Officials Concerned by Turmoil at Stop & Shop

Reprinted with Permission From Milford Patch. (Stop& Shop image of Marty the robot)

MASSACHUSETTS — Massachusetts State Treasurer and Receiver-General Deborah B. Goldberg, along with the state treasurers of Connecticut and Rhode Island, have sent a letter to Stop & Shop and its parent company, Dutch-Belgian multinational retail and wholesale holding company Ahold Delhaize, expressing "serious concerns" about the possibility of the company to "eliminate union health insurance" and "threatening to shift warehouse operations out of Massachusetts." [Goldberg's family founded the grocery firm that became Stop & Shop in 1892 and she  herself worked there when she was younger. -- Ed.]

Last week, the Teamsters union threatened to set up picket lines at all New England Stop & Shops — amid animated verbal wrangling over a distribution center contract in Freetown.

Demonstrations could begin at the end of this month, according to a negotiation deadline.

The dispute centers around Teamsters members accusing Stop & Shop of "pushing" employees at a distribution center in Freetown, to accept what the union considers a substandard health care plan. Stop & Shop officials are saying the company is trying to cut "high" operational costs at the center.

"Stop & Shop is driving forward a multi-year strategy that includes efforts to lower prices and improve the in-store experience," a statement from the company said. "An important component of this is reducing overall costs — and that includes the high operational costs at our distribution facility in Freetown, MA. Stop & Shop solicited and received third party bids showing we could achieve millions in annual savings by transferring the work done at our Freetown distribution center to a third party. Because of our commitment to our union associates, we approached Teamsters Local 25 leadership with a request to identify only a fraction of that annual savings in our new contract."

The situation raises "serious concerns about the long-term stability of the company and its relationship with employees, customers, and the communities it serves," according to the letter from the state treasurers.

The letter is addressed to Frans Muller, the president and CEO of Ahold Delhaize in Amsterdam; and J.J. Fleeman, the CEO of Ahold Delhaize USA.