Stop & Shop workers, battered by COVID-19 and eager to avoid a second strike in three years, have ratified a four-year contract that delivers a $15 minimum hourly wage a year before Connecticut’s higher wage takes effect and boosts pay significantly for workers who fill online orders for curbside pick-up.
The agreement, approved Sunday and covering 30,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will increase wages by at least $4 an hour for all employees with at least six months on the job. Part-time workers will be paid a starting rate of $15 an hour and $17.30 as a starting rate for full-time employees, according to the union.
Connecticut’s minimum wage rises to $15 an hour on June 1, 2023.
“The company knew we were bargaining in the shadow of COVID and did not want to reduce costs or change health care,” said Keri Hoehne, executive vice president of Local 371 of the UFCW in Westport.
Supermarkets were among the few businesses not shut during the pandemic. Workers, who were particularly exposed to COVID-19, were often required to enforce state and local mask rules and other regulations, occasionally drawing abuse from customers. Stop & Shop and the UFCW negotiated premium pay for workers.
In the new contract, the union said employees will not be required to contribute more to their health insurance, which was a key disagreement that led to a strike in 2019. A health insurance fund was merged with several union locals, saving money, Hoehne said.
In addition, increased hours will be available to senior part-time employees who want guaranteed hours. The contract also calls for a $500 bonus for full-time employees and $250 for part-time workers, according to the UFCW.
The contract will boost pay nearly 29%, to $19 an hour from $15.30, for “click and collect” workers who fill online orders brought to customers for curbside pick up, Hoehne said. The jobs were established in response to the pandemic.
In a statement, Stop & Shop said the agreement is fair and will allow the supermarket chain to “recognize and reward” employees’ contributions and commitment to customers and the community and provide workers with “opportunities for growth and advancement.”
The contract also makes it possible for Stop & Shop to “continue to compete and thrive in this competitive landscape as the last large unionized grocer in New England.”
The agreement contrasts with a collapse in contract talks in 2019 over health care costs and other provisions. The result was an 11-day strike costing workers their paychecks and the Netherlands parent company, Ahold Delhaize, $345 million in lost sales.
“I don’t think anyone wanted to go though that again,” Hoehne said.
Retail analyst Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director at Strategic Resource Group, said that following the “devastating strike” three years ago, the two sides this year made a “wise strategic decision.”
“No enemies at the bargaining table this time,” he said.
Ahold Delhaize posted 2021 sales of the equivalent of $83.9 billion, up 5% from 2020. Sales in U.S. stores for the year were the equivalent of $50.5 billion, an increase of 5.6%.
Retailers are boosting wages to attract workers in a tight labor market, with Target announcing Monday it will pay workers up to $24 an hour.
“Stop & Shop has a real willingness to invest in higher wages,” Flickinger said.
With compensation that includes a pension, a rare benefit in the private sector, Stop & Shop had higher productivity and better retention among its workers during the pandemic, Flickinger said.
Supermarkets that profited during the pandemic at the expense of restaurants ordered shut by public health officials will likely continue to benefit even with restaurants re-opened as consumers, struggling to pay more for energy and other expenses, cut costs, he said.
“The best place to save for food is at a supermarket and wholesale shopping,” Flickinger said.
Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com.
