger management’s cost-cutting practices have compromised personal, health and food safety in stores. Not surprisingly, workers report high rates of depression and anxiety resulting from their unsafe and insecure working conditions.

At the same time Kroger font-line jobs have declined from middle class to marginal poverty wage and working conditions, the company significantly grew its revenues, profits, and compensation for its top executives. In addition, Kroger’s buy-back stock practices have resulted in high returns to its stockholders. Meanwhile workers struggle with lower cost-of-living pay and challenging work requirements.

The data demonstrate that workers’ financial distress, housing insecurity and food insecurity are not resulting from their personal failures but rather, from Kroger’s companywide policies for cutting costs and increasing profits. These conditions are documented in this report.

Wages and Economic Conditions

Kroger is the only employer for 86 percent of their workers, making it their sole source of earned income. Working full-time to earn a living wage would require Kroger to pay $22 per hour for an annual living wage total of $45,760. The average annual earnings of Kroger workers, however, equal $29,655. This is $16,105 short of the annual income needed to pay for basic necessities required for the living wage.

Figure 14: Average Annual Earnings based on Seniority and Living Earnings Shortfall

More than two-thirds of Kroger workers struggle for survival due to low wages and part-time work schedules. Nine out of ten Kroger workers report that their wages have not increased as much as basic expenses such as food and housing have increase. Since 1990, wages for the most experienced Kroger food clerks have declined from 11 to 22 percent (adjusted for inflation) across the three regions surveyed. Across the entire grocery industry, 29 percent of the labor force is below or near the federal poverty threshold.

Do you earn enough money to pay for basic expenses every month?Nearly two-thirds of Kroger workers say they do not earn enough money to pay for basic expenses every month. Among the workers who are unable to afford necessities, 44 percent say they are unable to pay for rent and 39 percent say they are unable to pay for groceries. Fourteen percent of Kroger workers are homeless now or have been homeless during the past year.

A significant number of Kroger workers of all ages face economic hardship, but it is most prevalent among young workers. Among workers 21 to 29, 53 percent are unable to pay for rent.

More than two-fifths of Kroger workers report that in the past year, they had to borrow money from their family or friends to pay for basic expenses. There is no end in sight for most workers. More than nine out of ten say they will not have enough money to support themselves after they retire.

Lack of Money to Pay for Rent and Groceries by Age of Worker

How can workers’ living wage challenges be addressed? Many part-time workers reported that they would like to work more hours. Kroger workers’ could be employed full-time at a minimum hourly wage of $22 Alternately, part-time workers, who currently average 1,560 annual working hours, could be paid a premium hourly wage of $29.33, for continuously changing schedules.

Food Insecurity

Food Security Level of Kroger WorkersKroger says that its purpose is to “feed the human spirit,” but falls short in using its abundant food resources to meet the essential needs of its front-line employees. Kroger provides its employees a shallow and narrow discount of 10 percent on Kroger brand groceries, which excludes fresh produce. This discount falls far short of enabling employees and their families to eat healthy and balanced meals.

Among Kroger workers who are single parents, 85 percent are food insecure. This means that after their workday of putting food in the hands of other people, they return to their homes and are unable to provide the nutritious food that their children need to be healthy.

Food is part of a bundle of necessities that include transportation, apparel, utilities, housing, health care, and childcare. Workers who cannot afford other necessities – housing, clothing, and transportation – also cannot afford nutritious meals.

Housing and Homelessness

Fourteen percent of Kroger workers are homeless now or have been homeless during the past year. The rate of homelessness decreases as earnings increase. However, because Kroger’s wage structure is depressed and part-time employment is so prevalent, homelessness still occurs among workers in the top wage bracket. Even among full-time employees, nine percent have experienced homelessness.

Rate of Homelessness Based on Wages, Seniority and Hours of WorkThirty-six percent of Kroger workers say that they worry about being evicted. Concern about eviction increases with age until workers are in their mid-fifties. This corresponds with the years when workers are most likely to have children in their households.

At the time of the survey during the summer of 2021, 18 percent of Kroger workers had not paid the previous month’s rent or mortgage on time. Over a quarter of Kroger workers have no confidence or only slight confidence that they will be able to pay their next rent or mortgage payment on time. This kind of housing insecurity is greatest among young, part-time employees with low hourly wages, and among African American, Native American and Latino workers. But even 15 percent of full-time employees couldn’t pay the rent or mortgage bill.

Forty-four percent of Kroger workers live in inadequate housing. This includes doubling up with another family or unrelated individual, living in a unit that is too small for the household and being overcrowded, multigenerational housing where grandparents and parents live with their adult children, and homelessness.

