King Kullen Strike Ends With Tentative Deal for 150 Meat, Seafood Workers

Vinny Cottone, a King Kullen meat and seafood worker, had a direct message for management as he walked a picket line over Easter weekend: "Just sign the contract and we'll all go back to work. We got families. We got bills. We want to work." By Saturday night, an overnight tentative agreement had paused his strike and returned him and roughly 150 colleagues to their stations behind butcher counters and seafood cases across all 25 King Kullen locations on Long Island.

The timing of the walkout amplified its impact. Easter weekend ranks among the highest-volume days of the year for meat and seafood purchases at grocery stores, and with no Local 342 members staffing those departments at any King Kullen in Nassau or Suffolk County, shoppers hunting holiday cuts found empty service counters and no one to trim a roast or wrap a fillet. The disruption was chain-wide rather than confined to a single store.

The dispute had been developing since the previous contract between King Kullen and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 342 expired in October. Negotiations stalled over wages and benefits, and the union filed several Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing management of surveillance and retaliation against workers. A federal mediator was brought in to assist, but the union said King Kullen declined to continue a scheduled session on April 2, the Thursday before Easter, triggering the coordinated walkout across all 25 locations.

The tentative agreement reached overnight April 4 paused the strike. King Kullen President and Chief Operating Officer Joseph W. Brown said the company was "very pleased that a tentative agreement has been reached with Local 342," adding praise for meat and seafood associates and their role in serving customers.

Union members will now vote on the proposed terms before the contract becomes binding. The deal covers wages, scheduling, and benefits. If ratified, it closes out the NLRB dispute and establishes a new contract baseline for the 150 affected workers. A rejection would leave the door open to further job actions.

The episode drew a sharp line around how much leverage a specialized department can hold over a full-service grocery chain. Meat and seafood workers account for roughly 150 positions at King Kullen, a fraction of the total workforce, yet their coordinated absence during the most perishable-focused shopping weekend of the year stopped service at every counter on the Island simultaneously. King Kullen, which has operated on Long Island since 1930, now waits on its membership to close the deal both sides negotiated through the night.