New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Stop & Shop won’t extend pandemic pay
The 10 percent “hazard pay” Stop & Shop employees have received since March will end Saturday, and the grocery store giant’s union is decrying the company’s refusal to continue the bonus.
The grocery store chain will halt an “appreciation pay” program that it had implemented in five Northeast states.
The company announced in May that it would extend the program through July 4, providing hourly workers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island with a 10 percent pay increase, according to an email from Stop & Shop spokeswoman Maura O’Brien.
While a union that represents employees at Stop & Shop locations in Connecticut and western Massachusetts tried to negotiate with the chain to keep the program in place, the company declined to continue it, according to a letter sent from Ronald Petronella, interim president of the union.
“We are disgusted by this decision, especially while confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in much of the country, and several states in the Northeast have announced that they will be delaying planned reopenings,” Petronella
said.
The letter went out to members of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 371.
The pay program was implemented amid “mounting public concern over the pandemic” and increased foot traffic in stores, O’Brien said.
“Appreciation pay was created to show our thanks for the exceptionally hard work that associates put forth in extraordinary circumstances,” she said.
Now, the Northeast states Stop & Shop serves are reopening more full, and consumer demand is returning to normal, O’Brien said.
“We remain committed to taking significant steps to continue to keep our associates and customers safe,” she said, adding that other additional benefits associated with the pandemic, including a flexible leave policy, remain in place.
According to O’Brien, Stop & Shop is one of the last American food retailers with an “appreciation pay” program in place.
Keri Hoehne, a representative of Local 371, said while the Northeast is in better shape than much of the country, it is still threatened by increasing cases in other states.
But Local 371 also represents employees at ShopRite, another Connecticut grocery store chain, where Hoehne said workers will continue to receive hazard pay through Aug. 1, although at a lower rate than before.