UFCW Local 655 clerks approve Schnucks contract

Three-year agreement improves pay and increases contributions to healthcare and pension benefits

Union clerks at Schnucks, represented by United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 655, tonight voted 1020 to 507 to accept a new three-year contract agreement with the St. Louis-based, family-owned grocery/pharmacy retailer. The vote avoids a potential strike had the new contract proposal not been accepted.

Highlights of the agreement, which represents significant movement from the original proposal, include:

• Pay raises
• No loss of health insurance (including spouses and dependents)
• No change in pension benefits for current teammates
• No change in Sunday schedules
• Continued eligibility to earn up to five weeks’ vacation
• Two-week advance schedules

“Schnucks management listened to our concerns and worked with us to provide a significantly revised agreement that our membership supported with tonight’s vote,” said UFCW Local 655 President David Cook. “Our members deserve to be recognized for their sacrifices with a fair contract. The significant concessions from Schnucks show they understood that and came back to the table with a much better contract.”

Local 655 represents approximately 4,500 clerks at Schnucks’ 52 stores across the St. Louis region.

“This Union is committed to improving the lives of our hard working members who deserve the pay, benefits, pension protection and other provisions contained in this new contract,” Cook said. He noted that Schnucks is the major union food employer in the region and that the union and company are proud both of the quality services provided to customers as well as the on going extensive community support offered in various ways by both the union and the company.

“We have worked with Local 655 for decades and our goal is always to reach an agreement that’s a win-win for our teammates and the communities we serve,” said Todd Schnuck, Chairman and CEO, Schnuck Markets. “This is an important contract in the face of increasing competitive pressures from nearly 600 non-union stores. It is important that we all get out and spend our dollars with union retailers.

For 77 years, our company – and our team of 14,500 hard-working men and women – have given our customers a special shopping experience and has been a source of good jobs and careers. We intend to continue those traditions for the next 77 years…and beyond,” Schnuck said.

Schnucks’ traditions include ongoing support of many community organizations across the St. Louis area, giving more than $13 million dollars annually in food to many area food pantries and more than $1.8 million to not-for-profit organizations through the company’s My Schnucks Card program.

Local 655’s community support includes annual donations to hundreds of charities, its annual Bar-B-Que for sickle cell research, its annual golf tournament and support of the “Light The Night” walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as part of the national UFCW’s LLS campaign that’s raised over $77 million for blood cancer research.

Both Cook and Schnuck expressed their gratitude to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) for their remarkable job in facilitating negotiations and helping to avert a work stoppage.

Schnucks engaged with Dierbergs and Shop ‘n Save in coordinated bargaining with UFCW Local 655, where all three companies adopt the same wage, health insurance and pension changes approved in tonight’s contract vote. Voting on those agreements will be held within the next few weeks.

About UFCW Local 655

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 655 represents workers in retail food and non-food, manufacturing, packing houses, distribution centers, laboratories, and hair care.

Local 655 has been representing the interests of the membership in the eastern half of Missouri and surrounding areas since 1934 and has grown from a modest 450 individuals to a 10,000+ membership.

About Schnucks

Founded in St. Louis in 1939, Schnuck Markets, Inc. is a third-generation, family-owned grocery/pharmacy retailer committed to nourishing people’s lives. Schnucks currently operates 99 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. Privately held, Schnucks is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Follow Schnucks on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Schnucks.