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Stop & Shop hoped to "minimize disruption" in the event of a strike. But that does not mean that things go as usual.
In an open letter to customers on Tuesday, Mark McGowan, president of the Quincy-based grocery chain, apologized for the "inconvenience" caused by the 31,000 workers who left the job Thursday afternoon after the company and the union representing its workers in New England were unable to accept a new contract.
"We are committed to resolving our labor negotiations as quickly as possible so that our employees can get back to work and that we can better serve you and the community," wrote McGowan, a veteran of the Canadian Forces. 39, a 28-year-old company.
Prior to the strike, Stop & Shop officials announced plans to deploy staff, as well as temporary replacements, to keep stores open. However, not all places affected by the strike in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have been able to do so, and most are operating with reduced hours and service.
According to McGowan, "most" of the 253 stores in the area remain open seven days a week, from 8 am to 8 pm, a shorter period than normal. In addition, "the bakery, customer service, deli and seafood counters will not be operational and we currently have a limited selection of meats," he wrote.
"Our gas stations are also closed at this time," added McGowan.
Some stores had to close completely.
"We had closed stores for the duration of the strike," Stop & Shop spokeswoman Jen Brogan said in an email to Boston.com on Tuesday, saying "most are open."
Brogan made it clear that she did not have an accurate list of closed sites, but that the company had updated the locator of her website "accordingly." More than a dozen stores in Massachusetts, including South Boston, Dorchester, Hyde Park and Jamaica Plain, were closed Tuesday, according to the company's website.
The sites of Acton, Andover, Attleboro, Beverly, Everett, Foxborough, Halifax, Lexington, Nantucket, Pembroke, Sandwich, Seekonk, Watertown and Worcester were also closed, the website says.
According to several reports this week, the aisles inside the stores that remained open during the strike were sparsely populated, with workers going on strike outside. Unions' leaders and supporters urge customers to shop elsewhere until the conflict is resolved.
"There is no one here in the stores today at Stop & Shop," Sen. Ed Markey told workers Monday outside a Quincy store, according to MassLive. "We are going to have a boom at Star Market."
Shop & Shop, which is New England's only fully syndicated grocery chain, continued talks with United Food and Commercial Workers on Tuesday with the help of federal mediators. Both parties remain at odds over wage rate increases, health care coverage and retirement benefits.
Stop & Shop officials say their latest offer keeps wages and benefits above industry averages while maintaining the company's competitiveness in a rapidly changing industry. However, union leaders argue that the parent company of the chain, the Dutch food giant Ahold Delhaize, made a profit of $ 2 billion in 2018 and should not need to reduce employee benefits.
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