UPDATE Union leaders representing all 36,000 Stop & Shop workers in New England have given notice that the entire workforce could strike at noon Friday.
One of the unions, Westport-based Local 371 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents 5,000 workers in Connecticut, gave a 24-hour notice Wednesday that it could strike at 3 p.m. today. The rest of the unions gave notice at noon today, said Brian Petronella, president of Local 371.
Petronella said his group will not strike on its own before Friday. Talks between the supermarket chain and UFCW began at 9 a.m. in Providence, R.I. and are continuing.
“I’m hoping that because we’ve upped the stakes, that the negotiations will go our way,” Petronella said.
A Stop & Shop spokeswoman said the company is still negotiating in hopes of a pact, and also is prepared for a strike.
Local 371 represents workers at all 89 Stop & Shop stores in Connecticut — mostly meat, deli and seafood employees.
Faith Weiner, a spokeswoman for Stop & Shop, said that if the union were to strike, “We could then use temporary replacement workers to run our stores at that time.”
Weiner added, “We continue to negotiate in good faith.”
The contract expired Feb. 20, but both sides agreed to honor it and keep talking, with an agreement that they give 24 hours’ notice before canceling the old contract. All five New England locals voted last month to authorize a strike if talks broke off.
