June 28, 2010

UFCW Members Celebrate New Contract with Giant Eagle

(Pittsburgh, Penn.) – Late last Friday, thousands of Giant Eagle supermarket workers from Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia ratified a new contract with Giant Eagle.  Highlights of the agreements between the members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23 and Giant Eagle include:

• Substantial hourly wage increases over the four-year contract;
• Higher pay rates and vacation benefits for newly hired workers;
• Increased quality and access to affordable health benefits; and
• Strengthening of retirement security for all workers.

Ratification of the contract stands to benefit Giant Eagle, the workers that have made the company a market-leading success, and communities around Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.

“UFCW Local 23 members were facing a number of issues in these negotiations but our membership came together.  The new contract is a testament to our solidarity and union spirit,” said Tony Helfer, UFCW Local 23 President.

UFCW Local 23 members mobilized like never before to inspire customers to support Giant Eagle, a local supermarket company, and to stand with its workers.  With a number of Giant Eagle franchise stores in the area where workers are not afforded the same rights and benefits as the UFCW Local 23 members, workers plan to take the energy and momentum from this bargaining process to work toward raising standards across the company.

The contract covers approximately 5,800 employees at 36 Giant Eagle Stores in Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia and will be in effect until June 28^th 2014.  UFCW Local 23 represents a total of over 13,000 members in West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio.