So Cal Grocery Teamsters Hit with Concessions
Members and stewards organized to reject contract givebacks in the So Cal grocery industry—but old guard officials forced through a concessionary deal. It’s a case study in why Teamsters need to organize for change if we’re going to defend our contracts.
Read moreDeal to Let Kroger Exit Pension Fund is Stalled
What do you do when you give a corporation the deal they want, but the pension fund vetoes it as illegal? That’s the IBT’s question regarding their deal with Kroger Co.
Read moreTamarkin union members accept severance package
The Tamarkin union members overwhelmingly voted in favor of Giant Eagle’s severance package Wednesday.
The vote was 129 to 4. Teamsters Local 377, which represents the workers, has been told by the company with passage of the package the plant employees will be able to stay through June.
Click here to read more at The Vindicator.
Tentative Deal to Avert Strike at Produce Market in Hunts Point
The Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market reached a tentative contract agreement on Saturday with more than 1,200 workers, averting a potential strike that could have disrupted the region’s supply of fresh fruits and vegetables.
The three-year agreement would give workers a raise of $20 a week the first year, $22 the second year and $24 the third year. The increases represented a compromise between the union’s earlier push for a raise of $25 a week each year, and the merchants’ counteroffer of $16 in the first year and $22 thereafter.
Another sticking point had been the merchants’ demand that more workers begin contributing $20 a week to their health plan; employees hired in the past three years already make such contributions. Under the tentative agreement, the health care contributions would be extended to some higher paid workers such as supervisors and salespeople.
The workers will vote on the agreement on Wednesday, according to their union, Teamsters Local 202, which announced the tentative deal. Daniel Kane Jr., president of Teamsters Local 202, said the union’s bargaining committee recommended that the agreement be approved.
“We’re not too far from our demands, so we feel confident that it will be ratified by the rank and file,” said Mr. Kane, who noted that “it’s the largest wages and benefits package we’ve received in the last 20 years.”
If union workers were to reject the agreement, there could still be a strike, Mr. Kane said.
Robert Leonard, a spokesman for the market, said that its merchants were happy that both sides were able to come together. “At the end of the day, discussions resulted in a fair package, which goes a long way towards addressing the issues raised by management and labor,” he said.
Union workers had been prepared to carry out the first strike at the Hunts Point market in nearly 30 years after contract negotiations stalled in recent days. They had initially planned to strike as early as Friday morning, but union leaders said that, at the request of a federal mediator, they had agreed to postpone any action until at least Sunday.
The market, made up of about 40 independent merchants but run as a cooperative, is the region’s largest supplier of fresh produce to wholesale and retail businesses, including grocers, bodegas and produce stands. While warehouse workers and drivers typically earn $38,000 to $53,000 a year, a smaller number of supervisors and others can earn more than $75,000, Mr. Kane said.
The two sides had already reached an agreement that calls for the market to increase its own contributions to workers’ health insurance and pension plans.
“We were boosted by the support of our elected officials and everyday New Yorkers,” Mr. Kane said. “It’s getting harder and harder to get by in this city. People really rallied around these workers demanding a wage that their families can live on.”
EEOC Sues FedEx Ground for Nationwide Disability Discrimination
Shipping giant repeatedly failed to provide needed accommodations to deaf and hard-of-hearing package handlers and applicants, federal agency charges.
Baltimore, MD - infoZine - Shipping giant FedEx Ground Package System, Inc., (FedEx Ground) violated federal law nationwide by discriminating against a large class of deaf and hard-of-hearing package handlers and job applicants for years, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it announced today.
Click here to read more at Kanas City infoZone.
Appeals Court Rules Some FedEx Ground Workers Are Employees
In the latest decision on worker status, a federal appeals court in California ruled that 2,300 workers at FedEx Corp.’s Ground unit were employees and not contractors to the package delivery company.
The 35-page decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that the Ground workers were misclassified as independent contractors, in violation of California law.
Click here to read more at Transport Topics.
Ex-Kroger CEO Admits He Was Paid A 'Ludicrous' Amount
CEO pay has skyrocketed over the last few decades, and corporate leaders are usually tight-lipped on the subject.
