Stop-and-Shop employees strike for better wages and working conditions

Employees at Stop and Shop grocery store in East Hampton Village are officially on strike.

Late Tuesday morning, striking employees stood outside the Newtown Lane store offering leaflets to customers entering the shop, urging them to reconsider their decision to shop there at a time when people normally flock to grocery stores to prepare for the Fourth of July Independence Day celebrations.

The leaflets contain the call “Negotiate!” in red italics and a short description of the topics.

“The purpose of the strike is to reach a fair collective bargaining agreement with the employer. They negotiated in bad faith,” said Keeley Lampo, director of activities and communications for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 342 union.

Ms. Lampo said the union has been negotiating with Stop and Shop for the past nine months over the terms of a new contract.

The negotiations focus on five main issues: wages, AI technology, staff shortages, reduced working hours and changes to working conditions during the negotiation process.

The strikes at the East Hampton and Southampton Village stores are “wall-to-wall,” meaning all employees at those locations are participating. In other areas, the strike is focused on employees in the meat, seafood and deli departments. In total, about 1,200 Stop and Shop employees from New York City, Suffolk County and Nassau County are participating, according to Ms. Lampo.

Stop and Shop representatives were not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.

At the East Hampton store, the meat, seafood and deli departments were empty and the lights were off. The customer service desk was also unmanned. Long lines formed at the self-checkout counters. The decision to strike was made early this morning when negotiations ended around 4 a.m.

Since the strike began, the union has made no progress in negotiations with Stop and Shop, said Ms. Lampo. Negotiations over the past few nights have taken place in person.

Ms Lampo stressed the importance of taking action to bring about change and also spoke about the wider impact of the strike. “It doesn’t just affect employees, it affects communities,” she said.

This is a developing story that will be updated as new information becomes available.