CHARLESTON, W.VA. Kroger stores reopen after labor dispute is settled

A store in West Virginia and two in Ohio will not reopen.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- It was like a family reunion Monday at some Kroger grocery stores in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky when smiling shoppers and employees greeted each other for the first time since a two-month strike began.
"Good morning," Charleston City Councilwoman Mary Jean Davis said to Kroger employees as she strolled the aisles with her cart. "Isn't this exciting ... Welcome back."
The 41 stores, including ones in Proctorville, Belpre and Marietta, Ohio, reopened just days after an agreement was reached in the labor dispute.
"I had to drive to Athens [Ohio] several weekends to get the special foods I need because only Kroger carries some of them," said Dick Young, 60, of Waverly, W.Va., a shopper at the Kroger in Marietta. "Before they closed I had to stock up. I am very happy they're back."
Employees worked around the clock to restock shelves and greeted shoppers with coffee, cookies and doughnuts.
Delivery trucks carrying meat, produce and other items had begun arriving at the stores Friday, one day after members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 ratified a new contract.
Head deli clerk Pam Haymaker, of Dunbar, was thrilled to be back.
"I missed all my girls," Haymaker said of her co-workers.
"They're like my best friends and confidantes."
Health-care dispute
Some 3,300 union workers at 44 stores in the three states went on strike Oct. 13 over health-care benefits and other issues. Kroger closed all the stores during the strike, and company officials said three stores -- one in West Virginia and one each in Gallipolis and Pomeroy, Ohio -- will not reopen.
The two sides agreed to changes in the health-care plan, while Kroger increased the percentage it pays into the union health-care fund.
Strikes against Kroger and two other grocers continue in California.