CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Kroger and union representatives planned to begin talks Tuesday night aimed at ending a two-week strike at 44 stores in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, a union official said.þþBut Jim Lowthers, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, would not say where the negotiations would be held. A Kroger spokesman said he could not confirm that talks were to begin.þþTalks between the union and the company broke down two days before the strike began on Oct. 13 and have not resumed since then.þþSome 3,300 workers in the three states walked out after voting down a proposed contract from the company that called for 8 percent increases to health benefits.þþThe strikers in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio are part of a growing number of grocery store workers who walked off the job to protest higher health care contributions.þþAbout 4,000 union workers at Kroger supermarkets across Indiana voted overwhelmingly Friday to reject a five-year contract offer from the Cincinnati-based company.þþSimilar contract disputes also are going on in Southern California, where thousands of UFCW members are striking three supermarket chains: Kroger's Ralphs, Safeway Inc.'s Vons and Albertsons Inc. þþ
Source: NY Times
