ST. LOUIS — Schnucks workers have approved a three-year union contract with the ӣƵ County-based grocery chain.
David Cook, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655, said the contract approved Monday provides an immediate raise to half of all Schnucks workers. Local 655 represents clerks at the grocery chain.
The contract also “keeps our pension extremely well-funded, and allows us to continue to provide industry-leading health care benefits to our partners with very little cost to them,” he said in a statement.
Schnucks leaders also cheered the agreement.
“We are pleased that our UFCW Local 655 teammates approved our proposal on the first vote,” Schnucks spokesperson Paul Simon said in a statement.
“We have worked with Local 655 for decades,” Simon said, “and our goal is always to reach an agreement that’s a win-win-win for our teammates and our company, as well as the customers and communities we serve.”
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The new contract increases the top-of-scale pay rate for full-time clerks by about 15% over three years, from $20.10 per hour to $23.10 per hour.
The contract also seeks to address future technological changes amid worries that artificial intelligence will replace human work.
The company is required to notify the union 30 days in advance of any “major technological changes which would have direct material impact affecting bargaining unit work.”
Under the contract, both parties agree to “bargain over the effects of such a decision upon employees.”
Health insurance premiums for workers will increase by $7 a week over three years for some plans, and $4 a week during the contract for lower-premium plans.
UFCW spokesman Collin Reischman said these are the first premium increases in over five years.
The union said it represents roughly 4,500 Schnucks workers in the eastern half of Missouri.
The UFCW Local 655 said Dierbergs workers will begin voting on a new contract later this week.
A tornado devastated the ӣƵ area on May 16, and much of the following week was spent picking up the pieces. Volunteers turned out and the road to recovery began. View the week in ӣƵ through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
