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Stop & Shop Workers Strike across New England
Talks set to continue as union and company measure each other’s resolve from across parking lots.
NORTH ADAMS — Today is Saturday, April 13, 2019, I am your host, Jason Velazquez, and I’d like to welcome you to Episode #69 of our flagship podcast, the Top Left Corner.
What you heard coming into this program was the scene outside the Stop & Shop in Chicopee, Mass., as workers from that and other stores represented by United Food and Commerical Workers Local 1459 rallied near the tail end of a string of negotiations that began in the Autumn of 2018. Stop & Shop workers throughout New England have been working without a contract since February. All those heated talks between the Union and Dutch international retailer Ahold Delhaize reached a stalemate Thursday, and at about 1:15 p.m. local time, The UFCW texted their workers en masse to let them know that it was time to strike.
NEW MUSIC ALERTThis episode of TLC features a new track from theIron Age Mystics, “You’ve Got the Power”Stick around ’til the end.
The text read ”Stop & Shop is unwilling to move in negotiations so now it’s time for us to walk out of the stores and & bring our protest to the picket line.”
A spokeswoman for Stop & Shop declined to be interviewed for this news segment, but e-mailed their latest statement, as well as a fact sheet summarizing their view of the conflict. Look for these in the shownotes for this episode which you can find at greylockglass.com
Don’t worry though, plenty of other folks were more than happy to speak with the Greylock Glass on the subject, so let’s get started right away by hearing from Jeff Jones, vice president of the UFCW 1459, with whom we spoke via Skype, in the days before the strike was announced.
[Jeff Jones, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1459, speaks]
I read from Stop & Shops PDF, entitled, “Key Facts: Reaching a Fair New Contract With New England’s Only Large Fully-Unionized Supermarket Workforce” (available in the shownotes), which described the high-quality, comprehensive health care and retirement benefits the company said that it was committed to providing.
79ed5bb8-e034-42de-836f-bba01a799bdc
[Jeff Jones, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1459, speaks]
The Fact Sheet also explained that the contract proposed by Stop & Shop would increase what they called their “already industry-leading pay for full-time associates and strong part-time associate compensation.” Again, Jones was less than convinced.
STOP-AND-SHOP-FACT-SHEET
[Jeff Jones, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1459, speaks]
Far from being a pay increase, when factoring in other realities, Jones said the company’s offer amounted to a take-back.
[Jeff Jones,
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By The Greylock Glass
5
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Talks set to continue as union and company measure each other’s resolve from across parking lots.
NORTH ADAMS — Today is Saturday, April 13, 2019, I am your host, Jason Velazquez, and I’d like to welcome you to Episode #69 of our flagship podcast, the Top Left Corner.
What you heard coming into this program was the scene outside the Stop & Shop in Chicopee, Mass., as workers from that and other stores represented by United Food and Commerical Workers Local 1459 rallied near the tail end of a string of negotiations that began in the Autumn of 2018. Stop & Shop workers throughout New England have been working without a contract since February. All those heated talks between the Union and Dutch international retailer Ahold Delhaize reached a stalemate Thursday, and at about 1:15 p.m. local time, The UFCW texted their workers en masse to let them know that it was time to strike.
NEW MUSIC ALERTThis episode of TLC features a new track from theIron Age Mystics, “You’ve Got the Power”Stick around ’til the end.
The text read ”Stop & Shop is unwilling to move in negotiations so now it’s time for us to walk out of the stores and & bring our protest to the picket line.”
A spokeswoman for Stop & Shop declined to be interviewed for this news segment, but e-mailed their latest statement, as well as a fact sheet summarizing their view of the conflict. Look for these in the shownotes for this episode which you can find at greylockglass.com
Don’t worry though, plenty of other folks were more than happy to speak with the Greylock Glass on the subject, so let’s get started right away by hearing from Jeff Jones, vice president of the UFCW 1459, with whom we spoke via Skype, in the days before the strike was announced.
[Jeff Jones, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1459, speaks]
I read from Stop & Shops PDF, entitled, “Key Facts: Reaching a Fair New Contract With New England’s Only Large Fully-Unionized Supermarket Workforce” (available in the shownotes), which described the high-quality, comprehensive health care and retirement benefits the company said that it was committed to providing.
79ed5bb8-e034-42de-836f-bba01a799bdc
[Jeff Jones, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1459, speaks]
The Fact Sheet also explained that the contract proposed by Stop & Shop would increase what they called their “already industry-leading pay for full-time associates and strong part-time associate compensation.” Again, Jones was less than convinced.
STOP-AND-SHOP-FACT-SHEET
[Jeff Jones, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1459, speaks]
Far from being a pay increase, when factoring in other realities, Jones said the company’s offer amounted to a take-back.
[Jeff Jones,