Union Vote Allowed Election Scheduled For Meat-Cutting Workers At Two ShopRite Stores

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-shoprite0518.artmay18,0,740589.story?coll=hc-headlines-business

Union Vote Allowed
Election Scheduled For Meat-Cutting Workers At Two ShopRite Stores
May 18, 2007
By JANICE PODSADA, Courant Staff Writer

The National Labor Relations Board in Hartford has ruled that employees in the meat-cutting departments of ShopRite Supermarkets in Bristol and Waterbury have the right to vote for union representation.

An election has been scheduled for May 30, said Brian Petronella, president of Local 371, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which filed a petition on behalf of the employees of the stores' meat-cutting departments. The local is based in Westport.

The ruling affects about 20 employees, including meat cutters, meat department managers and assistant managers, and meat wrappers.

ShopRite has about 15 stores in Connecticut and all are non-union, said Mary Ellen Gowin, a company spokeswoman.

ShopRite argued that the employees of the meat-cutting department should not vote separately as a group, said John Cotter, assistant regional director for the Hartford NLRB, one of 33 regional offices of the independent federal agency.


FULL story at link.