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Stop & Shop workers accept new contract Signs for picketing and strike stewards were already in place for an immediate walk-out before union sessions on Sunday gave a unanimous thumbs-up to the new three-year contract hammered out during almost three months of negotiations. The new contract retains the established defined benefit pension plan, guaranteeing retirement pay-outs according to the number of years employees are vested in the plan, instead of switching to a more unpredictable 401K arrangement. It also offers acceptable wage increases, boosts the hospitalization and prescription allowances for full-time workers and reduces their out-of-pocket insurance costs, and retains health insurance at no cost to part-time workers, who, as of Jan. 2008, will be entitled to full insurance coverage after two years of employment instead of three years with the company. "We thank the membership," said Jim Riley, secretary and treasurer of Local 328 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, based in Rhode Island and representing 10,000 regional Stop & Shop employees in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. "We feel terrific," he said, after a nearly continuous 48-hour session of talks Friday and Saturday as he readied to have a cold, congratulatory beer and some rest. "The presidents of all the local unions are very pleased. We hope that everyone continues to shop at Stop & Shop and continues to support union labor." The worker contract expired at midnight on Feb. 17 and on Feb. 18 all 44,000 Stop & Shop employees voted unanimously to strike if an acceptable new contract could not be negotiated. The local walk-out would have involved 75 full and part-time workers. Stop & Shop is owned by The Netherkands-based Royal Ahold company and has 70 stores located in New England. I |
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