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Tens of thousands of Stop & Shop workers in New England quit their jobs last Thursday after months of bargaining between company executives and union leaders who failed to reach a conclusion. A new agreement.
But why?
The Quincy-based company says its latest contact proposal would still provide above-average salaries and benefits to the food retail sector, even though it included staff reductions for some workers. Stop & Shops officials say changes are needed to stay competitive in an increasingly difficult and largely non-unionized market.
However, the leaders of the five local unions of United Food and Commercial Workers – representing 31,000 Stop & Shop workers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island – are not convinced.
They say Stop & Shop's parent company, Ahold Delhaize, has not justified its cuts, pointing out that the Dutch food giant had made a profit of 2 billion dollars last year and recently voted in favor dividend distribution at $ 880 million at the end of the month.
Negotiations between the union and the company resumed over the weekend. But nearly a week after the start of the strike, which disrupted service and closed some stores, both parties remained deadlocked on Wednesday.
Here are the things they are really divided on:
1. Health care
Stop & Shop said employee contributions to their "Gold Level" insurance plan had not kept pace with the rising costs of health care at the national level. To adjust, the company says it will increase employee contributions by $ 2 to $ 4 a week (about $ 100 to $ 200 a year).
But according to the union, it could be higher for some workers. UFCW officials said that a full-time average Stop & Shop employee would pay $ 893 in additional "three-year" premiums, while a part-time employee with a blanket for employees would pay $ 603 more over three years.
Yet, Stop & Shop declares that their employees would pay "well below the national average for health premiums and hundreds of dollars less than what other large business workers pay each year.
Under the company's five separate contract offers with UFCW locals, employee contributions would be 9% to 12% for individual coverage premiums or 6% to 8% of family premiums – compared to a national average of 20%. % for individual coverage and 28% for families.
Another area of ​​contention is the desire of Stop & Shop to implement a so-called "spousal exclusion" in its family health plan. This provision would mean that spouses of Stop & Shop employees would not be eligible for health care coverage if they were offered health care by their own employer. Company officials said they should not pay the health care costs of another company effectively.
The union opposes this provision, noting that it could prevent approximately 1,000 spouses of employees from benefiting from the family health care plan they receive through Stop & Shop, regardless of cost or quality. care provided by their own employer.
2. Salaries
Weekends are important for grocery stores and Stop & Shop has declared Sunday the "best shopping day for our customers".
"For Sunday's pay rates to be more competitive, it is necessary to have lower wages on Sunday," officials wrote in their latest contract offer to UCFW locals.
Until recently, Massachusetts required retailers to pay half-time to employees who worked on Sundays. This requirement, however, was removed under last year's "Large Agreements" Act in exchange for additional minimum wage increases and a new holiday pay program.
Stop & Shop said that the time and a half salary would remain in place for current and future full-time workers. However, according to the union, part-time workers – who make up about 75% of the grocery store chain – would see their current premiums "frozen", regardless of their future hourly increases. Stop & Shop explains what it would look like in its latest offer:
For example, if you are a part-time associate and your normal hourly rate is $ 12.50 per hour and you have an hour and a half on Sunday, your premium is $ 6.25 per hour ( half of $ 12.50). The company's offer maintains your premium of $ 6.25 on Sunday. So, when your fare goes up to $ 12.75, you'll receive $ 19.00 hour on Sunday ($ 12.75 + $ 6.25).
The company's offer would also freeze Sunday bonuses for Connecticut workers, while Sunday's one-and-a-half pay is still the law in Rhode Island.
Overall, Stop & Shop has stated that it offers "aggregate salary increases" of $ 0.25 to $ 0.50 per hour, depending on the region, position and mandate. The company's entry-level positions start around the minimum wage, but with its pay scale, the company's employees, including executives, have an average hourly rate of $ 21.30.
Unions say the proposed increases are less than 2 per cent and they would not be enough to offset the rising cost of living, as well as increased health care and pension payments for some workers.
3. Pensions
One of the few remaining private companies – and "virtually the only one among New England supermarkets" – to offer a defined-benefit pension, Stop & Shop claims to spend between $ 1,926 and $ 2,644 per partner per year under the retirement program, drag on their finances.
And while proposing to keep the program (instead of moving to a 401 (k) program, which offers less individual security), the company is proposing benefits reductions for unvested employees.
At the request of pension fund administrators, Stop & Shop stated that its proposal would increase the company's pension plan contributions by almost 20% for full-time and part-time workers hired by February 23 2014, in order to maintain the current situation. levels of regularization for these employees.
However, for those hired after February 23, 2014, the company indicates that their new offer consists of a $ 130 contribution per month for an accumulated benefit of $ 40 per month and per year of service for full-time workers. Contributions for part-time associates hired after that date would be $ 32.50 per month, which would provide $ 10 per month and per year of pension benefits.
Compared to the current contract, union representatives say that this offer corresponds to a monthly pension benefit reduction of 32% for newly hired employees and 72% for part-time employees.
According to Stop & Shop, retirement benefits for part-time jobs "are very scarce in all sectors", and even less so for food retailing, even though the vast majority of their employees work part-time. In a statement made last month, UFCW leaders said they simply were not willing to accept such cuts.
"The men and women who make Stop & Shop successful have earned and deserve affordable health care, a good salary and the ability to retire in dignity," they said in a statement announcing the strike.
"What Stop & Shop workers do not deserve and what hard-working people in New England deserve are unreasonable cuts, while the company they work so hard for is making billions of dollars. of profit, "union officials added.
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