Workload and Schedule

Less than a quarter of Kroger workers think the company is headed in the right direction. The most senior workers, who are the backbone of Kroger’s workforce, voice the strongest critical assessments.

Seventy-three percent of Kroger workers say they are not fairly compensated based on their experience and the work that they do. Even though most of them rely on Kroger as their sole source of income, two-thirds of Kroger workers say that working for Kroger is a short-term job rather than a career opportunity because of low pay and short staffing at stores.

Company labor policies are responsible for workers’ frustrations. Two-thirds of workers report that Kroger has increased the amount of work that they have to complete during their shift. Over three quarters of workers say that there are not enough workers at their store to provide good customer service, and that are not able to complete all of the assigned tasks at their store.

How many days in advance are you USUALLY told about changes in your final work schedule?Kroger’s just-in-time scheduling practices cause additional insecurity, with detrimental impacts for childcare or those seeking additional, part-time employment elsewhere to supplement Kroger’s pay. Over half of Kroger workers have work schedules that change at least every week, and 13 percent have schedules that change every day. A quarter of workers are told about schedule changes the same day or only one day in advance. Another one-third get 2 to 5 days’ notice of schedule changes. Only 16 percent of workers have schedules that do not change.

Kroger’s labor force clearly recognizes that the unpredictable schedule and intense work demands make it difficult for workers to fulfill their responsibilities as family members (including as parents) and as workers. Workers strongly back the idea that Kroger should support their co-workers who are parents by subsidizing the cost of childcare.

Turnover at Kroger is high. The number of workers leaving Kroger has increased four-fold since the onset of COVID. Departures are caused by workers’ safety concerns and desire for better opportunities.

Why do workers quit their jobs at your store?

Workplace Safety, Fairness and Respect

Most Kroger workers are proud of the work they do but feel that the company underpays and disrespects them. As a result, the longer employees work at Kroger, the more critical they are of the company’s practices toward workers and consumers.

What was the highest priority at your store during the COVID pandemic?The COVID pandemic has impacted frontline grocery workers through direct infection and through disruption of civility in grocery stores. Kroger workers feel physically unsafe at work. Especially during the pandemic, workers had to deal with angry and abusive customers and people with erratic behavior within the store.

Despite widespread evidence of greater needs, Kroger has failed to provide adequate security and staffing in the stores. Workers report that inadequate staffing results in unfinished food handling and cleaning work. These staffing shortfalls reduce the quality of food and services and jeopardizes the health and safety of customers.

Over two-thirds of the workers report having difficult experiences with customers during the pandemic. The most frequent problems were customers who refused to wear masks, were verbally abusive, or refused to maintain social distance. A quarter of Kroger workers were confronted by customers who threatened violence, and over a fifth had violent incidents in their store.

According to Kroger workers, store managers did not support workers in a majority of the cases where workers were confronted by abusive or violent customers. Workers report that the overriding management priority during the COVID pandemic has been to maximize store sales over employee safety.

Workers also feel vulnerable to getting COVID. Workers complain that Kroger has failed to enforce well-recognized health standards, such as social distancing and mask wearing among customers.

Workplace stress has a direct impact on the emotional well-being of workers. Over three-quarters of Kroger workers say that their workplace stress follows them home in the form of ongoing depression and anxiety.

A third of workers say that managers change work schedules to retaliate against workers who they do not like. Over a fifth of workers who report such retaliatory management practices are, or recently have been, homeless. This suggests that loss of earnings as a result of arbitrary reductions in hours of work causes some workers to become homeless.

Nearly half of Kroger workers report that store managers unfairly treat some workers better than others. Workers say that managers are not held accountable for their wrongdoing and favoritism.

Despite all these challenges the share of workers who express pride in their work increases with age and seniority. Two-thirds of workers say what they like best about the job at their store is their co-workers. The bond that workers build among themselves as they cooperate to solve problems on the job and withstand economic adversity outside the job represents a rewarding and sustaining outcome from their work at Kroger. These findings suggest that with living wage pay and adequate workplace staffing, Kroger could build a strong and loyal workforce.

Kroger Company

Kroger is the largest supermarket chain in the United States and one of the largest corporations in terms of revenues ($132.5 billion, #17) and employees (465,000, #4). It earned $4.05 billion in operating profits in 2020. Unlike many other companies, Kroger has prospered during the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers spent more money buying food in grocery stores (in-person and on-line) and less money in restaurants.

