threatened to strike. Stop & Shop wanted employees to share the cost of health care, but union workers believed Stop & Shop should pay it in full. Workers were paying co-payments for office visits and medical procedures, as well as deductibles for health care costs and hospital costs. The grocery chain wanted to implement weekly contributions of between $5 and $21 on top of the co-payments. These fees would increase over the course of the three-year contract. At midnight on February 23, 2007, Stop & Shop grocery workers in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts had voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract proposal and to authorize a strike against the grocery chain. The contracts for United Food and Commercial Workers Locals 328, 371, 919, 1445, and 1459 expired on February 17, 2007, and were extended to cover until February 22, 2007, but the union and the grocery chain agreed to extend the deadline two more days, to midnight February 24, 2007. Officials with Stop & Shop and the United Food and Commercial Workers continued negotiating through March 2, 2007, extending the contract until 12:01 a.m. March 3, 2007, given that talks were scheduled to continue through Friday. Both sides extended the negotiations, which resumed February 26, 2007. On March 3, 2007, the five unions involved gave the company a comprehensive contract proposal that covered every aspect of their five agreements and identified what they believed to be a fair and equitable contract for everyone. On March 7, 2007, the five locals representing workers in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts scheduled voting on a new contract, extending the strike deadline to March 12, 2007. The locals delivered a comprehensive contract to Stop & Shop negotiators. Approximately 43,000 unionized Stop & Shop workers in three states could have either had a new contract that Sunday or begun walking picket lines, possibly that Monday, according to union officials. The stop-and-go negotiations concluded with a three-year contract overwhelmingly ratified by union members across New England, and a strike was averted. In addition to raises and retroactive payments, Stop & Shop made changes regarding health insurance. Full-time workers would be required to contribute each week to their healthcare plans, while part-time workers would continue to make no contributions toward health care premiums, retaining the existing practice which covered union workers' health insurance entirely except for co-payments and deductibles. 2019 The 2016 collective bargaining agreement between Stop