LABOR LAWS AND UNIONS

The Kroger Co., situated in Cincinnati, Ohio, is one of the country’s leading grocery sellers with financial revenue of more than 82 billion in 2010. The Kroger Co. covers numerous states with store arrangements that comprise “grocery and multi-department stores, convenience stores, and mall jewelry stores” (Kroger, n.d., para. 1). They function “under nearly two dozen names, all of which share the similar conviction in building sturdy local ties and brand loyalty with their patrons” (Kroger, para. 1). Food stores are their main commerce and account for almost 95 percent of the total corporation sales. Their convenience and jewelry stores and manufacturing facilities add to the rest of the entire sales (Kroger, n.d.). Kroger employees belong to the United Food and Commercial Workers union. In UFCW, the people form the union. They come collectively with their coworkers, and they put forward and choose by ballot union officers. They also establish the working circumstances and apprehensions bargained in an agreement, and they are part of a bigger movement to advance the lives of employees in the workplace and in their neighborhoods. The more employees who unite collectively, the more management will listen to what the workers have to say. In union there is momentum and without, “union employees have only a small number of rights such as minimum wage, overtime after 40 hours, and unemployment insurance” (Kroger, para. 2). With a union, one enjoys many other benefits ensured in a union agreement, such as, “negotiated wages, health care and retirement plans, defined work schedules, grievance procedures, reasonable workload requirements, protection from unfair treatment and favoritism by the boss, job security and seniority rights and a voice on the job to bargain for other benefits.” (About UFCW, 2011, para. 1).