It turns out the lights will stay on after all at the Loeb grocery store on Errington Street in Chelmsford.
The Canadian director of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), Robin McArthur, announced Friday union members at the store voted 98 per cent in favour of a new 48-month contract.
A vote was held late Thursday night at the Northland Hotel in Chelmsford.
The deal includes wage rollbacks but a union committee was successful in maintaining health and welfare benefits as well as pension benefits.
According to a union news release the settlement was reached in large part because the mall landlord agreed to lower store rent.
McArthur said with all of the positive factors and cost reduction measures the store will be successful in the future.
"It?s not only good news for the 48 union members but it?s also good news for the people of the Chelmsford area in as much as they will benefit from having a choice of grocery stores to shop at," reads the release.
McArthur expects and hopes the people of Chelmsford will continue to shop in even greater numbers.
Keeping the store busy is the one factor which must remain constant to keep the business and jobs viable, he said.
Company officials informed the union in September the Chelmsford outlet was going to be shut down the end of October.
The union was in the process of hammering out a bargaining proposal for a new contract when word came down about the closure.
A "save our store" committee made up of unionized employees was formed and a collective agreement was hammered out.
There will be no layoffs. Those who wish to remain at the outlet under the terms of the new agreement will be allowed to do so.
Fifty people are employed at the grocery store, including management.
Loeb vice president of operations, Richard Beaubien, was present during negotiations.
This isn?t the first time jobs have been saved in the grocery business in Sudbury over the past few months.
The union offered up the idea of a lower wage structure to keep cash registers plugged in and the doors open at the Loeb on Brady Street and the company agreed.
The Loeb on Lasalle was just recently converted into a Super C featuring discount prices.
