Pending Stop & Shop Union Strike.
Through some work that I do on the weekends with a local snack vendor, I've gotten to know many employees of grocery stores and markets in the southern New England area.
The contract with the union employees is about to expire. I believe it ends this Saturday, February 20th and from what I am seeing the potential for a full blown strike seems very realistic.
I don't work for these stores and don't know the whole story. Given the current state of our economy, I still get a little surprised when I read about or hear about major strikes going on during this recession. I am someone who is happy to have a job and get a paycheck in today's climate. Again, I don't know all the specific details and many of these workers seem smart enough to know what they are voting for or against come this weekends vote with a new contract.
Stop and Shop took out classified ads offering new hires the following hourly wages. Full time $15 an hour and part timers $12 an hour. No details about benefits. Whether or not these are permanent or temp positions still remains to be seen. This looks like a lot of money to be putting cans of soup on the shelf or ringing a register. It is also more money then the current employees get. What kind of message is Stop and Shop trying to send pre union vote?
Going back to the state of today's economy, I can't imagine that Stop and Shop hasn't been absolutely flooded with applications and resumes.
My thoughts are with everyone I know at these stores and hope that a win/win solution happens very quickly and perhaps at this late hour an upcoming strike is avoided altogether.
Jason
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