Stop And Shop Strike
After more than three months of negotiations and 11 days on strike, over 30,000 Stop & Shop workers have reached a tentative agreement with the supermarket chain that they said met their demands for better pay and health care coverage.
Stop & Shop and the five New England UFCW union locals will return to negotiations on Tuesday, March 26, Wednesday, March 27 and Thursday, March 28. Stop & Shop remains committed to good faith bargaining and to reaching fair new contracts as quickly as possible. Stop & Shop workers have gone on strike as of early Thursday afternoon. Pat Brooks, CCToday's travel and dining editor, was shopping at the East Harwich Stop & Shop when the strike commenced. Thursday, more than 31,000 Stop & Shop workers across New England walked off the job. “We are officially out on strike,” Jeff Bollen, the president of United Food and Commercial.
The employees, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union at more than 240 Stop & Shops across Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, returned to work on Monday morning after reaching the deal on Sunday.
Details of the proposed three-year agreement will not be made public until the 31,000 union members across five locals ratify the contract. Voting will begin this week.
“The new contract does satisfy the different points of contention,” Jessica Raimundo, a union spokeswoman, said in an interview.
The union said in a statement: “The agreement preserves health care and retirement benefits, provides wage increases, and maintains time-and-a-half pay on Sunday for current members.”
It added, “Under this proposed contract, our members will be able to focus on continuing to help customers in our communities.”
A previous three-year contract expired on Feb. 23, and workers had protested what they considered cuts in the new contract to health care, take-home pay and other benefits. Stop & Shop continued negotiations with the union throughout the strike.
The workers on strike included cashiers, stockers, bakers, deli clerks and butchers. Most full-time employees at Stop & Shop earn $21.30 an hour, said Jennifer Brogan, a spokeswoman for the chain.
“Our associates’ top priority will be restocking our stores so we can return to taking care of our customers and communities,” Ms. Brogan said in a statement.
When the strike began, Stop & Shops across the three states set in motion a contingency plan to keep the stores open. The chain sent out support staff members and temporary replacement workers to several supermarkets. Some stores were forced to close, although union and supermarket officials could not say precisely how many.
During negotiations, Stop & Shop employees argued that the chain’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize, reported profits of more than $2 billion to its shareholders last year, and could afford to compensate workers better.
The strike drew support from several likely and current Democratic presidential candidates, including Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., as well as Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, whose campaign staff is represented by a unit of the U.F.C.W.
Mr. Sanders said he stood “with U.F.C.W. workers in their fight to protect health care and workers’ rights.” Ms. Warren brought doughnuts to picketers and implored Stop & Shop customers to respect the picket line. “When workers fight, workers win,” she tweeted.
Stop & Shop announced Sunday evening that the corporation has reached 'fair new tentative agreements with UFCW Locals 328, 371, 1445, and 1459,' ending the workers' strike, CBS Boston reports. More than 30,000 employees have been on strike since April 11.
According to Stop & Shop, the three-year agreement included 'increased pay for all associates; continued excellent health coverage for eligible associates; and ongoing defined benefit pension benefits for all eligible associates.'
The agreement will now need to be ratified by the unions.
'Our associates' top priority will be restocking our stores so we can return to taking care of our customers and communities and providing them with the service they deserve,' the store said Sunday.
The union said 'today is a powerful victory for the 31,000 hardworking men and women of Stop & Shop who courageously stood up to fight for what all New Englanders want.'
Stop And Shop Strike 2019
A number of high-profile faces joined the picket line.
Former Vice President Joe Biden spoke at a rally Thursday in support of the striking workers. Biden tweeted the day after the strike began that the supermarket's plan to cut employee wages and benefits 'is wrong.'
Thousands of Stop & Shop employees at 240 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island were part of the strike.