[[{“value”:”
By Reid Jackson
Stop & Shop Threatens Freetown Distribution Center with Shutdown Over Healthcare Policy
FREETOWN, MA – Jason Linhares, a leasing contractor working with the Teamsters at the Stop & Shop Distribution Center in Freetown, MA, is handed a pamphlet from the union. He can’t believe what he’s reading. Ahold Delhaize, a multinational holding corporation, has his workplace in their sights for termination, unless the union cuts the healthcare benefits of all 900 union workers at the facility. He takes to Facebook to raise the alarm on the raw deal he and his fellow workers have been handed from their employer:
“With this job I’ve made a ton of sacrifices. Missing both of my daughter’s growing up because I have to work nights, holidays, and weekends[…] We came to work everyday to make sure Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut had food on their tables.
Unfortunately, Stop & Shop has seemingly forgotten how essential we were not so long ago.”
He was joined by many of his fellow union workers, outlining the need for a strike if this deal is not reconsidered by both Stop & Shop and Ahold Delhaize. This prompted the standoff between the union and the companies that lasted until February 28th, the deadline for the proposed healthcare cuts. Luckily, this story did not end in a strike for the company or punishment for the union.
Teamsters Come to Tenative Agreement for the Next Six Years
Late that Friday evening, the Teamsters announced that they have reached an agreement with Stop & Shop and Ahold Delaize to secure workers’ healthcare and continued work at the distribution center. “Stop & Shop tried to strong-arm our members by pushing a nonunion, substandard company health care plan, but our members refused to be intimidated by the company’s corporate threats,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “We fought back against Stop & Shop’s corporate greed and sent a clear message that our members will not be bullied into accepting anything less than what they are worth.”
This contract comes with the largest wage increase in the union’s history, with new hires receiving an 80 percent pay increase over the six year contract, and veteran employees a greater than 30 percent increase. This contract win for the union came with congratulations from Local 25 president Tom Mari: “We held Stop & Shop accountable and secured one of the strongest contracts in the supermarket industry. I want to thank our members for their strength, our UFCW allies for their unwavering solidarity, and the community for standing with us. This victory shows what happens when workers refuse to back down.”
While many held their breaths for an eventual shutdown of one of the largest food distributors in the state, cooler heads prevailed and delivered a just outcome for the union and its members.
Reid Jackson is a freshman journalist at WorkingMass and a former member of the YDSA at the University of Rhode Island.
“}]]