Marilyn Moore

Senator Moore Joins Stop & Shop Workers in Support of Strike

HARTFORD, CT – This evening, Senator Marilyn Moore (D-Bridgeport) joined workers at the Bridgeport Stop & Shop grocery store on Main Street in support of their strike against the company. The strike, which started Thursday at 1 p.m., comes as workers protest unfair labor practices from the grocery store chain.

On Thursday, 31,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union working at 243 Stop & Shop grocery stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut went on strike after extended negotiations between the company and the union have extended since January. Stop & Shop workers have been working without a contract since February as negotiations continue.

The UFCW has said that despite the grocery store’s parent company seeing significant profits, the company is attempting to cut employee healthcare and retirement benefits. Stop & Shop employee pensions are currently fully funded by the company, which has asked for new full-time workers, and part-time workers hired since February 2014, to receive a reduced pension benefit of up to 32 percent, according to the UFCW. The company is also seeking to require full-time employees to pay an additional $893 in health care premiums over three years and part-time employees an additional $603 over three years. In addition, the contract would see many part-time employees receive an average wage increase of under 2 percent.

Stop & Shop says its union staff leads to higher costs and it must reduce them to remain competitive, though the UFCW said it has not provided financial information to verify the claim. Union officials said Stop & Shop’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize, reported more than $2 billion in profit in 2018, and received a tax cut in the United States of $225 million in 2017.

“Working people deserve to receive a living wage and affordable healthcare,” said Senator Moore. “These are human rights and that’s why passing legislation for paid family and medical leave and raising the minimum wage is so important. The hardworking employees at our local grocery stores shouldn’t have to strike to receive basic rights.
We need to hold corporations accountable when they don’t value and treat their employees with the respect and dignity they deserve. I’m proud to stand with these workers and I hope that Stop & Shop will come to the table and work out a deal that does not compromise the rights of their committed employees.”