Annual Sales Per Grocery Store Employee in the US

Kroger has not shared the corporation’s prosperity with its front-line employees. Food clerks with the most seniority and at the top of their wage scale have seen a significant decrease in their real wages. A similar pattern of wage stagnation and decline has been the reality for other Kroger front-line workers.

Kroger Adjusted Operating Profits (in Billions)

The pay for Kroger’s CEO has increased 296 percent over the past decade and is now 909 times greater than the median pay for company employees. This is one of the largest CEO-worker pay gaps of any major American company. As Kroger’s stock price increased, the company recently adopted a stock buyback program that enriched its largest shareholders rather than invest in its front-line workers.

Kroger Expenditures for Hazard Pay versus Stock Buybacks in Fiscal Year 2020

For two months at the start of the pandemic, Kroger provided its front-line grocery store employees with additional pay, but after two months withdrew that extra pay just as the pandemic conditions were getting worse. When local governments proposed mandating such “hazard pay” to reflect the harmful and arduous conditions facing grocery workers, Kroger forcefully opposed these laws, lobbying elected officials to vote against them, just as Kroger has fought efforts by local and state governments to raise the minimum wage.

Kroger CEO Compensation (adjusted to 2021 dollars)

Kroger’s business practices alienate and frustrate its front-line employees and thus undermine the personal ties between workers and consumers. Their treatment of workers is not sustainable in the long run. Kroger has the resources to do better. It can become a more responsible employer by investing in its employees and its communities.

Economic Benefits of a Living Wage for Kroger Workers

Raising the minimum hourly wage and scheduled hours for front-line Kroger workers to provide annual earnings of at least $45,760 a year will generate $624 million more in annual earnings for workers represented by the four UFCW locals that participated in this study. This will create two waves of economic multiplier impacts in those geographic regions.

The first wave of impacts will be from this increase in their spending power, which will create 6,573 new year-round jobs and $1.2 billion in added local sales in Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles County, and Orange County, and their surrounding areas.

These wage increases will reduce workers’ dependence on the social safety net. A consequence of low wages is that taxpayers are subsidizing Kroger by providing vital financial assistance to its low-paid employees. After the increase to a living wage, public assistance outlays in the four regions covered by this study will decrease by $68 million. This includes federal-funded, locally administered SNAP, Medicaid and cash aid benefits.

The second wave of impacts will come from a wage bump for grocery workers who already an annual living wage above $45,760 per year but whose pay will be increased to prevent wage compression with lower-paid workers when their wage is raised. Their aggregate raise of $127 million will support an additional 1,341 new local, year-round jobs and $249 million in added local sales in the four areas represented in this study.

Occupation and Skill Change in the Grocery Industry

Grocery stores are a growing industry, and should be expanding their benefits and training for employees who are supporting that growth. Expenditures for groceries in the United States have grown one percentage point a year over the past 20 years. As a result, overall grocery sales in the U.S., adjusted to 2020 dollars, increased from $536 billion in 2000 to $649 billion in 2020.

These increased sales have been supported by increased productivity. A quarter of a million dollars of groceries are now sold annually for every grocery worker.

The occupations employed in grocery stores are steadily changing. The number of grocery store cashiers has declined 18 percent in the past 20 years. This decline has been offset by growth in food preparation, nonfood merchandise sales and customer service jobs.
Grocery industry employment is projected to decline eight percent over the next decade. A significant part of this decline will be loss of cashier jobs, which are projected to shrink by 17 percent.

Changes in the occupational composition of the grocery industry indicate that stores are relying less on personal salesmanship and more on merchandising, including on-line shopping. The next generation of grocery workers will require even more skills. Grocery workers report seeing their jobs moving increasingly toward functioning within complex systems that require critical thinking, coordination with other workers, budgeting time, system monitoring, comprehending written information, and assessing the costs and benefits of different courses of action.

Private-Public Actions to Reduce Food Insecurity

All American metropolitan areas have “food deserts” – areas without full-service grocery stores. As a result, residents of these communities buy most of their food as convenience stores, where prices are high, the choices are few, the food is less healthy (filled with more sugar), the milk and other items are often out-of-date, and there is little fresh produce. This is a major cause of higher rates of obesity and poor health in America’s low-income neighborhoods. America’s largest grocery chains, including Kroger, have abandoned many of the nation’s low-income areas. One measure of this scarcity is that poorer households have fewer square feet of grocery store footprint per capita than households that are more affluent.

