NEW ENGLAND—Unionized Stop & Shop employees, represented by five New England UFCW locals, have been working since Feb. 23 on the terms of an expired contract.
Now, their union has gotten a vow of support from the Teamsters, should the UFCW go out on strike.
“The Teamsters warned Stop & Shop that its members would support the supermarket’s union in any labor stoppage as a result of the current impasse in contract negotiations,” reported Connecticut-based The Hour, “with nearly 700 warehouse workers and 250 drivers delivering food and other products to Stop & Shop stores in southern New England.”
Earlier this month, the UFCW members voted to authorize a strike if talks broke down.
According to UFCW Local 1459, its members gave “unanimous support” to authorize a strike. The issues that the two parties remain apart on are take-home pay, health care and retirement benefits.
The UFCW has a rally planned on Wednesday in Massachusetts.
Stop & Shop is owned by global retailing giant Ahold Delhaize, which owns Food Lion, GIANT Food Stores, Giant Food, Hannaford, Peapod, in addition to Stop & Shop and reported global net sales of $71.4 billion in 2018.
The last time the Stop & Shop workers went on strike, according to Patch.com, was in March 1988.
