By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – After more than three weeks, the St. Louis-area grocery strike is over. United Food & Commercial Workers members voted today to accept a new contract from Schnuck's, Dierberg's, and Shop & Save.
Under the new four-year agreement, baggers will get 10-cent instead of 5-cent per-hour raises over three years, but workers making nine dollars an hour will receive the same pay as offered in the earlier contract. UFCW Local President Bob Kelley says the biggest gains were in medical coverage, "We've also been able to eliminate the previously negotiated 200-400 dollar deductibles on health care. Once again our members will begin at first-dollar coverage for health care."
About 5,100 of the union's 10,000 members voted this morning. They accepted the contract by an 82 percent margin.
A spokesman for the grocery stores says the new contract will not cost them any more than the earlier offer would have.