Macy's Strike Averted After Extended Negotiations

After pushing negotiations past their midnight deadline, union representatives and management from Macy's reached an agreement Thursday morning over an outstanding contract dispute, averting a threatened workers' strike.

Had contract negotiations failed, Macy's could have faced its first strike in 40 years, affecting around 5,000 workers.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union voted to strike in late May if an agreement wasn't reached by June 15. Confident Macy's was feeling pressure to avoid serious disruptions to the store operations, union officials continued negotiating into the morning of June 16. 

In a statement issued announcing that there would be no strike, a spokesman for the union wrote: "The four-year contract includes the following key provisions that will boost Macy’s workers and improve the quality of their jobs: substantial wage increases; a better and more affordable healthcare plan; and fair schedules, including no mandatory requirement to work holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas."

Macy's issued a brief statement expressing relief that the negotiations were successful.

"We are pleased with the outcome of our overnight negotiations and happy to report that a tentative agreement between Macy's and Local 1S for our workers has been reached, therefore averting a possible strike today," the statement said.

A spokeswoman for Macy's also noted that extending the negotiations beyond the union's stated deadline was normal and reaffirmed the resolve on both sides to come to an agreement.

Photo Credit: Pete Bellis via Flickr