With contract negotiations at an impasse, a grocery workers union and Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. have agreed to a temporary “cooling off” period over the Thanksgiving weekend to avert a strike or lockout at Stop & Shop stores in Westchester County and throughout metropolitan New York.
Officials at United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 in a press release said the union agreed to a federal mediator”™s request for the cooling off period with Stop & Shop, where more than 6,000 union members are working without a contract after the company would not agree to additional short-term contract extensions.
The bargaining impasse affects employees at 54 Stop & Shop stores in Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties, Long Island and the five boroughs of New York City.
“There will be no work stoppages called by either UFCW Local 1500 or Stop and Shop management over the Thanksgiving weekend,” said Anthony Speelman, secretary-treasurer of UFCW Local 1500 and the 23,000-member union”™s lead negotiator with Stop & Shop. “It is our hope that this ”˜cooling off”™ agreement will ultimately lead to an acceptable conclusion for the members of Local 1500. All they want is what they have earned: a fair and decent contract.”
Stop & Shop officials on the company”™s website said the labor agreement with Local 1500 expired Sept. 28 and was extended to Nov. 2. They said negotiations this year are “particularly complex” Â because of issues related to the union”™s health and welfare fund and health insurance changes resulting from the Affordable Care Act.
“Stop & Shop is continuing to work in good faith with Local 1500 to reach a fair and reasonable new contract that reflects the economic needs of our associates, their families and the competitive realities facing the company,” the company said on its website.
