Stop and Shop says it's working to reopen stores; union issues statement

Posted 4/11/19

At about 1 p.m. this afternoon, Thursday, April 11, workers at the Bristol Stop & Shop walked away from their posts and picked up picket signs , joining some 31,000 fellow Stop & Shop …

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Stop and Shop says it's working to reopen stores; union issues statement

Posted

At about 1 p.m. this afternoon, Thursday, April 11, workers at the Bristol Stop & Shop walked away from their posts and picked up picket signs, joining some 31,000 fellow Stop & Shop employees across the region.

The employees are members of the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 328, 371, 919, 1445, and 1459. According to a statement from the union, they are walking off their jobs to protest the company’s proposed drastic and unreasonable cuts to health care, take home pay, and customer service as well as unlawful conduct.

According to a statement released by the union, “The proposed cuts by Stop & Shop, whose parent company earned $2 billion in profits in 2018, would devastate health care benefits, significantly increase health care costs, and decrease take home pay. Stop & Shop’s proposed cuts would also have a negative and severe impact on customer service, including the very cashiers, stockers, bakers, deli clerks, and butchers that Stop & Shop customers rely on.

“Instead of a contract that recognizes the value and hard work that our members provide every day, Stop & Shop has only proposed drastic and unreasonable cuts to health care benefits and take home pay, while replacing real customer service with more serve-yourself checkout machines. 

“What Stop & Shop workers don’t deserve … are unreasonable cuts while the company they work so hard for makes billions of dollars in profits. That is wrong and it sends a terrible message to every customer who truly depends on our Stop & Shop cashiers, stockers, bakers, deli clerk, and butchers.”

UFCW Locals representing 31,000 Stop & Shop workers in New England have been negotiating a new contract with Stop & Shop representatives since Jan. 14; the existing contract expired Feb. 23. The company’s latest proposal includes the following:

  • •Requires the average full-time employee to pay an additional $893 and the average part-time employee with employee-only coverage to pay an additional $603 health care premiums (over three years.)
  • •Reduces the monthly pension benefit for many newly hired full-time employees by 32 percent.
  • •Many part-time employees would receive an average general wage increase of less than two percent. 

While Stop & Shop continues to propose drastically cutting worker benefits, Ahold shareholders voted on April 10 to give themselves an 11.1 percent raise in dividends over the last year. The expected payout will be on April 25 for around $880 million.

For their part, Stop & Shop feels that the proposals they have brought to the table are fair. According to their statement, “Stop & Shop has proposed a good and reasonable offer to our union locals that includes:

  • • Across-the-board pay increases for all associates — no one’s pay would be cut;
  • • Continued ‘Gold Level’ health care benefits for eligible associates — at a fraction of what employees at other retail companies pay and with no changes to already unusually low deductibles; and
  • • Increased company contributions to the UFCW’s defined benefit pension fund for current full- and vested part-time associates — a rare benefit in the New England food retail industry.

“Additionally, this morning the company made several suggestions to the federal mediators to encourage further bargaining. The mediators gave those proposals to the Locals late in the morning. The Locals provided no counter proposals to the mediators and simply stated they were proceeding with their plans. 

“In contrast to the company’s proposal which is better than most recent UFCW contract settlements and responsive to heavy non-union competition, the unions proposed a contract that would increase the company’s costs. This would make our company less competitive in the mostly non-union New England food retail marketplace.

“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.” The company has deployed temporary replacement workers and corporate personnel; they are working to reopen stores as quickly as possible to minimize disruption.

“Stop & Shop remains ready and available to meet with the union locals at any time. We are committed to good faith bargaining and hope to reach new contracts as quickly as possible that both recognize and reward the great work of our associates and enable Stop & Shop to compete effectively in the rapidly changing New England grocery market.”

Meanwhile, a mid-afternoon call to the Bristol Stop & Shop was met with a recorded message that “….all our customer service associates are currently serving other customers” before the call disconnected.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.