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Shaw's workers overwhelmingly approve contractWorkers voted 300-1 to approve the contract, said Brian Petronella, president of Local 371 of the United Food and Commercial Workers. The pact covers 3,000 workers in Shaw's stores in Connecticut. The pact maintains the workers' health insurance and pension plan, he said. Full-time workers will get a raise of $70 a week over the duration of the contract and part-time workers will receive $1 an hour raise over the four-year agreement, he said. "It maintains health insurance and the pension plan and we get some raises. Everyone is happy," Petronella said. Larry Wahlstrom, Shaw's president, expressed satisfaction that the contract, which takes effect immediately, was ratified. "We are pleased that both sides worked together to reach agreement on a contract that balances the needs of our associates, our customers and our company in today's competitive environment," he said in a statement. The two sides negotiated until 2 a.m. Sunday, working out issues related to wage increases, the company's contributions to health insurance and pension plans and Shaw's proposed elimination of premium pay for Sundays. The turnout for the vote, about 10 percent of membership, is partly because many union members were at work on the busiest supermarket shopping day of the week, Petronella said. Last year, union locals representing 43,000 Stop & Shop supermarket workers in southern New England approved a three-year contract that averted a threatened strike in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
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