Stop & Shop and ShopRite employees in New Jersey and New York, represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1262 in Clifton, have voted overwhelmingly to accept a new labor agreement, the union said Tuesday.
Members voted on the contract over the weekend. The new contract covers nearly 24,000 Local 1262 members at about 160 stores.
UFCW Local 1262 President Harvey Whille said the agreement contains wage increases retroactive to Oct. 16, the day the previous contract expired. Whille said he was pleased the union was able to negotiate a contract that maintained health care and pension benefits, in addition to giving workers a wage hike, despite pressures on unions for givebacks and concessions. Whille would not comment on what the wage increases were, but people familiar with the negotiations said they amounted to increases of between 1.5 percent and 2 percent. "We went into these negotiations with probably the best contract on the Eastern Seaboard for retail food workers and we came out with even a better package," Whille said. The union also sought a 24-month contract
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