Schnucks workers ratify 3-year contract, averting strike

Schnuck Markets employees represented by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 88 ratified a three-year contract agreement that passed with 87% approval, the company and union confirmed Tuesday.

The terms of the agreement, which runs through March 29, 2026, were not disclosed, but union President Dan Telle told Winsight Grocery Business the company and the union were able to resolve major issues, such as pay increases and a company contribution to the employee health-and-welfare fund. 

The agreement comes after the 1,242 meat, deli and seafood department employees represented by the union authorized a possible strike over the contract negotiations in late June.  

“When it passes by 87%, that tells you that everybody’s happy,” Telle said in a telephone interview, noting that the high approval was the result of a “good proposal.” 

He noted that the union’s eight-member bargaining committee, made up of Schnucks employees represented by the union, unanimously approved the agreement. UFCW Local 88 represents roughly 11% of all Schnuck employees at 68 locations, mostly in the St. Louis area. Schnuck Markets runs 115 supermarkets and employs roughly 12,000 associates in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.  

Schnucks management said it was satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations. “We are pleased that our UFCW Local 88 teammates overwhelmingly approved the tentative collective bargaining agreement and that our ongoing negotiations with the bargaining committee and union leadership led to solutions that support our teammates," the grocer said in a statement.   

Details about the contract negotiation became public on June 21, when the union posted a video on YouTube, updating union members. In that video, Telle said the contract proposed at that time would have jeopardized the solvency of the employee health-and-welfare plan and did not include “fair pay” for workers. 

He said in the video that Local 88 employees were paid less than their counterparts represented by UFCW Local 655, noting that meant deli and seafood clerks made $3.05 less an hour for the same jobs. Telle also warned in the video that the health-and-welfare fund, a self-insured fund that covers about 2,000 participants across 11 employers, faced insolvency without a contribution from Schnucks. 

Following ratification of the contract, Telle said the company’s contribution will “shore up the health-and-welfare fund to keep it in shape.” He added that the union was able to negotiate higher pay for most of its members as well.  “There was a disparity in pay that we did not completely close the gap, but we came close,” he told WGB.  

Telle also praised the Schnuck family for working with the union to reach common ground on the negotiations, saying he believes they did not realize many of the intricacies of the negotiations until they were made public. 

“They can’t micromanage like that. I believe they did not know,” Telle said, adding that the contract “proves they are a good, family-owned company.” 

“They said let’s get this fixed, and we did,” Telle said.