Public actions to promote greater access to healthy foods tend to subsidize existing grocery chain businesses through loans and grants, plus the buying power of SNAP benefits received by low-income shoppers. The vision for these programs needs to expand to include sustainable terms of employment for grocery workers.

Kroger receives government subsidies for building its warehouses and grocery stores. Government subsidies for Kroger should be linked to its investments in low-income areas that lack sufficient grocery options – food deserts. If Kroger and other major grocery chains fail to locate stores in these low-income areas, there are alternative ways to eliminate food deserts. Community-owned, consumer-owned, and employee-owned nonprofit food cooperatives offer another model for distributing fresh food. Food co-ops have succeeded in urban and rural settings for decades. With public support, food cooperatives can also offer a better standard for grocery worker jobs, especially if employees are unionized. As a condition of opening stores in more affluent areas, Kroger should be required to provide financial assistance to food cooperatives that provide a diversity of healthy and affordable food and pay living wages.

In a growing number of cities, Food Policy Councils are hubs for the healthy food systems advocacy, and sometimes organized under the auspices of local government. They are often the best “big tent” for unifying food diverse regional constituents, such as social justice advocates and organized labor, food and nutrition advocates, public agencies, large institutions (such as school districts and hospitals), and environmental and public health advocates. Labor unions should be active participants in these efforts to ensure food integrity, including improving regional food systems and making grocery store jobs more sustainable.

Recommendations

Kroger clearly has the resources to do better. It can become a more responsible employer by investing in its employees and its communities.

  1. Increase the minimum pay for Kroger workers to $45,760 a year through labor negotiations or action by state and local governments.
  2. Provide immediate housing assistance for Kroger employees who are experiencing homelessness or face the threat of eviction.
  3. Double the share of Kroger workers who have full-time jobs from 30 percent to 60 percent.
  4. Provide a 50 percent discount on all groceries for Kroger workers to end their food insecurity.
  5. Provide childcare subsidies for Kroger employees’ who have children younger than 12 years of age.
  6. Provide at least one weeks’ notice of schedule changes for part-time Kroger workers. If this advance notice is not given, provide overtime pay for the hours worked on short notice.
  7. Add two positions to Kroger’s Board of Directors for Kroger’s unionized employees, elected by workers. In addition, create regional worker representative committees, with members selected by the unions that represent the largest share of front-line Kroger employees. These committees will collect data from represented workers, anecdotally and through an annual survey that is reported to Kroger’s Board of Directors and at the annual shareholder meeting.
  8. Amend guidelines for the SNAP program (food stamps) to require a living wage for grocery workers at stores that accept SNAP benefits.
  9. Provide public support for food cooperatives that pay living wages in neighborhoods that are under-served by grocery chains and require Kroger to contribute financial assistance to these co-ops as a condition of getting tax breaks, zoning approvals, and other forms of government subsidies and relief.
  10. Promote food policy councils as “big tent” venues for addressing food integrity issues and unifying food diverse regional constituents, including social justice advocates and organized labor, food and nutrition advocates, public agencies, large institutions (such as school districts and hospitals), and environmental advocates.

Press Coverage

Kroger Investors Pay Gap Proposal Win Emboldens Activists
Clara Hudson, Bloomberg Law (June 23, 2023)

Thoughts on the Kroger, Albertsons merger
By Rob Kaufelt, Supermarket News (April 12, 2023)

Grocery workers oppose Kroger/Albertsons ‘mega-merger’
Kevin Smith, The Orange County Register (April 7, 2023)

Sanders and Warren Grill US’s Largest Grocer on Reports of Rampant Wage Theft
By Sharon Zhang , TruthOut (February 17, 2023)

Elizabeth Warren And Bernie Sanders Hammer Kroger Over Wage Theft Allegations
By Dave Jamieson, Huffington Post (February 16, 2023)

Kroger, Albertsons Merger Could Hurt CA Economy, Critics Warn
By Maggie Fusek, The Patch (November 15, 2022)

How Albertsons, Kroger merger could hurt California’s economyh
By Daniel Flaming and Judy Wood, CalMatters (November 14, 2022)

Why are grocery prices so high? A look at the planned Kroger-Albertsons merger offers some clues
By Laura Clawson, Daily Kos (October 28, 2022)

Elizabeth Warren And Bernie Sanders Lead Opposition To Kroger-Albertsons Merger
By Dave Jamieson, Huffington Post (October 26, 2022)

5 things to know about Kroger, as it plans to merge with grocery competitor Albertsons
By Ryan Suppe, Belleville News-Democrat (October 17, 2022)

