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Stop & Shop, UFCW reach accord on COVID-19 hazard pay

Grocery chain to issue retroactive payments to 56,000 workers

Russell Redman

September 25, 2020

3 Min Read
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Stop & Shop had instituted a 10% temporary wage increase for hourly workers in March and then extended it twice before the program expired July 5.Stop & Shop

Stop & Shop has agreed to issue retroactive premium pay to 56,000 associates represented by United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW) for their extra efforts to maintain stores and serve customers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ahold Delhaize USA chain and UFCW said Friday that associates will receive lump sum payments equal to 10% of all hours worked between July 5 and Aug. 22.

Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop had instituted a 10% temporary wage increase for hourly workers on March 20 and then, in late April, extended the period to May 30 and then later on extended it again to July 4 as the COVID-19 crisis continued.

“Working in partnership when the pandemic began to take hold, UFCW International and UFCW local unions together with Stop & Shop offered union members a temporary premium. When that pay raise expired in July, the UFCW local unions and members asked Stop & Shop to do what is right for grocery workers and UFCW members,” Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid and UFCW International President Marc Perrone said in a joint statement on Friday. 

“Today, UFCW and Stop & Shop are proud to announce a tentative agreement has been reached on a new premium that recognizes Stop & Shop workers for their incredible efforts,” they said. “The UFCW wants to acknowledge Stop & Shop for not only recognizing its workers, but for remaining committed to work with UFCW, America’s largest food and retail union, to better the lives of these dedicated workers and their families.”

Related:UFCW unions chide Stop & Shop for ending ‘appreciation pay’

The retroactive pay excludes paid time off accrued during the July 5 to Aug. 22 period and doesn’t apply to employees represented by UFCW local unions now engaged in contract negotiations with Stop & Shop, UFCW and Stop & Shop said. They noted that the lump sump payments are in addition to the pay hikes between March and July as well as two extra weeks of paid leave provided earlier this year for workers who become ill.

Stop & Shop also has agreed, starting next year, to observe a moment of silence on Labor Day and Workers Memorial Day to recognize frontline workers lost to COVID-19 and the support that union membership provides to its associates.

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S. in March, UFCW members and Stop & Shop workers have gone above and beyond to ensure that our stores have remained open to serve our communities’ essential needs,” Reid and Perrone stated. “These workers have risen to the challenge, and Stop & Shop deeply appreciates everything they have done in difficult circumstances — at work and at home — as they care for their neighbors and their families during a national crisis.”

Related:Stop & Shop again extends COVID-19 ‘appreciation pay’

Unionized worker recently had criticized Stop & Shop for letting the premium pay lapse. In mid-July, 14 UFCW locals said they were filing charges with the National Labor Relations Board in connection with Stop & Shop’s phaseout of COVID-19 “appreciation pay” for frontline grocery store workers. At the time, the union locals in New York, New Jersey and New England — representing 70,000 Stop & Shop supermarket workers — said the retailer stopped paying the bonus even as its members still faced the threat of catching the virus.  

Stop & Shop in late April had joined UFCW International’s effort to get federal and state governments to classify grocery workers as emergency first responders during the pandemic.

Overall, Stop & Shop operates more than 400 supermarkets in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey.

“Today’s agreement is a further testament that, by negotiating in good faith, Stop & Shop and UFCW have been able to achieve a real victory that is shared by the company, its customers, these communities and the grocery workers who continue to serve,” Reid and Perrone added.

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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