But we were offered a rare moment of candor last month from David Dillon, chairman and former CEO of the grocery chain Kroger, who called his own eight-figure paycheck "ludicrous" during an Aspen Ideas Festival panel.
Click here to read more at The Huffington Post.
Albertsons, Safeway deal advances
The $9.4 billion deal between Safeway and Albertsons owner Cerberus Capital Management is a step closer after no other bidders emerged for the Pleasanton, Calif.-based chain.
The deal would make the combined chain the second largest in the U.S., with 2,400 total stores.
Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. has 2,600, but it could be Kroger Co. that benefits from this deal, especially in markets where Safeway and Albertsons overlap the most, said Pewaukee, Wis.-based retail analyst David Livingston.
“Competitors like Kroger and WinCo could not be happier,” he said. “Kroger will probably be the biggest winner in this whole deal. No one shopped Safeway or Albertsons because of price, quality or service, but more that they were an acceptable alternative for convenience shopping. Kroger will pick up that business from disgruntled customers with all the overlap.”
Safeway and Albertsons, particularly in California where they had the most overlap, were underperformers in their market, he said, typically 20% or more below market average in sales per square foot.
“I expect Safeway sales to decline about 15%, which is normal when a below average operator takes over another below average operator,” he said.
Store closures are inevitable where the companies overlap, particularly in California, Arizona, Dallas and other markets in the West.
“Cerberus has had a long time to develop their plan and should breeze through FTC hearings,” he said. “Just like the last big Cerberus acquisition of Albertsons, we saw stores sold or closed by the bushel.”
- See more at: http://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetable-news/Albertsons-Safeway-deal-ad...The $9.4 billion deal between Safeway and Albertsons owner Cerberus Capital Management is a step closer after no other bidders emerged for the Pleasanton, Calif.-based chain.
The deal would make the combined chain the second largest in the U.S., with 2,400 total stores.
Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. has 2,600, but it could be Kroger Co. that benefits from this deal, especially in markets where Safeway and Albertsons overlap the most, said Pewaukee, Wis.-based retail analyst David Livingston.
“Competitors like Kroger and WinCo could not be happier,” he said. “Kroger will probably be the biggest winner in this whole deal. No one shopped Safeway or Albertsons because of price, quality or service, but more that they were an acceptable alternative for convenience shopping. Kroger will pick up that business from disgruntled customers with all the overlap.”
Safeway and Albertsons, particularly in California where they had the most overlap, were underperformers in their market, he said, typically 20% or more below market average in sales per square foot.
“I expect Safeway sales to decline about 15%, which is normal when a below average operator takes over another below average operator,” he said.
Store closures are inevitable where the companies overlap, particularly in California, Arizona, Dallas and other markets in the West.
“Cerberus has had a long time to develop their plan and should breeze through FTC hearings,” he said. “Just like the last big Cerberus acquisition of Albertsons, we saw stores sold or closed by the bushel.”
- See more at: http://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetable-news/Albertsons-Safeway-deal-ad...The $9.4 billion deal between Safeway and Albertsons owner Cerberus Capital Management is a step closer after no other bidders emerged for the Pleasanton, Calif.-based chain.
The deal would make the combined chain the second largest in the U.S., with 2,400 total stores.
Click here to read more at The Packer.
Labor Leaders React to Safeway/Albertsons Deal
In response to Safeway’s announced sale to Cerberus Capital Management, which currently operates supermarkets across the country under the Albertson’s, Acme, Jewel-Osco and Shaw's banners, among others, Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International said:
“The UFCW represents tens of thousands of workers within these two companies. Through ups and downs, the UFCW” – which represents more than 1.3 million workers primarily in the retail, meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries – “has maintained good relationships with both Safeway and Cerberus.
“The UFCW will work closely with Safeway and Cerberus through the acquisition process and beyond so that these major supermarket companies can maintain strong market share and that our members can continue to serve customers and their communities,” Hansen concluded.
