Unionized meat department workers and the owners of Foodtown supermarkets reached a tentative contract agreement on Nov. 21, ending a brief labor strike that turned into a brief lockout by ownership.

Representatives from Local 342 wouldn’t release details of the agreement, since it is not finalized, but said they were happy with the results.

Foodtown owners could not be reached for comment.

“We just wanted what other workers already have,” said Kami Perrone of Local 342. “These people have been working their butts off for years.”

The lack of employee benefits such as regular wage increases and health insurance were the reason why workers decided to strike on Saturday, Nov. 17.

“It’s a process of erosion,” said Raymond Torres, the meat department head at the Foodtown in Norwood on 204th Street, one of 10 Bronx stores owned by Noah and Danny Katz.

While other costs in their lives – such as mortgages, car payments and gas – continued to rise, Torres said, their wages and benefits did not.

After two days on strike, on Nov. 19, Local 342 reps tried to enter into “good faith” negotiations with the Katz brothers, Perrone said. But the owners refused to meet them halfway. Instead, they hired scab workers from upstate and started selling pre-packaged meat without notifying customers, Torres said.

Outside of the 204th Street Foodtown last Tuesday, Nov. 20, Torres, who’s worked there for 11 years, lamented that regardless of the outcome, he and his co-workers would lose out since they weren’t being paid by their union while on strike or locked out.

“Santa Claus’ bag isn’t going to be quite as big as last year,” he said. Torres was joined in the rain by Carol Argentino, a Foodtown meat wrapper for 37 years and Juan Garcia, a butcher at the store for the past seven years.

The Katz family first stirred controversy in the northwest Bronx in 1998 when Sydney Katz bought and closed F&B, the 204th Street Foodtown’s rival supermarket and then tried to do the same with a C-Town in Bedford Park. But he reconsidered after neighborhood protests.

Perrone said Sydney’s sons, Noah and Danny, are even tougher to deal with than their father. “They play hard ball,” she said.