Talks between Stop & Shop and its unionized workers broke off yesterday afternoon without much progress, said a union official, and workers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts will meet this morning to vote on whether to authorize a strike.
Contract talks between Stop & Shop and union officials representing 43,000 workers in Southern New England were held yesterday afternoon in Mystic, Conn., and were halted without resolution.
Before yesterday, members of three of the five United Food & Commercial Workers locals negotiating as a group had already voted to authorize a strike if no settlement was reached by midnight last night, when the current three-year contract expired.
Stop & Shop, owned by the Dutch conglomerate Royal Ahold NV, is negotiating with the UFCW’s Local 328, covering Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts; Local 1445, covering workers in eastern and central Massachusetts; Local 1459, covering Western Massachusetts; and two units representing Connecticut workers, Locals 371 and 919.
The locals represent workers at 231 stores. Workers in New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire are covered under separate contracts.
The members of Local 328, which represents about 10,000 Stop & Shop workers in Rhode Island, and Local 1445, which represents about 12,000 workers in Massachusetts, will meet today on the strike vote, said James Riley, secretary-treasurer of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 328.
“We’re not going to take the strike vote and then take to the streets,” Riley said.
Instead, talks are scheduled to resume Tuesday, said Riley. The statement was also confirmed by Stop & Shop spokeswoman Faith Weiner.
The Quincy, Mass.,-based supermarket chain wants union workers to contribute to their health-care premiums and allow it to switch from an employer-paid pension fund to a 401(k) plan for new employees.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.