Meanwhile, a letter sent to members of the Roseville, Calif.-based UFCW 8-Golden State – which represents 45,000 active and retired supermarket workers – by Jacques Loveall, president, said: “Safeway’s…sale to Cerberus/Albertsons was an expected development, but it’s not the end of the story.
“Over the next several months, government regulators will examine the purchase and decide whether to approve it.
“We have already communicated with John Snow, the chairman of Cerberus, to begin discussions regarding the details and ramifications of the sale,” Loveall added, noting the ongoing security of retiree pensions was among his highest concerns.
“Fortunately, all Albertsons stores in California are union and our union has had a relationship with Albertsons and Cerberus for many years.”
“We will use this relationship to ensure our members’ contract and rights are protected through this merger and beyond. This is our highest priority.”
Loveall said UFCW Local 8 “will be watching the progress of this proposed merger and will keep our members informed of developments as they happen.”
UFCW 8-Golden State represents some 35,000 members who work in grocery and drug stores, food-processing plants and offices from the Oregon border in the north to Kern County in the south.
UFCW, Teamsters Avert Walkout
October 21, 2013: Minutes before picketing was to begin, union negotiators representing almost 30,000 grocery store employees in western Washington state reached agreement on a contract with representatives of Safeway Inc., Kroger Co. and Albertsons LLC chains.
The grocery chains and the unions have been negotiating since March with a key issue being the elimination of health care coverage for thousands of grocery store employees around the region, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 spokesman Tom Geiger told Bloomberg BNA July 1 (127 DLR A-9, 7/2/13). The contract for UFCW Local 21 and UFCW Local 367 expired May 3. The contract for the 2,600 grocery clerks represented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 38 in Snohomish County expired Aug. 7.
Neither the unions nor the chains—represented by employment relations firm Allied Employers Inc. of Kirkland, Wash.—would reveal the terms of the tentative contract.
“We want to let the members hear what is in the proposal before anyone else,” Teamsters Joint Council 28 Collective Bargaining and Organizing Director Michael Beranbaum told Bloomberg BNA late Oct. 21.
“It is fair to say that holiday pay, health care coverage and pension security were key issues all the way up to the achievement of tentative agreements,” he said. Joint Council 28 represents more than 50,000 workers in Washington, Alaska and northern Idaho.
Geiger, speaking for some 27,000 UFCW-represented workers, told BNA late Oct. 21: “[T]he process from here is we are going to start working as early as tomorrow to figure out where and when the vote meetings are going to be.”
Teamsters Raised the Ante
A few minutes later, Allied Employers Vice President Scott Klitzke Powers issued a statement saying: “We are pleased to announce that we have reached a tentative settlement agreement with the unions that continues to preserve good wages, secure pensions and access to quality, affordable health care for our employees.” Powers said details wouldn't be released until after ratification, and he did not respond to Bloomberg BNA's requests for comment.
In the run-up to a walkout scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. PDT, the IBT had vowed to wield the extended power of its member drivers and distribution center employees to further the goals of the strike.
In an Oct. 3 statement, the union said: “The Joint Council will communicate with its thousands of members who work in the sanitation, recycle, composting, soft drink, beer, wine, liquor, dairy, organic food, poultry, bread and produce industries who may be dispatched by their employer to one of these grocery chains.
“Joint Council 28 will work with all of our affected Teamster Locals to inform the members of their right to honor pickets and not make deliveries or pickups. We will also communicate with the members we have working at grocery distribution centers who also have the right to honor picket lines. Any picket line presence at these distribution centers may affect grocery distribution statewide.”
Geiger told Bloomberg BNA in July that the contracts also would cover various independent stores in the region that have signed a letter prior to bargaining essentially saying they will abide by the terms of a ratified contract. The contracts would cover workers in counties encompassing the cities of Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Everett and Bremerton. Kroger does business in the region through Fred Meyer and QFC stores.
In listing the unions' top concerns, Geiger told Bloomberg BNA Sept. 26 that a central problem was the chains' proposal to eliminate health care coverage for employees who work less than 30 hours a week (187 DLR A-7, 9/26/13). Geiger said the provision puts “essentially everyone's” health care benefits at risk. The company can “just determine how many hours everyone will work,” he said.