King Kullen's meat and seafood workers' strike called off amid tentative agreement

King Kullen's meat and seafood workers reached a tentative agreement with the company on Saturday, ending a strike that began Thursday in response to failed negotiations for a new contract and allegations that the grocer engaged in unfair labor practices.

The union announced that it reached a tentative deal with the company after talks resumed Friday night and extended into Saturday morning. The company confirmed the provisional pact.

"Our members are happy to get back to work so they can provide for their communities," UFCW Local 342 wrote in a news release.

Keeley Lampo, director of activities and communications for the union, said the tentative agreement was reached about 4 a.m. and that it includes compensation and retirement increases for workers. She could not immediately provide further details about those increases.

"We got the language that we wanted for wages [and] annuity," she told Newsday. "Wages for part time and full time both saw increases, and we're very happy with where we're at."

Lampo said the union was also successful in removing "transfer" language in the contract, which would have allowed the company to shuffle workers between stores.

"The members did not want that because it's not creating other jobs to make their jobs easier," she said. "You're just kind of moving the pawns around and it was getting to be too much."

Joseph W. Brown, the president of King Kullen, told Newsday in a written statement that the company is "very pleased that a tentative agreement has been reached."

"Our meat and seafood associates are an important part of our team, and we value the role they play in serving our customers every day," he said. "We appreciate the efforts of everyone involved in the negotiations and look forward to continuing our strong working relationship with Local 342."

The rank-and-file's ratification vote has not yet been scheduled, Lampo said in a text message.

The supermarket chain's approximately 150 full- and part-time meat and seafood workers at 25 Long Island stores went on strike Thursday afternoon. Their most recent contract expired in October, the union said. 

 For months, the union and King Kullen had been seeking to reach an agreement over the workers' wages, retirement benefits and other terms, but the strike was over the "behavior" of the grocer's management, Lampo said.

UFCW Local 342 filed several unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board alleging King Kullen managers had surveilled workers during union meetings and participated in retaliatory actions, such as speaking in a demeaning manner to employees, changing work schedules without notice and altering store policies, all in violation of the contract, Lampo said.

A mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service was brought on in January to assist in the contract negotiations, she said.

King Kullen officials maintained that the nearly century-old company was negotiating in good faith.

Headquartered in Hauppauge, King Kullen Grocery Co. operates 29 stores on Long Island, including four Wild by Nature natural food stores. Only the meat and seafood workers at the King Kullen stores were striking.

The 25 King Kullen supermarkets include locations in Bethpage, Huntington Station, Lindenhurst, Massapequa Park and Bay Shore.

Founded in Queens in 1930, King Kullen is the largest family-owned grocery chain on Long Island.