Stop & Shop unions vote to authorize strike

FOXBOROUGH — Continuing their fight for a fair new contract, members of three more local Stop & Shop unions voted Sunday to authorize a strike against the Quincy-based company including a group at Ambrosia’s Wedding & Events.

More than 1,000 members of Local Union 328, the largest Stop & Shop union group, met two weeks after the first store union voted to authorize the strike. Richard Wright, a meat cutter at Stop and Shop and a member of the Local 328 executive board, said workers want to be fairly compensated.

“We’re not asking for the world,” he said. “We just want to keep our fair share in what goes on. We are the people that run their stores. We are the face of Stop & Shop. We do all their work for them. We’ve been doing it for years, and it’s a slap in the face to us what their proposals are and just to cast us aside.”

Contract negotiations started on Jan. 14 to replace a contract that expired on Feb. 23. Workers have rallied against the company as its proposed cuts to workers’ take home pay and benefits will significantly hamper their ability to be fairly compensated, they said.

The hardworking Local 328 members at@StopandShop voted unanimously to authorize a strike today! We stand strong and united for a deal that respects our members, their families, and the communities they serve.pic.twitter.com/Xvevvwecjy

— UFCW Local 328 (@UFCWLocal328)March 10, 2019

More than 31,000 Stop & Shop employees belong to five United Food & Commercial Workers Union groups throughout New England. Unions 371 and 1445 voted to authorize a strike a few weeks ago. Unions 328, 1459 and 919 voted on Sunday. The last vote was by 919 in Connecticut Sunday afternoon.

“It’s just another example of corporate greed,” 328 Local Union President Timothy M. Melia said after the vote. “It’s just another example of the middle class getting squeezed. It’s a race to the bottom. They want to take more away from the working people. These used to be good, middle class jobs and they are trying to push it to a point where we’ll need another job to support a family.”

Shoppers react to potential Stop & Shop strike

Melia said the vote to authorize the strike does not necessarily mean that the unions have already decided to strike. What it means is that if at some point bargaining between the two parties breaks down, a strike can commence.

Stop & Shop has more than 400 stores in New England, New York and New Jersey. The company is owned by Ahold Delhaize, a Dutch company.

Cesareo Contreras can be reached at 508-626-3957 or ccontreras@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @cesareo_r.