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AFSCME Members Support Stop & Shop Workers in New England

Photo Credit: AFSCME Council 4
AFSCME Members Support Stop & Shop Workers in New England
By AFSCME Staff ·
Tags: Momentum Workers' Rights

AFSCME members are standing in solidarity with Stop & Shop workers in New England who are striking to protect their pay and benefits. At a rally in Boston on Thursday, AFSCME councils 93, 94 and 4 will show their support for their sisters and brothers of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).

Former Vice President Joe Biden will also join the rally in support of Stop & Shop workers.

Some 31,000 Stop & Shop workers who are members of UFCW walked off their jobs on April 11 from more than 240 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island to defend themselves against the company’s attempts to cut their pay, health care and retirement benefits. It is reportedly the largest private sector strike in three years.

3 Things You Can Do

Don't Cross the Picket Line

If you live in New England, don’t cross the picket line. Shop at another supermarket with union employees.

“The proposed cuts by Stop & Shop, whose parent company earned $2 billion in profits in 2018, would devastate health care benefits, significantly increase health care costs, and decrease take home pay,” UFCW said in a press release. “Stop & Shop’s proposed cuts would also have a negative and severe impact on customer service, including the very cashiers, stockers, bakers, deli clerks, and butchers that Stop & Shop customers rely on.”

Earlier this week, AFSCME and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) together contributed $5,000 to a fund that will help Stop & Shop workers get through the strike without pay. They also pledged an additional $500 each week for the rest of the strike.

Not only did the parent company of Stop & Shop, Ahold Delhaize, earn billions last year, it also saved $244 million thanks to the tax breaks implemented by the Trump administration.

“What Stop & Shop workers don’t deserve, and what no one who works hard in New England deserves, are unreasonable cuts while the company they work so hard for makes billions of dollars in profits,” UFCW members said. “That is wrong and it sends a terrible message to every customer who truly depends on our Stop & Shop cashiers, stockers, bakers, deli clerk, and butchers.”

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