Shaws truck drivers and mechanics have gone on strike at the Wells and Scarborough locations.
Teamsters Local Union No. 340 authorized the strike in November, when the union was unable to reach an agreement with management on a new contract.
Workers had met with management more than 20 times since their contract ended in October, according to Joe Piccone, the business agent for the union. In February, the company alleged that they had a counter proposal for the workers, but failed to produce the offer.
“The attorney representing [Shaw’s parent company, Albertsons Companies] quit, and the company has not been able to replace them,” Piccone said. “We just want the company to show up with an offer. That’s really the bottom line.”
The strike comes after the state saw a surge in union memberships over the past year, with nearly 13,000 Mainers joining a union and bringing the percentage of the state’s workforce represented by unions to almost 15 percent. Since the start of the year, workers at the Portland Museum of Art and nurses at Maine Medical Center in Portland all voted to unionize.
Piccone said that there were approximately 70 workers that were striking or being represented by the union.
In 2018, employees at the Hannaford distribution center in South Portland went on strike after their contract expired, and the two sides split over pay raises and health care benefits. The 24-hour strike resulted in a new three-year contract that was unchanged from the company’s initial offer.
Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated the local number for the Teamsters Union representing Shaw’s delivery drivers and mechanics.