Nearly two months after the most recent deal expired, the union that represents Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. workers across New England agreed to a new three-year contract Tuesday.
United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1459 representative Jeff Jones said Wednesday that Stop & Shop employees have been working without a contract since the end of February.
The new contract was ratified Tuesday when union members voted in Chicopee and Pittsfield, according to the UFCW. The tentative deal was announced April 9.
Stop & Shop has stores in Northampton and Hadley. Attempts to reach a Stop & Shop representative were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Safeguarding pension benefits for both full- and part-time employees and a wage increase — effective retroactively to the end of February — are included in the new contract, Jones said. Full-time employees received weekly increases of $20, $25 and $20 for each year of the contract.
Premiums and co-payments for health insurance would remain unchanged for two years, and will see a slight increase in the contract’s third and final year, Jones said. “There were no losses here,” he added.
During negotiations, union representatives also worked out an agreement with Stop & Shop to abide by more flexible scheduling terms, Jones said.
Now, schedules will be released two weeks in advance as opposed to the current practice of issuing the schedule on Friday before the new work week.
“I’m satisfied with the outcome,” Jones said. “That being said, I’m never completely satisfied with a contract. There’s always things that can be improved about it. (The deal) was a long time coming. This is the longest we’ve gone without a contract.”
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.