Monday Morning One Liners...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Basha's said to be filing chapter 11. More on their financial problems and store closures here.

UFCW members at Acme worked through the weekend...

To stay up to date on Local 1776's contracts check out their website.

AFL-CIO's Blog has an update on the Stella D'oro closing.

OSHA cites Wal-Mart $7,000 for Black Friday Death.

Development:

4 stories, regarding a new supermarket within the development of the new Brooklyn Navy Yard, asking for a developer to include a 40,000 sqft market...One article argues bringing jobs to community members...

http://www.globest.com/news/1449_1449/newyork/179753-1.html

http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/proposals-requested-for-brooklyn-navy-yard

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/07/navy_yards_kick.php

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090709/FREE/907099976/0/NEWSLETTER

Politics:

Al Franken, co-sponsoring Employee Free Choice.

Less than six hours after he was sworn in as MN's junior senator and two hours after casting his first vote (against an amendment sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to the Homeland Security Appropriations Act), Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) announced that he has already co-sponsored his first bill.

"As of about a half an hour ago, I became the co-sponsor of my first piece of legislation in the Senate," Franken told a gathering at the AFL-CIO headquarters this evening. "And it's something called the Employee Free Choice Act."

The government organization committee of the California Senate is expected to vote again on a bill later this week that would require supermarkets to sell beer, wine and spirits only at checkstands manned by clerks — to ensure that buyers are sober and of legal drinking age — rather than at self-service lanes.

Keep Stella D'Oro in the Bronx, Support Local 1776, Friday Morning One LIners...

"They wanted to take us back to the dark ages. We told them we weren't going there."

-Mike Filippou, on why workers at the Stella D'Oro cookie factory in the Bronx braved picket lines for 11 months, in yesterday's Daily News.

“Even if I go back for an hour, I’ll get satisfaction,” said Mike Filippou, 43, a union representative and a maintenance mechanic at the plant for 15 years. “They’re saying they’re going to close to get us to agree to whatever they offer, but we didn’t stay out 11 months for nothing. We’re going to fight it.” In Yesterday's New York Times

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka yesterday announced his candidacy for president of the AFL-CIO to succeed the retiring John Sweeney. Trumka has served as AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer since 1995.

A supermarket owner who took $50,000 in public funds to renovate his store has been arrested and charged with fraud in relation to the award.

Acme and UFCW Local 1776 are nearing a contract deadline. Neither side seems willing to budge....Meanwhile Local 1776 officials yesterday accused Acme Markets of refusing to compromise as a midnight contract deadline approached, but they urged 4,500 area supermarket employees to report to work today and stay on the job until a membership meeting Wednesday.

Yesterday Whole Foods announced they will abandon plans to open a store in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

13 Dunkin Donuts in NYC turn into Tim Horton's. What??

BJ's Wholesale Club's sales continue to dip.

Citing unfair labor practices, Teamster employees at Hilton Suites on Chicago's Magnificent Mile have chosen to strike against the hotel, effective this past Friday.

Wal-Mart
A federal judge has given final approval to a $17.5 million settlement of a discrimination lawsuit that accused Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of not hiring black truck drivers.

The UFCW is appealing the decision in Canada which overturned the unionization of a Wal-Mart.


Politics

Labor leaders to meet with President Obama Monday.

If you missed the Working Families NYC Mayoral Forum, it's available online....Bill Thompson ended up getting the WFP endorsement.

Pope Benedict XVI advocates for more unions.

Pedro Espada is back, and now majority leader. Saying his actions led to a transformational change that will empower all senators, dissident Democrat Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. rejoined the conference he walked away from a month ago, and returned control of the state Senate to Democrats.

Maloney tells the Queens Tribune, "I'm Ready for Senate"

No Whole Foods in Gowanus, the toxic site has been finally put to rest....

Image via Wikipedia

The Brooklyn Paper reported today that Whole Foods will abandon their plans to build a store in Gowanus. A project we, along with many other organizations were a bit skeptical on when it was first announced. Whole Foods had a plethora of mishaps trying to build the store and the 420 space parking lot on toxic land, which concerned neighbors and residents throughout the area.

More so when Whole Foods neglected to take proper precautions by fencing the toxic land from the community. Controversy arose when the broken fence allowed some local children to play in the toxic development site. Whole Foods also mentioned that they will attempt to sell the land.

Stella D'oro plans to close doors in October, Tuesday Morning Read

Last week, a federal judge ordered Stella D'oro to reinstate 134 workers after a protracted 10-month strike. This week, the company invited the workers back. It also announced that it would close the factory in October.

NY Times: After Inviting workers back, cookie factory plans to shut down.

New York: Welfare checks to increase for the first time in 19-years.

"I work at Con Ed, but need food stamps to get by….And with a monthly electricity bill of some $200. I feel that Con Ed is taking back whatever little I get paid."

-Fernando Cruz, a maintenance worker who cleans the Manhattan offices of Con-Ed, in Friday's Daily News

The Connecticut Laborers' Council plans to picket three work sites in Torrington, Bristol and Ellington to protest a Plainville-based construction firm's use of nonunion workers, including a future Stop & Shop site.

Don McGeorge, who as president and chief operating officer of Kroger Co. was influential in developing many of the retailer’s strategies, including its private brands and centralized operations, is retiring after 32 years with the company.

About 1,200 Macy's workers in Washington 'OK'd' a contract.

Remember Mark Kaiser? Former executive at Ahold’s U.S. Foodservice division, who was sentenced to seven years in prison back in 2007 for his role as “organizer and leader” of a scheme that led Ahold to overstate its profits by $800 million. Kaiser was convicted of fraud in the case, in which he was found to have directed the creation of fake invoices to artificially inflate vendor rebates. Well, he is now seeking a re-trial.

Trader Joe's is receiving some criticism over sustainable fish.

Local 342 wins NLRB case against kosher meat packers.

Two more supermarkets to pay over $1 million dollars in back wages.

Two supermarkets in Brooklyn have agreed to pay back wages to employees totaling $1.125 million after a state investigation found they did not pay some workers at all and paid others less than minimum wage. This past February Local 1500 and the Building Blocks project helped workers at Amish Market, Zeytinia, Zeytinz and Zeytuna receive over $1 million dollars in back wages. NY1 covered the story here. This is becoming too much of a common practice throughout New York City, the Building Blocks Project along with Local 1500 is working on the New York State's Dept. of Labor's Wage Watchers campaign

Wal-Mart

REGINA, Saskatchewan — A judge here has voided union certification at a Wal-Mart store where workers organized under labor laws that were since altered, reports Thursday said.

Chicago- Chicago Alderman still yearns for Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart backs drive to force companies to pay for health insurance.

Politics

Mayor Bloomberg has imposed an immediate city hiring freeze, citing “gridlock in the State Senate” that has held up votes on budget measures.

That includes a class of 250 police recruits who were slated to start at the academy tomorrow.

NY Times looks at 5 years down the road: The Stalemate in Albany, Five Years On.

WORKERS AT WORLDS LARGEST PORK PLANT RATIFY FIRST-EVER UNION CONTRACT

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 1, 2009

WORKERS AT WORLDS LARGEST PORK PLANT

RATIFY FIRST-EVER UNION CONTRACT

Deal raises Tar Heel workers’ wages and brings up benefits and

working conditions to union standards

(TAR HEEL NC)—Five Thousand workers at the world’s largest pork processing plant have their first-ever union contract, after a majority of workers ratified the agreement over a two-day vote. Members of UFCW Local 1208 will join more than 10,000 other Smithfield workers, and more than 240,000 others who work in the meat packing and food processing industry who have a UFCW union contract.

The new contract includes:

* Wage increases of $1.50/hour over the next four years.

* Continued company-provided affordable family health care coverage.

* Improved paid sick leave and vacation benefits.

* Retirement security through protection of the existing pension plan.

* Continued joint worker/management safety committee, including company funded safety training for workers.

* Guaranteed weekly hours that protect full-time, family supporting jobs in the community

* A system to resolve workplace issues.

* 24 hours of paid funeral leave following the death of immediate family members.

“This contract will completely transform our workplace,” said Orlando Williams. “This is the biggest four-year wage increase Smithfield workers have ever had and it will make a real difference for our families and in this community. We could never have gotten that increase without a chance to bargain with the company. We will finally have a sense of security on the job because through our union we can make sure we have a safe place to work, and that everyone’s treated fairly.”

UFCW members who work at Smithfield's other locations all over the country were paying close attention to the negotiations in Tar Heel. "I know the difference having a union contract makes, said Jim Olson, a steward at UFCW Local 304A and a 35 year veteran of Smithfield's John Morrell Plant in Sioux Falls, SD. "The more meatpacking workers who join our union, the more power we have to raise wages and benefits—in our own local unions, and for everybody who works in this industry. That’s what being in the UFCW is all about.”

This is the first contract covering the hourly production and maintenance workers at the Tar Heel facility and will take effect July 1, 2009.

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The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries.