UFCW Local 342 Reschedules Stop & Shop Strike Vote for Monday, March 4th

March 1, 2013 - PRLog -- Mineola, New York- In an effort to avoid a strike if possible, Local 342 notified its members late Thursday night that the emergency meeting and strike vote originally scheduled for Friday would be rescheduled for Monday, March 4th.  “We would like nothing more than to come to a fair agreement and have our membership vote on it as soon as possible, but until Stop & Shop proves that they are serious about taking care of their workers, we will remain on track to hold a strike vote,” said Kate Meckler, the Union’s Director of Communications.  “The meeting being delayed until Monday just gives us time to determine whether or not Stop & Shop is truly ready to work with us,” she continued.    

On Wednesday, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 342 had announced that over 1100 Union Meat, Seafood, and Deli Workers at Stop & Stop stores throughout the five boroughs of New York City, as well as Long Island, would be scheduled to hold a strike vote on Friday, March 1st, after growing tired of the company’s excuses for not agreeing to a fair contract.  Members of UFCW Local 342, a labor organization that represents nearly 10,000 workers throughout supermarkets, as well as a variety of other food industries in the area, have been working under a contract that was to have expired in October of 2011.  Stop & Shop, which is operated under the Dutch conglomerate, Royal Ahold, has to this point, failed to offer anything of substance to the members despite thriving in an otherwise struggling economy.  

At this time, the bargaining issues remain the same.  According to Union officials, the Stop & Shop bargaining team has consistently proposed wage freezes for the nearly two years that the contract has been expired, significant reductions in pension benefits, large scale cuts to the hours of Part-Time workers, and major changes to the members’ healthcare coverage that would result in exorbitant out-of-pocket costs.  As part of their healthcare benefits package, Stop & Shop has also proposed to totally eliminate Part-Time workers from being eligible for coverage.        

In contrast, the Union has offered frozen healthcare costs, frozen pension costs, fair wage increases for the last two years, no changes in any conditions, and to reasonably negotiate the impact of the Affordable Healthcare Act.