About 25 employees from the Schnucks store in Cape Girardeau -- including its well-known manager Dennis Marchi -- are working indefinitely at Schnucks stores in St. Louis to help the company cope with the first major grocery store strike to ever hit the city.

"Our helping out is to the benefit of the company, but it benefits us, too," Marchi said Thursday by cell phone. "A strong Schnucks is good for all of us."

Marchi said the employees, including all department heads, volunteered to work in St. Louis Schnucks stores after members of the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 655 voted on Tuesday to strike.

The strike, which started Wednesday, affects 21 Shop 'n Save stores, 19 Dierbergs stores and 55 Schnucks stores, though not the Cape Girardeau store, which is not unionized.

Technically, workers at Dierbergs and Schnucks are not on strike. On Tuesday, all Local 655 members voted to strike, but union leaders only picked Shop 'n Save to strike against. But soon after, Dierbergs and Schnucks locked out all Local 655 workers in a show of solidarity.

The strike came after the union and workers could not agree to a contract. Both sides have said they won't budge, which means the local workers may be there for awhile.

"We'll be here until something changes," Marchi said. "Hopefully, we'll get to go home soon. Hopefully, they'll come to an agreement soon."

Marchi said that 25 fewer workers at the Cape Girardeau store, which has about 115 total employees, won't mean diminished service for area shoppers.

"Not at all," he said. "They're still getting the same service they always have."

That just shows how good the store is, Marchi said.

"You take 25 people out of it and it still runs like all 25 of us are still there," Marchi said. "And it's changed their lives, too. The employees there are having to work more, change their schedule all around, it's affected all of us. It's such a tribute to everybody at the store how we've handled this."

Replacement workers

None of the replacement workers feel nervous about crossing picket lines, Marchi said.

"The strikers have been very cordial," he said. "They're good people, they're just doing what they're told."

Several of the details about the strike -- which are always sensitive subjects for all sides -- were sketchy, though Schnucks spokeswoman Lori Willis said many managerial and supervisory personnel from other states, including Illinois, have volunteered to help.

"We're pulling every available resource we have," she said. "We've never done this before. But our associates, thankfully, are very supportive of our need for assistance."

Willis also spoke highly of Marchi and the Cape Girardeau employees who are spending time away from their families to help the company.

"Dennis is one of our most valued store management personnel," she said. "His commitment to the community is just outstanding. He is a sterling example of the kind of support that has always been available to the Cape Girardeau area."

Willis said on Thursday that the three grocery store chains have hired more than 4,000 strike replacement workers and are continuing the hiring process.

"So we've got more help on the way," Willis said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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