Some CT Stop & Shops Open With Limits Amid Day 2 Of Strike

VERNON, CT — Many Stop & Shop supermarkets in Connecticut were open for business Friday amid Day 2 of a statewide union work stoppage and were offering stocked shelves but limited services with self-checkouts.

A Stop & Shop spokeswoman said the majority of stores in New England were open Friday. All pharmacies and banks (regardless of whether the store is open) were available for customers, she said.

At 8:30 a.m. in front of the bigger of two stores in Vernon, near the convergence of state routes 30 and 83, striking union workers lined the sidewalk, some 25 strong. Some customers left without entering, while others insisted they needed to purchase items and went in after what appeared to be respectful exchanges.

One striking worker chastised a customer for heading in and an argument ensued, but other picketers brought the union member aside for a private discussion.

"We have regulars ... and these people are our neighbors," one veteran worker of more than three decades said. "We just want everyone to understand what we're doing."

The worker was quick to say that the union "respected" customers needing pharmacy services.

The pharmacy was open in the Vernon store and grocery shelves were stocked, but fresh food usually at the salad bar, the seafood counter and butcher shop was not on the shelves. The smells of the bakery and Stop & Shop's signature rotisserie chickens were noticeably absent.

In Enfield, an elderly man peacefully went in the store to get medication and grabbed a gallon of milk while he was inside. He was one of five customers in the place just before 2 p.m. A woman was walking into the store a short time later, saw the strike, asked what all the commotion was about and turned back toward her car after a polite explanation from the workers.

Chants outside the Enfield store included, "Stop, Don't Shop."

In Enfield, several customers were seen shopping, but not stopping to pay for carts full of groceries because no one was available to stop them.

One Enfield customer delivered doughnuts to those on the picket line.

"Marty," the roving hazard-detecting robot was not in service Friday morning at the Vernon store. The staff consisted of a handful of non-union workers. Staffed checkout lanes were closed, but the self-checkout stations were operating.

A picket line was also set up behind the store at the loading dock. Some trucks left, some drivers made their deliveries after a discussion with union members. A manager for a regional snack food delivery company said his directive was to not cross the picket lines, at least for this week. Others in the industry said their orders were to make deliveries.

"We don't want to get anyone getting fired who has to do his or her job," one union member said.

Enfield Town Council member Ed Deni visited the workers outside his local store and said, "On behalf of the Teamsters 671, I'm here to support you."

The strike was called by the United Food and Commercial Workers union at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday at the 92 Stop & Shop stores across the state and picket lines formed about 30 minutes later.

One worker said he had a rack of cut meat that he had to leave behind as the walk-out orders came in.

"The managers were able to pack it and we took care of the customers in line because that's our priority, but then we just had to leave," the worker said.

Stop & Shop workers in New England and have been in negotiations with the supermarket chain since Jan. 14 and the current contract expired on Feb. 23. Members of UFCW Locals 1459, 328, and 919 voted in favor of a strike authorization on Sunday, March 10, joining Locals 1445 and 371, whose members had already held similar votes.

Union officials have cited wage increases, no pay cuts, pensions and health benefits as defining issues and a worker on the picket line said quietly that one sticking point has been maintaining the current the level of health care.

In a statement released Thursday, Stop & Shop officials said those issues have been addressed with "a good and reasonable offer to our union locals."

Neither side has offered any more comment.

See more on the strike here.
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Patch Editor Tim Jensen contributed to this story.