Teamsters Voted in to Represent Drivers at Kroger Fulfillment Center, Say it's a First

In a prepared statement released earlier this week, the Teamsters said the drivers at the Kroger Romulus, Michigan, fulfillment center voted 3-1 to join Teamsters Local 337, which the union described as a "landslide." The Teamsters said the number of workers covered by the outcome of the vote was 289.

The union said the victory is the first for it at a Kroger KR fulfillment center. 

Kroger is extensively unionized, according to its 10-K report filed earlier with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "A majority of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements negotiated with local unions affiliated with one of several different international unions" the grocer said in its filing, without specifying the unions that represent its workers.

Spokesmen for Kroger and the Teamsters did not respond to FreightWaves queries regarding the vote or whether drivers at the fulfillment centers are covered by unions other than the Teamsters.

"I want to congratulate Kroger workers for their commitment to a better workplace" Todd Lince, president of Local 337 and the Teamsters Warehouse Division representative, said in a news release from the Teamsters. "They have set a powerful example for workers everywhere. We are incredibly proud to have organized the first Kroger fulfillment center in the U.S."

This page from Kroger's website, which includes the Romulus facility, suggests there are approximately 50 Kroger fulfillment centers covering its various retail segments. Kroger operates not only Kroger stores but also such companies as Fred Meyer and Ralph's.

The election has not been certified yet by the National Labor Relations Board. When that occurs, it will be posted on its page of recent unionization elections.

Battle in California 

Meanwhile, a Teamsters local in California is facing a complaint from the National Labor Relations Board over its relationship with an employee, a worker who already has been at the center of an NLRB action against the local two years ago.

In an action filed last week, NLRB Region 21 charged Teamsters Local 848, which represents drivers at Savage Services in Wilmington, California, with threats against a worker for objecting to certain union payments. Savage hauls oil byproducts.

That worker, Nelson Medina, last year "objected to the payment of dues and fees for nonrepresentational activities."

In turn, the union, according to the NLRB complaint, "threatened (Medina) with sending a letter of removal to (Savage) if (Medina) failed to pay his arrear objector fees without providing Medina the required protections." The NLRB complaint also says the Teamsters local "threatened issuing (Medina) a fine if he is suspended for failure to pay his arrear objector fees."

The complaint says that such actions constitute "restraining and coercing employees" in exercising some of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Medina is being aided by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which has long challenged the Teamsters in individual battles over representation or, in many cases, efforts to decertify the Teamsters or other unions. 

In a news release announcing the NLRB action, the foundation said at issue is whether the Teamsters local violated a 1962 NLRB decision, known as Philadelphia Sheraton. In that decision, according to the foundation, unions are required to "inform workers of exactly what obligations they must fulfill to satisfy the requirements of a forced unionism clause in a union contract. This includes providing employees notice of how the union calculates what the employee must pay in terms of dues and a reasonable opportunity for the employee to pay those amounts."

The reference to "forced unionism" refers to the fact that California is not a right-to-work state. In those states, workers have more leeway to avoid being part of a union, even after one is elected or has signed a collective bargaining agreement.

This is not the first time the foundation has teamed up with Medina to fight Local 848. In 2022, according to the foundation, in a dispute along the lines of the most recent case, Medina won a case involving the local paying back about $6,000 from him and about 60 coworkers at Savage over political activities funded by the union.

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