A Three-Phase Strategy to Reduce Homelessness
By Andrea Danes, Route Fifty (April 27, 2022)

A Watershed for 47,000 SoCal Grocery Workers: The Biggest Raise in Decades After teetering for weeks at the edge of a strike, Kroger and Albertsons employees approve a new union contract.
By Bobbi Murray, Capital and Main (April 20, 2022)

20年來最大增幅 南加超市員工加薪19%至31%
編譯組, World Journal (April 18, 2022)

UFCW forces through three-year deal covering 47,000 Southern California grocery workers
By Kevin Martinez, WSWS (April 18, 2022)

‘Unified and militant’: Grocery workers get double-digit pay raises in new contract
By Margot Roosevelt, Los Angeles Times (April 14, 2022)

Strike Averted: OC Grocery Workers Vote on New Contract After Fighting for Better Pay
By Hosam Elattar, Voice of OC (April 12, 2022)

California Grocery Workers Vote to Authorize Strike on Supermarkets
By Jordan Varney, The Davis Vanguard (April 12, 2022)

Carl Icahn Pens Letter to Kroger Chairman and CEO
By Sydnee Gatewood, Guru Focus (April 5, 2022)

Grocery workers who are food insecure
Andrew Moss, Augusta Free Press (April 3, 2022)

A Major Strike Is on the Horizon at Grocery Stores Across Southern California
By Alex N. Press, Jacobin (April 2, 2022)

Grocery Store Workers Overwhelmingly Authorize their Unions to Call a Strike
By Mark Friedman, Random Lengths News (April 1, 2022)

Why 48,000 California Grocery Workers Have Authorized A Strike
Errol Schweizer, Forbes (March 29, 2022)

Grocery Store Workers Vote to Call a Strike
By HEWS Media Group (March 29, 2022)

Grocery store workers in Southern California to vote on possible strike
By Linda Rios, Kevin Martinez, WSWS (March 21, 2022)

Will Orange County’s Grocery Workers Strike? Union Claims Unfair Labor Practices
By Hosam Elattar, Voice of OC (March 18, 2022)

Los Angeles Grocery Store Workers Vote to Authorize Strike
By HEWS Media Group (March 10, 2022)

Preparan huelga en cadenas de supermercados
Redacción/ Adelante Valle (March 10, 2022)

4 things to know about Kroger as it returns to San Antonio
By Richard Webner, San Antonio Express-News (March 8, 2022)

Grocery Store Contract Talks
By KTLA TV Los Angeles (March 1, 2022)

Grocery Workers Rally
By KFI AM Los Angeles (March 1, 2022)

Grocery workers rally for higher pay, more staffing, better COVID-19 safeguards
By Kevin Smith, Orange County Register (February 28, 2022)

Southern California grocery workers rally for increased pay, staffing
By Brandon Richardson, Long Beach Business Journal (February 28, 2022)

Grocery Workers Rally at Vons in Tustin
By KPCC Radio Los Angeles (February 28, 2022)

Grocery Workers Rally
By CBS News, KCAL 9 Los Angeles (February 28, 2022)

Grocery Workers Rally
By Spectrum News 1 Los Angeles (February 28, 2022)

Strikes absolutely work and the one at King Soopers proves it
By Ken Bonetti, Boulder Daily Camera (February 24, 2022)

Kroger workers struggle to afford food and housing
Lisa McCree, LA Times Today (February 16, 2022)

Kroger booms; not us, say workers
By Arkansas-Democrat Gazette (February 15, 2022)

Business Booms at Kroger-Owned Grocery Stores, but Workers Are Left Behind
By Sapna Maheshwari and Michael Corkery, New York Times (February 12, 2022)

Workers Reveal What It’s Really Like To Work At Kroger
By Naveena Vijayan, Mashed (February 11, 2022)

Recent Study Reveals Sad Fact About Grocery Workers And Food Insecurity
By Hope Ngo, Tasting Table (February 8, 2022)

Idaho grocery worker union rep. says, ‘There’s no labor shortage, there’s a pay shortage.’
By George Prentice, Boise State Public Radio News (February 8, 2022)

A new study reveals that many of the region’s grocery workers are near the bottom of the food chain
By George Prentice, Boise State Public Radio News NPR (February 7, 2022)

A pesar de la escasez de mano de obra, los trabajadores ven pocas ganancias en seguridad económica
By Noam Scheiber, Chicago Tribune (February 4, 2022)

Despite Labor Shortages, Workers See Few Gains in Economic Security
By Noam Scheiber, New York Times (February 3, 2022)

