Fittingly, on Labor Day weekend, sixty-seven deli workers at 13 Foodtown Supermarkets across the New York metropolitan area are breathing a sigh of relief after the supermarket owner, PSK Supermarkets, hammered out a deal with union officials beyond the 11th hour deadline set by the union.

 

Workers from two unions had been expected to walk off the job on Wednesday, Aug. 27, as reported previously by Norwood News. However, according to Noah Katz, the co-president of PSK, who spoke with Norwood News on Tuesday, Sept. 1, an agreement was finally reached. “We did get the contract completely resolved, so that’s important to know,” he said.

 

One union official had threatened that if a deal wasn’t hammered out by Aug. 26, workers from the deli department would walk off the job, and cashiers and other workers from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 338 (RWDSU), who recently inked their own 5-year contract with PSK Supermarkets, would honor the picket line, and would also walk off the job.

 

During a one-day walkout on June 29 earlier this year at the Norwood Foodtown branch, at 283 East 204th Street, one member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 342 said at the time, “They [PSK] haven’t been negotiating in good faith,” and added that management had not been looking out for the employees.

 

Katz, on the other hand, pointed to measures taken in March to keep both workers and customers safe when the coronavirus pandemic hit. He said they adjusted the stores’ working environments by installing plexiglass partisans at the checkout stations, and purchased $30,000 worth of vitamins for all of their employees to boost their immune systems.

 

In a follow up interview on Friday, Sept. 4, Katz declined to give specifics on the terms of the contract, but said, “Everyone is happy and we’re very happy to get it resolved because we’re very grateful for all of the hard work of our employees.”

 

“We’re a big part of this community,” Katz said, adding that his grandfather started the company in 1956.

 

After repeated attempts to reach several officials at Local 342 since Aug. 27, an official from Local 342 who declined to give his name, responded on Sept. 3, and confirmed that a deal had indeed been struck. “That’s over; it’s done,” he said adding, “No, we’re not giving out any information.”