A “momentous occasion” is what Lexington Co-Op Markets management is called the agreement between the grocer and on a its employees.
Last December co-op employees voted to unionize with Workers United Upstate NY.
After 8 months of negotiations that sometimes veered into a lane of contentiousness, it was all smiles from all parties Wednesday morning as the contract was signed at the Co-Op’s Hertel Avenue location.
“The Co-Op has been sustained by the community over the last fifty-two years,” said Lexington Co-Op Markets General Manager Tim Bartlett. “And today our community enters into its next phase of existence in partnership with Workers United.”
Bartlett said the goal is to make Lexington the premier grocer in Buffalo.
“Our goal throughout negotiations was to leverage the power of collective bargaining to make our great Co-Op even better,” he said. “We’ve had eight months of intense, sometimes difficult negotiations and I’m proud to say that together, we’ve agreed to a contract that will support our continued progress toward our goal.”
Lexington Co-Op Elmwood Avenue employee Phil Kneitinger said everyone is “over the moon” with the agreement.
“When people become workers at the Co-Op, I feel like a lot of it has to do with an ideological exploration of wanting to help a progressive organization succeed,” he said. “[With] us being able to sign this contract today really helps this company move forward with their goals.”
For Co-Op employees, working for livable wages and having a great say in operations and working conditions were sticking points in the contract.
Effective as of Wednesday, the contract runs through August 2026.
