First Of 5 Unions Votes To Accept Stop & Shop Contract

A union representing roughly one-third of the Stop & Shop workers who went on strike this month voted Wednesday night to officially accept the contract offer that ended the 11-day work stoppage.

Local 1445 of the United Food & Commercial Workers union is the first to ratify a deal reached on Easter. Four other chapters plan to vote by May 1.

The votes appear to be formalities; the 31,000 workers who walked off the job April 11 returned to work on Monday.

Local 1445 set the tone throughout negotiations with Stop & Shop. It was the first chapter to authorize a strike, and stores where its members work were the sites of appearances by presidential candidates.

Both the company and UFCW have declined to disclose full terms of the deal. In a joint statement on the day the tentative agreement was reached, the five union chapters said, "The agreement preserves health care and retirement benefits, provides wage increases, and maintains time-and-a-half pay on Sunday for current members."

Stop & Shop highlighted the same compensation points in its own statement and added: "Our associates' top priority will be restocking our stores so we can return to taking care of our customers and communities and providing them with the service they deserve."