Over 8,500 New York Grocery Workers to Vote on New Contracts This Week

UFCW Local 1500, New York State's Largest Grocery Union, Reached Tentative Agreements with Stop & Shop, King Kullen

WESTBURY, NY (04/14/2015)(readMedia)-- After six-months of tense negotiations, negotiating committees for United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1500 announced they reached tentative agreements with Stop & Shop and King Kullen supermarkets. The previous agreements expired in December 2014. Since then both companies were on month-to-month rolling extensions.

"Our negotiation team has fought hard for months," said Stop & Shop negotiating committee member Frank Ferrer Jr. who works at Stop & Shop in Rhinebeck, N.Y., "The company tried to drag negotiations on, but we didn't break. Our goal was not to bring just any contract back to our coworkers who elected us to negotiate on their behalf, but the best contract we could. We feel we did that."

Voting for Stop & Shop's tentative agreement, an agreement that covers 6,000 UFCW Local 1500 members, will take place on Thursday, April 16, 2015 at multiple locations throughout UFCW Local 1500's jurisdiction. Voting for over 2,500 UFCW Local 1500 members working at King Kullen will take place on Thursday, April 16, 2015 at multiple locations on Long Island.

Details on both agreements will not be released publicly until voting is completed and UFCW Local 1500's contract negotiations with Fairway Market are completed. Fairway Market and UFCW Local 1500 have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement since February. The agreement, which expired on March 29th, covers over 2,400 men and women throughout New York. Fairway Market and UFCW Local 1500 are currently on a rolling 10 day contract extension.

###

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, based out of Westbury, New York, represents over 22,800 grocery workers in New York City, Long Island, Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess Counties. Members of Local 1500 are employed by Pathmark, Fairway, Stop and Shop, Gristedes, D'Agostinos, Key Food, Shop Rite and King Kullen.

Stay up to date with UFCW Local 1500 on twitter @ufcw1500, facebook.com/ufcw1500, and at ufcw1500.org.