BUFFALO CONTRACT: OCTOBER 18, 2026 TO OCTOBER 5, 2030
ROCHESTER/MIDSTATE CONTRACT: OCTOBER 18, 2026 TO NOVEMBER 2, 2030
ADK CONTRACT: NOVEMBER 8, 2026 TO NOVEMBER 9, 2030

Strong New Contract Delivers Wage Increases and Improved Benefits for Tops Members

UFCW Local One and Tops Markets have reached a new four-year agreement covering members in the Buffalo, Midstate-Rochester, and ADK Divisions. The agreements provides meaningful wage increases, improved vacation and personal time, continued affordable health care, increased premiums and several important contract improvements for our members.

“Negotiating a contract of this size is never easy. Our goal throughout bargaining was to make improvements that benefit both our long-term members who have helped build Tops Markets and newer members who represent the future of our Union. We believe this agreement accomplishes that goal.” Frank DeRiso, President of UFCW Local One said.  “I thank our negotiating committee for all their help during the process, and thank Tops management that listened to our concerns,” DeRiso added.

Pictured Below is our Tops Negotiating Committee:

Significant Wage Increases

One of the most important priorities for our Union was putting more money into our members’ paychecks.

Beginning December 27, 2026, eligible full-time members with at least one year of service will receive a $1.50 per hour general wage increase. Additional increases are scheduled throughout the agreement, with the amount based on years of service.

Longer-service full-time members receive even larger increases over the life of the agreement. Members with 10 or more years of service, for example, are scheduled to receive increases of $1.50, 75¢, 75¢ and 90¢ over the four wage adjustments — a total of $3.90 per hour.

Part-time members also receive contractual increases, with improvements to the wage scales based on length of service. The agreement continues to recognize seniority by providing greater increases to many of our longer-service part-time members.  Part-time members with 1-4.99 years of service will receive a 50¢ per hour increase, and members with 5 plus years will receive a $1.00 increase per hour.  Increases in years 2, 3, and 4 and depend on your years of service.

There are also improved starting rates and wage protections for several classifications, including department managers, assistant department managers, meat managers, first cutters, journeymen/meat floaters and apprentice meat cutters.

Five Weeks of Vacation Added for 20-Year Members

A major improvement in this agreement is the addition of a fifth week of vacation for full-time members after 20 years of service.

Under the new full-time vacation schedule, members receive:

1 week after 1 year; 2 weeks after 2 years; 3 weeks after 8 years; 4 weeks after 12 years; and 5 weeks after 20 years of service.

The agreement also establishes an improved part-time vacation schedule. Part-time members will receive one week after two years, two weeks after four years, three weeks after eight years and four weeks after twelve years of service.

These improvements recognize something we emphasized throughout negotiations: longevity matters. Members who have dedicated years and decades of their working lives to Tops deserve to have that service recognized.

More Personal Days

The new agreement also improves personal days for both full-time and part-time members.

Full-time members will receive two personal days after six months of service, while part-time members receive two days after one year. All members will receive three personal days after three years and four personal days after five years of service.

Part-time personal days will now be paid based on four hours each, and personal days can be taken in any increment available. Unused personal days will continue to be paid on the member’s anniversary date.

Protecting Affordable Health Care

Maintaining quality, affordable health care continues to be one of Local One’s highest priorities.

The agreement provides for substantial Company contributions to the UFCW Local One Health Care Fund throughout the term of the contract. Just as importantly, the agreement states that the Company will maintain members’ weekly payroll deductions at their current levels without an increased cost to members for the life of the Agreement.

At a time when health care costs continue to rise across the country, protecting our members from increased weekly health care deductions is a significant accomplishment.

Additional Premium Pay

The agreement provides several improvements for members who take on additional responsibilities or work certain assignments.

The night premium increases to 75¢ per hour for members whose schedules begin between 9:30 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., as well as members scheduled for the Night Crew operation. Members performing the job of Manager on Duty will receive a $2.00-per-hour premium for all hours worked in that capacity when the store is open for business.

The Lead Clerk premium increases to $1.00 per hour, up from 25¢, for designated positions including Butcher Block Lead, Captain’s Choice Lead, Floral Lead, Bulk Food Lead, Gas Shop Lead and Customer Service Lead.

The agreement also establishes pharmacy premiums of $1.00 per hour for Pharmacy Clerks, $2.00 per hour for Nationally Accredited Certified Technicians, and $3.00 per hour for NACT/Certified Immunizers.

Recognizing Experience and Seniority

Another important improvement involves members who move from part-time to full-time status. When a part-time member becomes full-time, that member will now receive credit equal to a member with the same number of years of service for purposes of determining wages and other benefits.

The agreement also expands recognition of previous directly related experience for newly hired members. Up to 10 years of immediately preceding experience may be recognized for purposes of establishing hourly wage rates.

These provisions help ensure that experience and years of service are recognized rather than forcing experienced members to start over.

Improvements Beyond Wages

The new agreement contains many additional improvements that may not grab the headlines but can make a real difference in members’ working lives.

The Company will make a good-faith effort to distribute Sunday and holiday work evenly among qualified full-time members who desire the additional hours. The agreement also improves procedures involving vacation scheduling, leave of absence, funeral leave, meat-cutter floating assignments and the grievance and arbitration process.

Importantly, the agreement strengthens the grievance procedure with defined timelines at each step and provides for mediation when appropriate before a dispute proceeds to arbitration. These protections help Local One enforce the contract and hold the Company accountable when disagreements occur.

A Contract That Rewards Service

This agreement represents months of work and negotiations on behalf of our Tops membership. No collective bargaining agreement is about just one issue. Wages are critically important, but so are health care, vacations, personal time, seniority, retirement security, premiums and strong language that protects members every day they report to work.

The new Tops agreement makes improvements in all these areas while maintaining the protections generations of UFCW Local One members have fought to establish.

Most importantly, these gains demonstrate the value of collective bargaining and a strong Union contract. When workers stand together and negotiate together, we can improve wages, protect benefits and create better working conditions for everyone.

UFCW Local One thanks our Tops members for their patience, support and solidarity throughout the bargaining process. We are proud of what was achieved and will continue working every day to enforce this agreement and protect the rights and benefits our members have earned.

Together, we continue to make UFCW Local One stronger.