Gioia Tours Supermarket, Hears Worker Concerns

City Councilmember Eric Gioia looks at cracks in the structure of a Stop-N-Shop Supermarket in Sunnyside and speaks with workers from the store about the working conditions.

City Councilmember Eric Gioia joined members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and workers at a Stop-N-Shop Supermarket in Sunnyside recently to tour the supermarket building, where he saw the extensive structural damages and urged the building's landlord and business to fix the hazardous work conditions.

"Every worker deserves safe working conditions," Gioia, who represents Woodside, Sunnyside, Long Island City, Astoria, and Maspeth in the City Council, said. "I'm urging the property owners and the supermarket to work together to fix this problem."

On May 30, the city Department of Buildings (DOB) issued a peremptory vacate order of the building's rear door and ramp, noting that vertical cracks in a masonry block wall were causing danger of collapse and that there was imminent danger to the life and safety of the occupants. The extent of the damage to the rest of the building is still unknown and workers at the grocery store are concerned for their safety.

The damage and work conditions have existed for several months, and no end is in sight, as the building's owners and Stop-N-Shop Supermarket each say the other is responsible for the damage.