A popular Midwestern grocery chain averted a strike after workers approved a new contract Wednesday night, ending months of tense negotiations over health care and wages.
Employees at Schnuck Markets, with over 100 stores located across the Midwest and 15,000 employees, voted in support of management’s latest proposal with 67 percent support for the new contract.
Workers at the St. Louis-based supermarket, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 655, have been in discussions with management for months. The previous contract between employees and the grocery chain expired in May, and negotiations for a new contract have yielded little progress until last Friday, when employees tentatively agreed to the latest proposal.
The vote total Wednesday night was 1,020 for, and 507 against the new contract, which union President David Cook called “substantially improved” from a proposal last month that the union rejected.
During the meeting, some members chanted, “tear it up” in reference to the contract, according to KDSK TV. While 67 percent of employees supported the new contract, Cook acknowledged the dissenting voices by admitting that the union didn’t get everything it wanted. “Is this everything I wish it was? Absolutely not,” he told union members, according to the St. Louis Business Journal.
The new three-year contract includes a $600 bonus for all full-time employees, and a $300 bonus to all part-time workers. Pharmacy technicians will get a higher starting salary under the new agreement, and management agreed to start paying for all licensing and certification costs required to be a pharmacy technician.
The previous contract offer failed because of the proposed healthcare plan, which would leave hundreds of employees without coverage. Under the new contract, any employee or family member who currently has health insurance retains it.
After the union rejected the grocery chain’s proposal in September, a federal mediator was brought in to sit with the two sides. Scot Beckenbaugh was the same mediator who helped end the 2013 National Hockey League Lockout, and was credited by union officials for concluding an agreement with Schnucks management.
“This is an important contract as we face increasing pressures from nearly 600 nonunion stores,” Schnucks said in a statement. “Together we found solutions that support teammates while giving Schnucks the flexibility to compete,” the company added.
“This deal will serve as a standard for other employers of union members in the future,” the union said in a statement. It should be noted that UCFW Local 655 represents about 4,500 workers at 52 Schnuck Markets in the St. Louis area.
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