Ralphs Reaches Tentative Agreement With Southern California UFCW Locals

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ralphs Grocery Company, a division of The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) operating in Southern California, announced today that a tentative agreement has been reached with United Food & Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Locals representing its associates. It includes associates working in stores and pharmacies.

The fully recommended agreement is with UFCW Locals 8, 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1428 and 1442.  

The agreement covers 19,000 Ralphs associates working in 256 stores in Southern California.  The stores are located in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.  

"We are pleased to reach an agreement that will continue to provide our associates the best total compensation package in our industry in Southern California," said Donna Giordano, president of Ralphs. "The patience displayed by our associates during this process has been nothing short of remarkable. I want to thank them for the service they provide every day to our customers and our company."

The unions will be scheduling voting meetings with their membership for ratification.

Kroger, the nation's largest traditional grocery retailer, employs more than 338,000 associates who serve customers in 2,439 supermarkets and multi- department stores in 31 states under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's. The company also operates 788 convenience stores, 361 fine jewelry stores, 1,046 supermarket fuel centers and 40 food processing plants in the U.S. Kroger, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, focuses its charitable efforts on supporting hunger relief, health and wellness initiatives, and local organizations in the communities it serves. For more information about Kroger, please visit www.kroger.com.

SOURCE The Kroger Co.