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Former Vice President Joe Biden made no mention of a presidential run but warned of the excesses of corporate capitalism at a rally with striking Stop & Shop workers in Dorchester Thursday.

"I know you're used to political speeches, and I'm a politician, I get it, but it's way beyond that, guys. This is way beyond that," Biden told the crowd. "This is wrong. This is morally wrong what's going on around this country. And I've had enough of it. I'm sick of it, and so are you."

Biden made several references to his father, a businessman and union worker whom the former vice president mentions often, as he spoke to the hundreds of workers and union representatives in the Stop & Shop parking lot at the South Bay Center. He is widely expected to soon announce a presidential run.

Since April 11, about 31,000 Stop & Shop workers from across New England have been striking in protest of what they call unfair contract negotiations with the grocery store's Dutch parent company, Ahold Delhaize.

Among the chief concerns for workers are rising health care costs, a lack of pay raises and shrinking pensions.

Biden said the Stop & Shop workers' situation was "not unique" and was "happening all over corporate America."

"This parent company made $4 billion in the last two years. They got almost $250 million in a tax cut with that scam that the president put through," Biden said.

UFCW President Marc Perrone said in a statement that, "Stop & Shop and its parent company make billions of dollars in profits and offer pennies to its workers and their families. It is wrong and it must stop."

In a statement following the rally, Stop & Shop said that company leaders "have offered fair and responsible contracts and remain in active negotiations to reach new agreements as quickly as possible that keep our associates among the highest paid grocery retail workers in New England, while also providing excellent health care and increased contributions to a defined benefit pension plan."

https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2019/04/18/joe-biden-rallies-with-stop-shop-strikers-says-it-is-morally-wrong-how-they-are-treated