Vol. 74/No. 29      August 2, 2010

The warehouse distributes meat, dairy, and produce to the 176 Shaw’s Supermarkets and Star Markets in New England. The grocery chain’s parent company, Supervalu of St. Paul, Minnesota, is one of the largest grocery companies in the country.

Company officials say former strikers will return to work in phases over the next couple of weeks. Unionists report all replacement workers have been terminated, while the more than 50 union members who crossed the picket line will continue to work.

In a telephone interview July 18, striker Christian Ovallos said, “We won the war.” With eight years at the company, he expects to return to work in a week or two.

The workers voted to strike March 7, rejecting a contract that would have increased health-care costs by $28 per week for those with family coverage. As soon as the vote was taken, the company substituted an offer with greater concession demands, including converting 24 jobs to nonunion subcontractor positions. Shortly after the strike began the company hired replacement workers and cancelled the strikers’ health insurance. Strikers won unemployment benefits at the beginning of May.

A 60-mile march over five days in late May, from the struck facility near the New Hampshire border to downtown Boston, won the support for the strike and was covered in the media. Ten state congressional members and 80 religious leaders urged Shaw’s to negotiate with the union.

The union organized 150 strikers to picket the warehouse June 30 from midnight to 3:00 a.m., when the largest number of trucks make deliveries. Strikers blocked the road, at one point preventing more than half a dozen tractor trailers from entering the warehouse.

According to picket captain Ruben Benitez, “the police were angry with the union because they didn’t notify them; there were only two cops.” Six union members were arrested.

The following week negotiations led to the mediator-recommended settlement. Neither the company nor the union are providing details, but Ovallos says the health-care contribution is less than before.

Other former strikers report raises over the four-year contract will be 20 cents the first year and 20 cents each of the last two years, roughly similar to the original offer. There will be a $750 bonus in 2011.

A concession was made to allow some 30 to 40 receiving-dock jobs go to a third-party contractor, while the warehouse remains all union.
 
 
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