This post has been updated to include instructions for filling out paperwork for Shoppers members who were unable to attend a meeting.
We have reached an agreement with UNFI on a compensation package for Shoppers employees affected by store closures. We have explained the details of this agreement in a series of meetings, but if you were unable to attend one of these meetings, you must contact your union representative to review your options and get the paperwork you need.
If you are affected by your store being sold or closed, you have one of two options –
Option 1: Severance Package
We have negotiated a severance package to include separation pay, continuing health care coverage, and other payouts. The full highlight sheet with all of the details shared at the meetings is available for download here. Here are the highlights:
Separation Pay:
- Employees averaging 25 hours or more per week shall receive one week’s pay for each year of continuous service, commencing with the third year of service, up to but not to exceed 10 weeks’ pay.
- Employees averaging less than 25 hours per week shall receive one week’s pay for each year of continuous service, commencing with the fifth year of service, up to but not to exceed 10 weeks’ pay.
- Each partial year of service will be paid pro-rata separation pay as follows:
- 0-3 months equals 25% of a week’s pay
- 3-6 months equals 50% of a week’s pay
- 6-9 months equals 75% of a week’s pay
- Over 9 moths equals one week’s pay.
- In addition, all holiday pay for calendar holidays that fall within 30 days after termination will be provided. Personal holidays and vacation time will also be paid out.
Continuing Health & Welfare Coverage:
- Shoppers will provide four full months of contributions to the Health & Welfare Fund for all employees who were eligible for coverage at the time of their termination.
Option 2: Transfers & Bumping
If you choose not to accept the severance package outlined in Option 1, you may choose to transfer to another store and give up your right to severance in the future, unless the store you transfer to closes in fewer weeks than the severance pay for which you would have been eligible. In that case, you will receive the remaining balance of the severance and continuing health care coverage.
For example, if you are eligible for 10 weeks of severance and choose to be transferred to another store, but the store you are transferred to closes in six weeks (and if there is not a possibility of continued work in another store by seniority or if you do not want to continue to work), then you will be paid the remaining four weeks of severance (the difference) and the remaining months of continuing health care coverage.
There are many other details included in the severance package. Please review the full highlight sheet carefully and talk to your representative if you have any questions when considering your decision.
If you were unable to attend one of the recent meetings where we went over the details of the severance package, then you must contact your union representative to get the paperwork you need to make your selection. You MUST fill out the proper paperwork to receive the severance package or to transfer to another store. Contact your union representative or call our headquarters at 301-459-3400 (Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.).
It took more than a month of negotiations with UNFI representatives to reach this deal. We could have begun this process more than a year ago when UNFI first announced plans to sell our stores, but instead the company refused to share any information with us. It wasn’t until after UNFI had already publicly announced the first round of store closures that the company was willing to sit down with us to determine how our hardworking members would be compensated through this transition.
We have seen this process play out at other UNFI-owned companies (and before that Supervalu-owned retailers), but thanks to your union membership, we were able to achieve a better outcome for you. At those non-union businesses, workers were left with nothing and no opportunity to negotiate for any sort of severance. We were determined not to let that happen with our union members. This is the difference a union makes.