Schnucks Associates OK Union Contract

Updated 10/27

Union employees at Schnuck Markets Inc. approved a new pay-and-benefits contract representing more than 4,500 store associates at 52 St. Louis-area stores, nearly a month after voting to authorize a strike after rejecting a previous three-year offer.

Leaders of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 reached common ground with St. Louis-based Schnucks late last week and recommended their membership approve the new pact, which they did Wednesday, the St. Louis Business Journal reported. The vote was 1,020 to 507, the Journal reported.

The new proposal includes pay raises, no loss of health insurance for employees or their spouses and dependents, and no change in pension benefits, Schnucks CEO Todd Schnuck said in a statement Friday. “It’s time to move ahead together and bring our focus back to serving our customers,” Schnuck said.

Strike Averted

The union's thumbs up means Schnucks will avoid a strike threatened after the local rejected the previous offer, arguing that it did not give high-enough wage increases, threatened health benefits and could cut more than 130 full-time jobs.

If employees rejected the latest offer by a two-thirds majority, the union could have gone on strike within five days, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

UFCW Local 655 also expects soon to finalize a contract proposal for its members working at Dierbergs and Shop ’n Save stores in the St. Louis area, local President David Cook said in a statement.

Schnuck Markets Inc. operates 99 stores and 94 in-store pharmacies in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa.