To strike or not to strike: Stop & Shop decision will be made Sunday

WINSTED — With many wearing buttons reading “I don’t want to strike but I will,†Stop & Shop Supermarket employees have remained on the job as contract negotiations between the workers’ union and the company’s management continues.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union’s contract with the Massachusetts-based supermarket chain expired on Feb. 20 after the two sides were unable to reach a labor agreement.

The next day, hundreds of members of the union’s Local 371 held a contract ratification meeting at the Marriott Hotel in Rocky Hill. The Winsted store employs about 100 members of Local 371. The Stop & Shop store in North Canaan will also be affected by a strike.

At that meeting, those in attendance unanimously rejected the company’s contract proposal and then unanimously voted to authorize a strike.

All five of the union’s local chapters in New England that include Stop & Shop employees voted to authorize a strike last Sunday.

Both sides continued to negotiate on a day-to-day basis. Earlier this week, the union and the company’s management team exchanged contract proposals.

Unhappy with the offers, Local 371 gave 24 hours notice on Wednesday that it was terminating its contract with Shop & Shop and that its members could possibly walk off the job. The other four local union chapters followed suit the next day.

But federal negotiators, who have taken part in the discussions, have told the union that “if the company puts forth a proposal that has been improved from what was available on Feb. 21, then we must bring it back to the membership for a vote,†according to a union leadership memo to members posted on Local 371’s Web site (ufcw371.org) March 4.

In anticipation of receiving a final counter offer, the local union chapter has set up a contract ratification/rejection meeting for Sunday, March 7, in New Haven.

Local 371 President Brian Petronella told The Journal last week that a strike will be called “only if necessary.â€

The union said it would give the company 24 hours notice before there will be any kind of action taken by its members.

In its new contract with the supermarket chain, union members are looking for improved wages, health-insurance benefits and pension plans.

In anticipation of a potential strike or lockout, Stop & Shop has been advertising help wanted notices in local newspapers, looking for temporary replacement workers in the event there is a strike or lockout due to the current labor dispute.

Union members also authorized a strike three years ago during their negotiations with the company for their previous contract agreement.

The last time Stop & Shop stores were closed in the region due to a labor dispute was in 1997, with stores closing for about a day.

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