Stop & Strike
On a gloomy Easter’s Eve, marked by heavy morning rain and sporadic afternoon showers, the workers of the Stop & Shop along Old Connecticut Path gathered before a barren parking lot.
Awaiting each of them at the storefront beyond were three things - a log book for their names, a picket sign to carry, and another day of unpaid effort.
It was the 10th day of their strike against the company.
“Fair wages and fair benefits for a fair day's work is all we want,” said Jerry Barroso, a meat cutter turned striker and one of 31,000 Stop & Shop employees across New England who had all walked off the job on April 11.
Barroso, like most of the other Framingham strikers, chose to stay under the cover of the storefront’s canopy after signing the logbook and collecting the picket signs, but a few ventured back into the rain to stand by the parking lot’s entrance.
Martha Sawyer, a Peapod shopper, was one of them. With a sign hung around her shoulders asking drivers along the road to “please respect our line,” Sawyer and the other strikers there represented the first line of deterrence against potential customers entering the store.
As she waved to passing cars who honked in support, she explained that “none of us want to be out here, but we have to.”
They had to be out there because it was the only way they could show their frustration with the company over its proposed changes to their labor contract.
Changes which Sawyer, the other strikers, and the union representing them all agreed were not for the better.
“Stop & Shop has only proposed drastic and unreasonable cuts to health care benefits and take home pay,” said the five locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in a joint statement over the contract proposal.
A statement which most, if not all, of the strikers at the Framingham Stop & Shop agreed with.
“They are not treating us good with the new contract,” said Antonio Rodrigues, a Bakery Manager for 19 years who was standing by the store’s front entrance.
“They do not value the employee,” he added, referring to the company.
Tom Rodgers, a union steward for the shop who was standing near Rodrigues, also had something to say about the contract - calling it “garbage” and “all givebacks.”
“Wage increases have become less and less, things have gotten tougher,” Rodgers said.
He further added that the contract hurts newer, part-time workers most of all, citing its effect on their time-and-a-half pay which would halt at current levels even if their regular pay saw raises.
“Any new employee is gonna get way less immediately walking in the door,” he contended.
And that includes relatively new employees like Oscar Corona, a college student who said he has only been with the company for two years.
“As a college student, this is my only job,” he said after expressing his worries over the contract’s cuts as well as his lack of pay being on strike.
However, the company countered in a statement of their own that “no one’s pay would be cut” by their proposed contract which also “simply keeps pace with health care changes our competitors made years ago.”
Corporate further contended that contract changes were necessary for Stop & Shop to remain competitive in a market that’s become dominated by non-unionized grocery store chains, like Market Basket, whose labor costs are far lower than theirs.
This argument, however, did not sit well with many of the strikers who perceived the company as being well off and in no need to make such changes.
Barroso brought up the fact that Stop & Shop had just reported $2 billion in earnings last year, a figure that the Union and many of the strikers have used to argue their case for a better contract.
“It’s us that got them their corporate money,” Barroso said. “We should share that,” he added.
It’s a sentiment most of his colleagues shared, and one that John Peters, a delivery driver who was standing near a row of unused trucks, took even further.
He suggested that Stop & Shop’s contract proposal really sought to maximize dividend payouts for shareholders at the expense of the worker’s pockets.
A recent proposal and vote to increase dividend payouts by the shareholders of Ahold Delhaize, the parent company of Stop & Shop, occurred April 10.
The European based company wrote in their 2018 annual report, “Our strong financial position enables us to propose a dividend of €0.70 a share, an increase of 11.1% compared to last-year’s dividend.”
Peters said of the dividend recipients, “They didn’t even have to lift one can of beans.”
He continued by praising Stop & Shop’s union for its continued efforts in defending the pay of the workers who made such dividends possible.
“The more they go away, the more corporate America takes advantage of the workers,” he said of all unions in general.
After 10 days on strike without pay, some of the workers were having trouble maintaining Peter’s praise over the ordeal, saying they had grown tired and frustrated over stalled contract negotiations.
Rodrigues described it as a stressful situation for him since Stop & Shop is his main job and source of income. And without that paycheck, he said he’d have trouble paying the bills.
He also explained how every night he’d check his emails in hopes of good news from the union, but “every update seems the same as before.”
“We don’t see any progress,” he sighed.
And that was a major concern for many of the strikers who, at the time, had no idea how long the strike would last or when they could expect to earn their paychecks again.
A prominent conversion that could be overheard during their strike was on the topic of unemployment, with some saying they had either already filed for it or planned to do so over the weekend.
“It’s hard on a lot of people, even just missing that one paycheck.” said Chia McNeil, an Office Manager and Union Steward who was standing in the rain with Sawyer.
McNeil, who said she had been in the business for 47 years, starting with Purity before moving to Stop & Shop after its buyout, added, “it only gets really difficult when the time comes for a new contract.”
“And the past three have been more difficult,” she said.
Indeed, many of the striker’s final remarks on the whole ordeal was that they just wanted to go back to work.
But through persevering under that pressure, they were able to pivot even greater pressure on the company as they dissuaded 75% of Stop & Shop’s customer base from entering the stores.
Those undeterred by Sawyer and McNeil at the parking lot’s entrance would have to cross Barroso, Rodgers, and Rodrigues along with the rest at the storefront.
And although none of the strikers physically got in the way of anyone, they did create physiological border that potential customers likely found difficult to cross - having to disrespect their line to enter.
Though for journalists, Barossa said “we’ll let you cross the line.”
Walking inside, one would be confronted with an immediate aura of oddness as the pre-recorded “attention shoppers” messages played to a crowd of none.
There was no help at the deli to slice fresh meats, none at the bakery to serve fresh bread, and no open registers to ring up anything else. Customers who choose to shop there would have to use the self checkout machines.
The only signs of life within the store were a few managers scurrying around and the employees of off branch businesses like Dunkin Donuts.
With such a lack of service, even those who did not care for the striker’s cause would be hard pressed to continue shopping there. Yet, a few did still show up regardless.
“Look at this guy, that’s maybe $40 worth of groceries,” said Jim Glavin, a Meat Manager, who pointed out an odd customer that did cross over the line.
“There’s a few of them here and there, but it’s nothing compared to what BJ’s is getting right next door,” he added.
And it being Easter’s eve, there were plenty of potential customers around trying to buy up last minute groceries to prepare - but just not from Stop & Shop.
“Millions worth of sales given up,” Glavin said of the company that had yet to reach a contract deal while their workforce remained on strike.
But under that pressure, a tentative agreement with the union was finally struck on Easter day. The strikers took off their signs and returned to work the following Monday, but only after the company has suffered a severe loss.
A loss which totaled around $90 and $110 million over the course of the strike, according to Ahold Delhaize.
And a loss that extends beyond monetary value as the bad P.R. from this whole ordeal is likely to linger against Stop & Shop for years to come.
“I’m just worried the customers won’t come back after all this is done,” said Glavin.
[Editor’s note: This feature was originally published as a shorter Op/Ed in The Gatepost. I was not able to finish the full story by its print deadline.]
❱ Read the Op/Ed in The Gatepost’s print edition via Issuu - Page 8 »