(Reuters) -More than 8,000 workers at nearly 80 Kroger Co-owned King Soopers stores on Friday called off their strike after reaching a tentative deal with the U.S. retail giant, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union said.
The details of the contract would be made public in the coming days to the union members after a voting by workers beginning Monday, the union said in a statement. Kroger did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The workers went on a strike on Jan. 12 after several failed negotiations. The union had rejected a $170 million offer made last week by Kroger, which termed it as the “last, best and final offer”.
The offer proposed wage increases of up to $4.50 per hour depending on job classification and tenure, with the starting rate of pay increased to $16 per hour. The union, however, sought raises of at least $6 per hour for everyone.
Rising COVID-19 infections and inflation have pushed U.S. workers to demand better working conditions and higher pay, with employees at Deere & Co and Kellogg Co’s cereal plants recently securing better deals after weeks of strike.
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
