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.
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.
