On Saturday, the hard-working men and women of Stop & Shop reached tentative agreements for a new contract with their employer in New England. The tentative agreements will cover 35,000 members of UFCW Locals 328, 371, 919, 1445 and 1459 if members ratify. The local unions will hold ratification votes next week.
The previous contracts expired in late February, and members have continued to work and serve their customers without a contract for 42 days. The negotiating committees and local union leadership have met with the company 57 times over the past three months to come to a fair deal.
The hard-working men and women of Stop & Shop have been joined in their fight for fair contracts by customers, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal, Edward J. Markey, Chris Murphy, and Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Treasurer and member of Stop & Shop’s founding family, Deb Goldberg, the combined 700,000 union members of the Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island State AFL-CIO Councils, and the 1.3 million members of the UFCW International Union.
The New England Council of the UFCW made the following statement after the tentative agreements were reached:
“Today’s agreements are the result of unity and solidarity from all of our members who work for Ahold and its banner grocery stores. Our goal was to work together, beat back the company’s concessionary demands and negotiate a better life for our incredible Stop & Shop members. Working together, we have reached a tentative agreement that all sides can agree is fair and equitable.
“Today’s agreement is also a measure of how our union family can work together to ensure that our members can earn a better life. If our members choose to accept this contract in the ratification process, this will be a victory not just for working people in New England, but for our communities and for all of the union families who came together to stand up for good jobs.
“While the negotiating process is always a challenge, and as we await our members’ ratification of the contract, we must thank the customers we serve, our communities, and our extended UFCW union family.
“By standing together, we have all made a difference in people’s lives, and that is something we can all be proud of.”