Sam Gurwitt Photo
Hundreds of local Stop & Shop workers unanimously approved a new contract Thursday night that preserves employee healthcare and pension benefits, as well as time-and-a-half pay on Sundays.
The vote marked the climactic conclusion of one of the more dramatic private sector labor battles to take place in New England in years.
“Does anybody want to vote no?” asked Mark Espinosa as he looked out at a crowd of around 500 Stop & Shop workers gathered at the Omni Hotel.
The room was silent.
“I think it’s unanimous.” The room erupted in cheers, with one vuvuzela adding to the din.
Espinosa, who is president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 919, spent from January to Easter Sunday at the negotiating table with Stop & Shop’s New England-regional President Mark McGowan.
On Thursday, he finally got to present the fruits of his labor — a new three-year contract, which he called a “complete success.”
After contract negotiations stalled on April 11, 31,000 Stop & Shop workers went on strike in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The region-spanning picket lines reduced the flow of customers to less than a trickle for 11 days, until UFCW and Stop & Shop came to a new tentative agreement agreement on Sunday.
“It wasn’t even about money,” Espinosa told the crowd. “It was about ideology. They wanted to create your future as they saw it… by attempting to remove everything that you earned over your career at Stop & Shop. And we said, ‘Hell no!’”
Local 919 President Mark Espinosa.
The main sticking points of the negotiations were the healthcare plan, the pension, and Sunday time-and-a-half pay. UFCW managed to get what it wanted on all three counts, and also negotiated wage increases, Espinosa said.
He said the company wanted to remove spouses from employee health care plans, decrease company pension fund contributions, and pay employees their regular wage plus $1 on Sundays, rather than paying the current Sunday rate of paying time and a half.
The new contract keeps spouses on the healthcare plans. Weekly pre-tax payroll deductions for individuals, without any family on their plans, will increase by $2 to $15 on July 1, and by another $2 in 2020 and in 2021.
Deductions for employees with either a spouse or children on the plan will increase to $24 on July 1, and will increase to $27 in 2020 and $30 in 2021. Those with a full family on the plan will pay $30 on July 1, and will increase to $34 the next year and $38 the following year.
UFCW managed to keep Sunday time and a half, though new employees will need a few years to get there. Employees hired on or before Feb. 23 (when the last contract ended) with less than 12 months of experience will get their normal wage plus $1.50 on Sundays and holidays for a year, after which they will earn time and a half. Employees hired after Feb. 23 will have premiums of $1.50, then $2.00, then $3.00 for their first three years respectively, after which they will receive time and a half.
Full-time employees hired before April 19, 2016 who are at the top of their respective pay scales will get wage increases of $25 per week in 2019, $20 in 2020, and $25 in 2021. For employees hired on or after April 19, 2016, those increases are $15 per week, a $1,250 bonus, and $15 per week again in 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively.
Employees also receive retroactive pay for the period when they did not have a contract, which began Feb. 24 and ends with the ratification of the new contract.
Rich Paul.
“It’s just a really really good feeling for everyone — for part-timers, for full-timers,” said Rich Paul, who is produce manager at the Amity store. He said it’s great to be back in the store, and that he and his colleagues continue to get support from customers. Even the bosses, he said, were happy to have their workers back.
Janet Butz, who works in the health and beauty department at the Westport store, said that keeping spouses on the healthcare plan was a big victory for her. She said that her spouse has his own business so he depends on her Stop & Shop healthcare.
Janet Butz and Shameika McKinney.
When they were striking, some people told workers to get a real job, thinking Stop & Shop was just a temporary or part-time gig, said Shameika McKinney, who is bakery manager in Westport. “They don’t understand this is a career for a lot of people. You move up in the company,” she said.