Kowalski’s Markets workers to get $2-$4 per hour raises under new contract

Kowalski’s Markets workers at six stores in the Minneapolis area will get raises of $2 to $4 an hour by 2025 under a new contract that was “overwhelmingly ratified” this week, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663 announced.

The vote averted a strike that had been slated to begin Friday.

The two-year contract covers more than 600 workers. In addition to the pay increase, it expands 401(k) access to all union members and offers increased contributions, as well as union healthcare with no employee contribution, the union said.

“I’m excited we secured pay equity for all union employees, because it allows the work environment to feel more fair and just, and that’s important to me,” Aidan Lindon, deli specialist at the Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Kowalski’s said in a statement.

Kowalski’s Markets did not respond to a request to comment earlier this week, after the grocer reached a tentative agreement with the union.

In a statement to WGB last month, Kowalski’s COO Mike Oase said: “We are proud of our current proposal, which includes historically high wage increases as well as a more comprehensive healthcare plan that is less expensive to the employees.”

Workers at the six Kowalski’s stores in Minneapolis and its western suburbs voted last month to approve a three-day unfair labor practices strike. The employees had been without a collective-bargaining agreement since March 5, the union said.

Kowalski’s was founded in 1986, after the owners purchased a Red Owl Country Store in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and converted it. There are now 11 Kowalski’s Market locations in Minnesota.