CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Supermarket giant Kroger Co. and a grocery labor union have tentatively agreed to a contract, setting up a Thursday vote in which 3,300 workers in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky will decide whether to end a two-month strike.þþNegotiators worked out an agreement Sunday and Monday, said Jim Lowthers, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400. The sides came together at a federal mediator's request.þþLowthers declined to discuss agreement details but acknowledged that health care concerns -- the primary sticking point -- had been addressed.þþA Kroger spokesman could not be reached for comment.þþUnion workers have been off the job since Oct. 13, when contract talks with the Cincinnati company fell apart.þþThe chain has closed 44 supermarkets in the three states.þþBoth sides have felt pressure to settle so stores could reopen for at least the end of the Christmas shopping season, Lowthers said. It would probably take about a week to restock and reopen the stores, he said.þþþþ
Source: NY Times
