UPDATED: Stop & Shop Workers Go On Strike - SEE VIDEO

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Friday, April 12, 2019

GoLocalWorcester Business Team

Union workers at Stop & Shop walked off the job on Thursday at 1 PM.

On Tuesday, the Union representing the workers' issues the following:

Stop & Shop members have ANOTHER delegation working on their behalf: the entire Massachusetts delegation to the United States House of Representatives.

The strike impacts 31,000 workers.

Stop & Shop has said they will reopen all store and will staff them with corporate workers and temporary staff.

"Given that negotiations with assistance of the federal mediators are continuing, we are disappointed that the UFCW chose to order a work stoppage in an attempt to disrupt service at our stores. Stop & Shop has contingency plans in place to minimize disruption," said Stop & Shop.

Our representatives sent a letter to Mark McGowan, president of Stop & Shop Supermarkets, stating their support for UFCW Stop & Shop workers and expressing their displeasure with any company attempts to cut pay and benefits, and expressing their belief that the workers are the reason for the company's success and deserve decent take-home pay, and healthcare and pension benefits.

Stop & Shop had issued the following statement on Tuesday:

Update - April 8, 2019

Negotiations continued last week with the five New England UFCW union locals with the support of several federal mediators. During these discussions, Stop & Shop improved its March 28 “Final Offer” and offered new, three-year collective bargaining agreements that provide overall pay and benefits better than most of our competitors and improvements for our associates. Because there have been inaccurate statements made about Stop & Shop’s positions in negotiations, we believe it is important for our customers and our associates to have access to the complete facts on Stop & Shop’s offer. That is why today we have made the offers to each of the five unions available in their entirety, as well as summaries of each offer, available by clicking on the buttons below.

These offers include:

Across-the-board pay increases for all associates – no one’s pay would be cut
Continued “Gold Level” health care benefits as defined by the federal government at substantially below-market costs for eligible associates – and no changes to current deductibles
Continued support for and increased company contributions to the UFCW’s national defined benefit pension fund for current full-and vested part-time associates – a very rare benefit in the New England retail industry; and
Generous "voluntary retirement incentive offers” for long service associates

Negotiations have been complex, largely because of factors specific to our region and industry – fierce competition from non-union retailers, new state mandates on minimum wage and paid sick leave, and increased costs related to health and retirement benefits. We believe this proposal represents a responsible balance that continues to keep Stop & Shop’s full-time associates among the highest paid in the industry while also providing pay increases and a wide range of benefits for those working full- or part-time schedules.

Our goal continues to be to reach fair new contracts as quickly as possible.

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