Advertisement Thousands of Stop & Shop employees vote to authorize strike, union says Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Stop & Shop employees who are members of the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1445 union "overwhelmingly" voted to authorize a strike, if necessary, according to union officials.Members of UFCW Local 1445 gathered at Lombardo's in Randolph Sunday morning after their contract with Stop & Shop expired at midnight. The workers voted after hearing a detailed update on negotiations with the company.Nearly 10,000 of the 15,000 members of the UFCW Local 1445 union work at Stop & Shop.UFCW Local 1445 officials said the union and four others representing more than 30,000 Stop & Shop workers in New England have been negotiating a new contract with representatives from the grocery chain over the past several weeks.According to UFCW Local 1445, all of Stop & Shop's proposals during negotiations have only cut workers' benefits, despite its parent company, Ahold Delhaize, netting $74 billion in sales last year. The union also said Ahold Delhaize authorized over $1 billion in stock buybacks for its shareholders.“This is a slap in the face to our members, our communities, and Stop & Shop customers," said UFCW Local 1445 President Jeff Bollen. "Instead of investing in our members, many of whom have given Stop & Shop over 40 years of service, Ahold would rather ship money overseas. This only serves to grow the income of wealthy executives, and hurts our communities along with the service our loyal customers expect in their stores. Today, Local 1445 members stood strong and demanded that Stop & Shop invest in all of us.”Stop & Shop released the following statement to WCVB in response to the union vote to authorize a strike:"We are continuing to work hard to reach strong new contracts which ensure that Stop & Shop continues to be a great place to work, with competitive wages and affordable health care for eligible associates. Full-time Stop & Shop associates are among the highest paid food retail workers in the region. Stop & Shop has committed up to $2 billion to upgrade our stores over the next several years to better serve our customers and communities as we also lower prices and expand opportunities for our associates."We are proud of our relationship with our associates and optimistic that we will be able to reach a new agreement. We are continuing to negotiate in good faith and remain committed to reaching a resolution as quickly as possible."UFCW Local 1445 officials said the union will meet with Stop & Shop Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to continue talks. If those talks fail, a strike will likely begin.