Statement on the end of the 2019 UFCW Stop & Shop Worker Strike

Statement on the end of the 2019 UFCW Stop & Shop Worker Strike
MA AFL-CIO President, Steven A. Tolman

After eleven days on strike, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) leaders have reached a tentative agreement with Stop & Shop. The details of the tentative agreement will be made public afterStop & Shop workers have an opportunity to vote to approve the contract offer.  Today is a day to celebrate the power of a unified labor movement with broad public support. 31,000 hardworking retail workers stood up against a corporate behemoth and showed the power of working people and the community banding together in solidarity.  Stop & Shop’s business immediately halted during the strike - shelves were bare and parking lots empty. All because these UFCW members came together and said: no, we will not accept a raw deal while shareholders and executives pad their pockets off of our labor, and Stop & Shop consumers agreed.

This New England strike was more than a local labor action; it is part of labor’s resurgence. With corporate power mounting in recent decades, workers are realizing their power anew, joining unions at higher rates, resurrecting the use of our right to strike, solidifying partnerships with our community allies, and reforming our landscape. Union workers fight for all workers; they are the bricks in the foundation of our American democracy and the middle class.

I am proud to have walked with my Stop & Shop sisters and brothers in their struggle and I am humbled and inspired by the outpouring of support from every trade, every sector, and every pocket of our communities. Today we celebrate the Stop & Shop workers’ victory knowing it is also a victory for working people everywhere.