Stop & Shop Strikers Reach Deal

An 11-day strike of Stop & Shop workers appeared to have paid off Sunday after the grocery chain’s parent company and strikers crafted an agreement that will reopen the stores back Monday.

Full and part-time employees participated in a New England-wide strike that kept up over the busy Passover and Easter holiday. The striking employees sought to halt pension and health care rollbacks, bonuses rather than salary increases and the elimination of time-and-a-half pay on Sundays.

Their union announced that it has prevailed on those issues and preserved a pay increase as well. More details are expected to be announced on Monday.

The workers were also protesting the slow phase-out of human workers with automated services like Marty, the new in-store roving robot.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal Sunday night called the agreement ​“a victory for all American workers who stand for strong pay, affordable health care, and other basic rights.”

See below an announcement about the agreement from the Facebook page of the UFCW Local 371 announcing the news.

***BREAKING NEGOTIATION NEWS***
Members, As of minutes ago, we have reached a tentative agreement with Stop & Shop. For the time being, all department managers and regularly scheduled daytime full-time should report to their store at 7:30 a.m. Monday. For all additional full- and part-time members, you should receive a phone call from your store no later than 12pm tomorrow to get your schedule for the week. If you do not receive a call, please call your store for your schedule.

Monetary benefits from the strike fund will still be coming soon for those who were on the lines.

We strongly encourage you to attend your Local’s contract ratification meeting for a complete and detailed report of what is in the contract. We will send you immediate notices of when and where your Local’s meeting will be. In the meantime, be proud of what you have accomplished on the line, thank your friends, neighbors and customers who signed petitions, brought food, and shared your message with the world. And most importantly, thank your union family who stood through bad weather and tough times, to hold the line with you. The message you sent by collectively standing up for yourselves, your families, and for good jobs, has resonated not only with the company, but all of America. Thank you for everything that you’ve done.