US Economy: Part-Time Workers Struggling To Pay Expenses Despite Worker Shortage
By Maggie Valenti, International Business Times (February 3, 2022)

Will the Great Resignation also lift up food and ag workers?
By Theresa Lieb, GreenBiz (February 3, 2022)

Why Most Kroger Workers Are Food Insecure
By Peter Dreier, The American Prospect (February 1, 2022)

How Kroger Is Using DC Spin Doctors to Fight Their Unionized Workers
By Andrew Perez, Jacobin (January 28, 2022)

Western workers fight for better conditions
By Ellice Lueders, High Country News (January 27, 2022)

Amerikas nya klasskrig
By Nyhetsbanken (January 27, 2022)

Strike-ending contract nets some Denver grocery workers a $5 raise
By Amanda Pampuro, Courthouse News (January 25, 2022)

‘Strikes Absolutely Work’: Kroger Workers Win New Contract
By Kenny Stancil, Common Dreams (January 25, 2022)

Meet a mom of 2 who became homeless while working for the biggest grocery chain in the US: ‘Kroger doesn’t care about us.’
By Jason Lalljee, Business Insider (January 24, 2022)

A Guerra de Classes dos Estados Unidos da América
By Brasil 247 (January 24, 2022)

With Friday’s deal, King Soopers labor dispute now in workers’ hands
By Judith Kohler, The Denver Post (January 22, 2022)

Denver-area grocery workers return to work after 9-day strike ends
By Amanda Pampuro, Courthouse News Service (January 21, 2022)

Why they walked out: King Soopers workers on life on the margins
By Sam Tabachnik, The Denver Post (January 21, 2022)

Kroger workers’ strike in Colorado ends after 10 days, tentative deal reached
By Maura Barrett, NBC News (January 21, 2022)

Colorado Workers’ Strike Ends as Union Reaches Tentative Agreement With Kroger
By Sharon Zhang, Truthout (January 21, 2022)

Sanders Backs Kroger Workers Striking Over ‘Corporate Greed’
By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams (January 21, 2022)

Workers Describe Life At Colorado Grocery Giant
By Kevin Colleran, Vertical Lobby (January 21, 2022)

Food Workers Are Struggling to Put Food on Their Tables
By Stephanie Brown, Very Well Health (January 21, 2022)

Why they walked out: King Soopers workers on life on the margins
By USA Latest News (January 21, 2022)

‘Massive anxiety’: 75% of workers at huge grocer struggling to make ends meet
By Art Moore, WND (January 20, 2022)

People With Full-Time Jobs Are Struggling To Find Housing In Southern California
By Ethan Ward, LAist (January 20, 2022)

Why the King Soopers strike matters
By Dave Anderson, Boulder Weekly (January 20, 2022)

Support the King Soopers strikers
By Katherine Schaff, The Denver Post (January 20, 2022)

La nueva guerra de clases de Estados Unidos
By Adel Ruíz, Nueva Revolución (January 20, 2022)

Sanders Stands with Over 8,000 Striking Kroger Workers and Demands Grocery Chain Reach a Fair Agreement
By Bernie Sanders, Press Release (January 20, 2022)

Fred Meyer, QFC workers struggle in Washington to make ends meet, new report shows
By David Gutman, The Seattle Times (January 19, 2022)

Ralphs, Food 4 Less workers aren’t earning a living wage, report says
By Kevin Smith, The Orange County Register (January 19, 2022)

Why Is Food Insecurity So Widespread In The Grocery Industry?
By Errol Schweizer, Forbes (January 19, 2022)

Dos de cada tres trabajadores de Kroger batallan para pagar alimentos y vivienda, según una encuesta
By Jamie Ding, Los Angeles Times (January 19, 2022)

Trabajadores de Kroger batallan para pagar alimentos y vivienda
By Eudomar Chacón Hernández, América Retail (January 19, 2022)

Centennial King Soopers workers take part in strike
By Ellis Arnold, Colorado Community Media (January 18, 2022)

More Than 8,000 Kroger Grocery Workers Strike in Colorado
By Julia Conley, Wall Street Window (January 18, 2022)

The workers are on the march – America’s new class war
By Chris Hedges, ScheerPost (January 18, 2022)

Survey Unveils Kroger Workers’ Struggles to Afford Food and Housing
By Victor Omondi, Your Black World (January 18, 2022)

Labor dispute continues as King Soopers, union remain at bargaining table
By Judith Kohler, The Denver Post (January 17, 2022)

Kroger Employees Struggle With High Cost of Living
By Katharina Buchholz, Statista (January 17, 2022)

