Teamsters Local 25 members protested outside the Stop & Shop distribution facility in Freetown, Massachusetts, on Feb. 21, 2025.
A looming strike by Stop & Shop workers was averted Friday afternoon, as the grocery and a union for its associates announced a contract dispute had been resolved with a tentative agreement.
Friday marked the deadline for a new contract agreement between the grocery chain and union workers at the distribution center in Freetown, Massachusetts. If that contract agreement wasn't reached, both sides had threatened to take action.
But both sides announced late Friday afternoon that they had agreed to a six-year contract, which will be up for ratification next week.
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The agreement preserves more than 900 union jobs at the Freetown warehouse.
Stop & Shop President Roger Wheeler said in the statement he was thrilled about the agreement, which "both provides an outstanding package of wages and benefits to our associates and supports us in our strategy of improving the customer experience by reducing operating costs."
Thomas G. Mari, the president of Teamsters Local 25, called the tentative agreement "the strongest contract in the supermarket industry" with wage increases, improvements to working conditions and job security.
The statement didn't share specific details on what was in the agreement.
During the dispute, Stop & Shop had said it was seeking to reduce labor costs at the Freetown facility by implementing a new health plan, and that, without a deal, it would make plans to close the facility and outsource the work to a third party.
Teamsters Local 25, which had picketed with its workers at the distribution center last week, had said the proposal they rejected would have required workers to contribute 20% of the costs. They'd threatened to strike at locations across New England if the warehouse was shut down.
The five local United Food & Commercial Workers unions which represent roughly 30,000 Stop & Shop employees throughout New England had vowed solidarity with the Teamsters if a deal wasn’t reached and said they would honor their picket lines.
If that happened, you might have seen impacts at your local grocery store, the unions said.
The state treasurers of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut got involved in the dispute, sending a letter to the supermarket giant encouraging it to “engage in good faith negotiations” with the Teamsters.
