Stop & Shop reaches tentative contract deal, ending strike

Bloomberg

Stop & Shop reached a tentative contract deal with the union representing more than 30,000 of its New England employees, ending the biggest private sector strike in years.
“The agreement preserves healthcare and retirement benefits, provides wage increases, and maintains time-and-a-half pay for current members,” chapters of the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) union said in a statement.
Jeff Bollen, president of one of the five UFCW locals that has been on strike, said in an interview that the deal was “a very, very good contract.” If approved by members, the
agreement would provide across-the-board wage increases and defeat a slew of concessions sought by the company, he added.
“Everybody that’s working there is going to get everything they had,” he said.
The proposed contract would include some cuts for part-time employees hired at the company in the future, who would receive less in pension contributions, he said.
They would also no longer be guaranteed time-and-a-half pay when working on Sundays during their first three years at the company.
Bollen said labour advocates might be able to persuade the Massachusetts legislature to reinstate a legal requirement that employees there get paid time-and-a-half on Sundays, which it ended last year as part of a deal to raise the minimum wage.
The strikers had drawn support from a slew of Democratic presidential contenders, among them Joe Biden, who rallied with employees behind a banner reading “One Job Should Be Enough.” A week before Biden’s planned visit, Massachusetts Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren brought doughnuts and coffee to picketers in Somerville, Mass.
The union had achieved a “major victory” in the face of efforts by management to “decimate” the contract, Bollen said UFCW has said that Stop & Shop mostly employs part-time workers.
Employee Richard Libby, a union shop steward, offered a more negative assessment, saying he was worried that letting some future employees be paid less than time-and-a-half on Sundays would incentivise the company to schedule those workers to avoid paying long-time employees the higher rate.
“I’m not happy that I’m going to have to sit in front of a bunch of members and tell them, ‘Well we promised you no cuts and no givebacks and no concessions, but the new hires
are going to get them — sorry,’” he said.
In a statement, Stop & Shop said, “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.
We deeply appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers during this time, and we look forward to welcoming them back to Stop & Shop.”