Striking Kroger workers in Colorado take on industry giant
By Natalia Marques, Peoples Dispatch (January 17, 2022)

Trabajadores de supermercados enfrentan carencias alimenticias por los bajos salaries
By Jacqueline García, La Opinión (January 16, 2022)

Striking King Soopers workers demand higher pay, citing COVID-19 risks
By Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS MoneyWatch (January 14, 2022)

A mass strike of grocery workers in Colorado compounds retail’s pandemic travails
By Adeel Hassan, New York Times (January 14, 2022)

Kroger workers experienced hunger, homelessness, and couldn’t pay their rent in 2021. Its CEO made $22 million the previous year.
By Jason Lalljee, Business Insider (January 14, 2022)

Kroger employees are surrounded by food at work — but many struggle to afford food and rent, says a survey of 10,200 workers
By Meera Jagannathan, Market Watch (January 14, 2022)

Survey says 63% of Kroger workers can’t cover basic monthly expenses
By Dan Monk, WCPO 9 Cincinnati (January 14, 2022)

Workers Are Paying the Price for Kroger’s Profits
By Kim Kelly, The Nation (Jaunary 14, 2022)

8,000 King Soopers Employees Begin 3-Week Strike in Protest of Unfair Labor Practices
By Julia Peterman, Whole Foods Magazine (January 14, 2022)

Kroger employees are surrounded by food at work – but many struggle to pay for food and rent, survey of 10,200 workers finds
By Canada Express News (January 14, 2022)

New report reveals workers for company that owns Food 4 Less struggle to afford healthy food
By Sacramento News & Review (January 14, 2022)

More than 8,000 Kroger grocery workers strike in Colorado
By Julia Conley, Nation of Change (January 14, 2022)

75% of Kroger Workers Meet Definition of ‘Food Insecure,’ 14% Have Been Homeless in Last Year, According to New Report
By Maija Zummo, Cleveland Scene (January 14, 2022)

1 in 7 Kroger Workers Experienced Homelessness, Many Are Food Insecure
By Ola, TMZ (January 14, 2022)

Belabored: Dangerous Work
By Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen, Dissent (January 14, 2022)

Grocery braces for strike over pay, safety
By Stephen K. Hirst, The Colorado Springs Business Journal (January 14, 2022)

63% of Kroger employees can’t cover basic expenses
By Colorado News (January 14, 2022)

Kroger Workers Start a 3 Week Strike; Shares Fall
By Sheryl Sheth, Smarter Analyst (January 13, 2022)

Survey: 78% of Kroger workers are food insecure
By The Stand (January 13, 2022)

Grocery Workers Go On Strike Across Denver Area
By Samuel, Quick Telecast (January 13, 2022)

Homeless and Skipping Meals: Kroger Employee Survey Reveals Shocking Wages, Conditions
By Nick Mordowanec, Newsweek (January 13, 2022)

Majority of Kroger workers struggle with food, housing insecurity, report says
By Brandon Richardson, Long Beach Business Journal (January 13, 2022)

Washington grocery workers ‘begging’ for more hours as wages don’t keep up with bills
By Rubydeluna Ruby de Luna and Katie Campbell Katie Campbell, KUOW National Public Radio (January 13, 2022)

8,400 Kroger workers strike as employees reportedly can’t afford groceries
By Ben Kesslen, New York Post (January 13, 2022)

8,400 trabajadores de los supermercados King Soopers, propiedad de Kroger, se van a huelga pidiendo más sueldo y beneficios
By Raúl Rodríguez Cota, El Diario NY (January 13, 2022)

‘We have people living out of their cars’: 8,000 Kroger workers strike over wages
By Michael Sainato, The Guardian (January 13, 2022)

Disturbing New Report Shows Dire Conditions For Grocery Workers
By Hamilton Nolan, Workplace Fairness (January 13, 2022)

‘The companies were thriving, but our workers didn’t thrive’: Colorado grocery workers strike
By Laura Clawson, Daily Kos Labor (January 13, 2022)

Kroger lambasts striking workers
By Justin Joffe, PR Daily (January 13, 2022)

EXCLUSIVE: LEAKED MEMO REVEALS KROGER EXECUTIVES KNEW FOR YEARS THAT MOST WORKERS LIVE IN POVERTY
By Jordan Zakarin, More Perfect Union (January 13, 2022)

Kroger employee survey reveals shocking wages, conditions
by Amelia, Greeley Tribune (January 13, 2022 )

