Members of the unions representing thousands of Stop & Shop workers have threatened to strike over a breakdown in negotiations between the company and workers at the Freetown, Massachusetts, warehouse.
According to a letter from the New England Council of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), they are calling on the company to come back to the table after contract negotiations between Stop & Shop and Teamster Local 25 fell apart. The letter says that Stop & Shop has threatened to close the Freetown warehouse, which employs nearly 900 people.
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The contract dispute concerns issues like maintaining wages, benefits and working conditions at the warehouse.
"Make no mistake, if the Teamsters and their membership decide to take action against Stop & Shop, the UFCW will stand arm and arm, in lock step with our brothers and sisters and offer up whatever assistance we can up to and including honoring their picket lines," the letter to Stop & Shop reads.
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UFCW represents 30,000 Stop & Shop workers across New England.
Stop & Shop released the following statement to NBC10 Boston on Thursday morning:
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"Stop & Shop always bargains in good faith, and we stand ready and available to meet with Teamsters Local 25 at any time.
"Stop & Shop is driving forward a multi-year strategy that includes efforts to lower prices and improve the in-store experience. An important component of this is reducing overall costs – and that includes the high operational costs at our distribution facility in Freetown, Mass. Stop & Shop solicited and received third party bids showing we could achieve millions in annual savings by transferring the work done at our Freetown distribution center to a third party. Because of our commitment to our union associates, we approached Teamsters Local 25 leadership with a request to identify only a fraction of that annual savings in our new contract.
"Based on our analysis, we believe it’s possible to achieve these labor savings while still offering significant wage increases and maintaining pension benefits. We believe the savings can be achieved with a transition to a more competitive health plan, which is the same plan that management and other associates at the facility have. If a new contract that reaches the labor savings needed is not ratified by February 28th, Stop & Shop will move forward with an outsourcing agreement and close the facility.
This is not a decision we take lightly, and we care deeply about our associates and maintaining our presence in Freetown. It is critical that the local collaborates with us on a new agreement that achieves the savings needed to do so."
Stop & Shop workers engaged in a large-scale strike in 2019.
