Stop & Shop and its 43,000 unionized workers in Southern New England are at odds just weeks before a three-year labor contract expires. Among the unresolved issues are “the big three,” said Brian Petronella, president of Local 371 of the United Food & Commercial Workers.

The Quincy, Mass.-based supermarket wants workers: to pay more for health insurance, take onetime, lump-sum bonuses rather than wage increases, and wants them to accept lower pension contributions from the chain. Both sides appear to be posturing, with union leaders predicting a strike vote later this month, and the grocery chain taking out ads seeking “temporary replacement workers.” “We are making contingency plans,” wrote Stop & Shop spokeswoman Faith Weiner, in an e-mail to The Journal. “These plans include placing ads in local newspapers for temporary workers in order to continue business operations in the event there is a work stoppage.”

Jim Riley, who represents Stop & Shop workers in Rhode Island, labeled the recruitment effort “bad theater.” “This thing blew up in their faces,” Riley said. Riley is secretary-treasurer of the UFCW’s Local 328, which represents 11,500 Stop & Shop workers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and two towns in eastern Connecticut. Four other locals are covered by the contract, which expires Feb. 20.

The locals include: Local 371 and Local 919, both in Connecticut; Local 1459, in western Massachusetts, and Local 1445, in Boston.
“They irritated our members by placing these ads; that was dumb and stupid,” Petronella said. The ads offer jobs paying hourly rates, $15 for full-time work, $12 for part-time, higher than what some union members make for the same jobs, Riley said. “The company is in a renaissance right now,” Riley said, referring to Stop & Shop’s parent — Netherlands-based Royal Ahold NV. “Their stock is up, their market share is up, and they’re building new stores.”

The supermarket operator in January reported fourth-quarter revenues above the expectations of Wall Street analysts. Stop & Shop hired “temporary” workers amid contract talks in 2007, Weiner said, though Riley didn’t recall that happening. “Usually, these contingency plans happen only when there is a real snag in the negotiations,” Riley said.
Riley indicated there is still time to reach a deal. The two sides plan to meet Monday. The current pact, signed in March 2007, required workers for the first time to pay a portion of their health-care premiums.

By Paul Grimaldi
Providence Journal Staff Writer