Union At Odds With Stop & Shop Over Coronavirus Pay Rate

ACROSS CONNECTICUT — The United Food and Commercial Workers union is at odds with Stop & Shop again, this time over the rate of pay for grocery workers at the chain amid Phase 3 of the coronavirus pandemic reopening rules.

The criticism levied by 14 separate local union chapters Tuesday comes 14 months after an 11-day strike was settled with union members getting raises.

Stop & Shop and the union announced another raise in March to the tune of 10 percent for those on the "front lines" of the coronavirus shopping scene. The raises were extended through the end of May and then through July 4.

The locals in New York, New Jersey and New England collectively represent about 70,000 Stop and Shop grocery workers. The "condemned" a lack of extension on the July 4 expiration date and claim Stop & Shop executives walked away from the negotiating table during more extension talks.

Stop & Sop has not formally responded.

The union claims the workers need "the essential pay" to "continue to work under hazardous conditions amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic."

Stop & Shop has been touting "extensive measures" implemented "to protect the health of associates and customers during the pandemic." They include "additional" cleaning and sanitation, the provision of personal protective eqipment for associates, protective plexiglass shields, store capacity limits, one-way aisles and in-store signage to promote social distancing.

It continues to offer special shopping hours for customers 60 and older and those with weakened immune systems.

In May, Stop & Shop and the union issued a joint statement calling on federal and state governments to designate associates at grocery stores as "extended first responders" or "emergency personnel."