‘Great Resignation is real’: Thousands of Kroger grocery workers strike in Colorado
By Amanda Pampuro, Courthouse News Service (January 13, 2022)

Kroger workers strike as employees can’t afford groceries: report
By Devon Bell, Sports Grind Entertainment ( January 13, 2022)

Kroger Employee Survey Reveals Shocking Wages and Conditions for the Homeless and Those Who Skip Meals
By Jeff Salle, Ceng News (January 13, 2022)

Kroger employee survey reveals shocking wages and conditions
By Spraguer (January 13, 2022)

The majority of Kroger workers suffer from food and housing insecurity, the report said. – Long Beach, California
By Eminetra Long Beach (January 13, 2022)

Kroger’s King Soopers strike could continue for weeks
By Alayna Alvarez, Axios Denver (January 13, 2022)

8,400 Kroger Workers Go on Strike as Study Highlights Economic Plight of Grocery Workers
By Democracy Now (January 13, 2022)

Hero strike
By Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria, Popular Information (January 13, 2022)

The Importance of Empowering Employees
By Aman Kidwai, Fortune (January 12, 2022)

At a subsidiary of a $4-billion corporation, these low-wage workers are striking for better pay
By Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times (January 12, 2022)

Why Are Denver Kroger Workers On Strike?
By Errol Schweizer, Forbes (January 12, 2022)

Two-thirds of Kroger workers struggle with food, housing costs: survey
By Monique Beals, The Hill (January 12, 2022)

75% Of Kroger Workers Are ‘Food Insecure,’ According To New Report
By Maija Zummo, LEO Weekly (January 12, 2022)

A Horrifying Report Shows the Miserable Working Conditions at Kroger
By Alex N. Press, Jacobin (Januatry 12, 2022)

King Soopers Workers in Colorado Strike, Union Rejects Sweetened Offer
By Lynn Petrak, Progressive Grocer (January 12, 2022)

Adrenaline and Hope Running High: 8,000 King Soopers Workers Strike In Denver Metro
By Ellie Sullum, 303 Magazine (January 12, 2022)

KROGER WORKERS SURVEY REVEALS ECONOMIC HARDSHIP, FOOD INSECURITY
By Breitbart News Network (January 11, 2022)

2 out of 3 Kroger workers struggle to afford food and housing, survey finds
By Jamie Ding, Los Angeles Times (January 11, 2022)

Report finds high prevalence of food, housing insecurity in Kroger employees
By Seth Klamann, The Denver Gazette (January 11, 2022)

Union gives King Soopers’ “last, best” deal thumbs down; both sides brace for strike
By Judith Kohler, The Denver Post (January 11, 2022)

$14.25/hour, can’t pay bills: Grocery workers report low morale and income
By Danielle Chiriguayo, KCRW Public Radio (January 11, 2022)

Many Grocery Workers Can’t Make Ends Meet Two Years Into The Pandemic
By Albert Samaha, BuzzFeed (January 11, 2022)

75% of Kroger Workers Meet Definition of ‘Food Insecure,’ According to New Report
By Maija Zummo, Cincinnati CityBeat (January 11, 2022)

New Report Reveals Kroger Grocery Workers Struggle to Afford Healthy Food
By Bobbi Murray, Capital & Main (January 11, 2022)

Kroger workers survey reveals economic hardship, food insecurity
By Rich Klein, UPI (January 11, 2022)

Disturbing New Report Shows Dire Conditions For Grocery Workers
By Hamilton Nolan, In These Times (January 11, 2022)

Economic hardship and food insecurity are revealed in a poll of Kroger employees
By Alex Silman, Nokia News (January 11, 2022)

Study Highlights Food, Housing Issues Faced By Kroger Workers
By Morning NewsBeat (January 11, 2022)

Kroger workers survey reveals economic hardship, food insecurity
By MarketScreener (January 11, 2022)

(Address geocoding in this report provided by Texas A&M University GeoServices and the US Census Bureau.)

Area of Work: Economy, People
Tags: Board of Directors, Colorado, COVID-19, Department of Agriculture, Economic Impacts, Essential Workers, Food Insecurity, Food Policy Councils, Food Stamps, Government Subsidies, Grocery Workers, Hazard Pay, Homelessness, Household Spending, Kroger, Kroger Workers, Living Wage, low wages, Notice of Schedule Changes, Part-Time, Public Assistance, Questionnaire, Scheduling, SNAP, Southern California, Survey, Tax Breaks, UFCW, United Food and Commercial Workers, Wages, Washington, Working Conditions, Working Poor, Workplace Safety, Zoning Approvals