PROVIDENCE – Unionized Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. employees in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut have secured higher starting wages, raises for established employees and no increases to health care costs in a recently ratified contract.
The four-year agreement between five United Food and Commercial Workers branches and the Quincy, Mass.-based grocery store chain will impact around 10,000 workers in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, according to Timothy Melia, president of UFCW Local 328.
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The contract includes “immediate wage increases across the board” for all employees of at least six months, according to a statement on Local 328’s website, as well as stipulations such as lower health care deductibles, protected time and a half on Sundays and holidays, secured pensions, and increased guaranteed hours for long-term, part-time workers.
Over 98% of UFCW Local 328 members who cast a vote approved the contract.
The agreement follows a contract approved in April 2019, when the five UFCW branches in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut carried out an 11-day strike before reaching a contract with Stop & Shop.
Among the stipulations of the new agreement, part-time clerks will start at a $14 hourly pay rate in 2023, which will increase to at least $15 at the end of that year.
In Massachusetts and Connecticut, part-time clerks will be paid a minimum starting wage of $15 starting this summer.
The contract agreement also increases full-time starting pharmacy technicians in Rhode Island to a minimum pay rate of $17.25 per hour in January 2023, and starting part-time technicians to $15.25 per hour, with both pay rates increasing by $1 for the next year.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
