UFCW contract updates, ACME settles, Stella D'Oro fights to stay open, Amish Market in Glendale not popular anymore?

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Good Morning on a Friday!

Workers at Stella D’Oro are filing an NLRB charge alleging that a private equity company is illegally closing the plant to avoid the union.

BJ's aims to take business from supermarkets during recession:
BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. , the No. 3 U.S. warehouse club operator, is focused on taking business from grocery stores as consumers look to save money on food in the recession.

Staten Island residents are more than pleased that Pathmark is returning to New Dorp.

Contracts
Fresh & Easy suppliers have a union election tomorrow (Friday) in California.

UFCW Local 1776 approved a contract with ACME yesterday.

Here's the letter that ACME president sent to all UFCW members....More at the Progressive Grocer.

Congratulations to workers at Swift meatpacking plant:
UFCW Local 711 reached a contract agreement with JBS a meat packing plant, a negotiation which took a little over eight months. The first contract for workers at JBS Swift & Co. will result in a 4.6% increase in the 1,100 employees at the plant.

Denver-area Safeway and King Soopers workers agreed Wednesday to extend their contracts with the grocery chains until Aug. 15...
The latest news is that negotiations are moving towards equal pay.

Must Read:
The Gotham Gazette: An Outer Borough Drought.
The Gazette looks at the supermarket drought throughout the five boroughs, a topic which we've been lobbying and arguing for the last year with our Building Blocks Project.

Developments:
Gourmet Garage opens up in the Upper West Side.

Rumors continue to arise regarding a new Trader Joe's or Gourmet Garage in the SOHA (South Harlem) building between 117th and 118th Street on Frederick Douglass Boulevard.

Food Lion will build it's first 'Green Supermarket' in southern California.

Hannaford, here in the North East, will unveil their first 'Green Supermarket'.

Atlas Park: Craving a supermarket not an Amish Market.
“The community of Glendale is crying out for a supermarket to move into their neighborhood, and we have just the location for you,” the prepared materials read.

One prospective tenant, Western Beef, has already turned down Atlas Park over parking access.
Read more at the Queens Tribune.

Wal-Mart:
In a long five year battle, UFCW Local 1400 (Canada) is appealing a decision by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Peter Foley, who ruled last month that the certification of a Wal-Mart, in the town of Weyburn, was wrong.

Workers in foreign factories that supply Wal-Mart can't blame the company for their alleged sweatshop conditions, despite the retail giant's code of conduct that's supposed to hold its contractors to decent labor standards, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

Wal-Mart Stores here will discuss the development of a new index that measures the "social and environmental impact" of its products at a press conference today, reports said yesterday.
UFCW responds to Bashas' bankrupcy.

Whole Foods/Trader Joe's:
Greenpeace vs Trader Joe's in the sustainable seafood war.

Whole Foods Market is promoting the fact that one of its own lives in Alaska for the summer to ensure that the best salmon is carried in its stores.

Whole Foods Organically Certified:
Whole Foods Market yesterday announced that it each of its 273 U.S. stores has been individually certified organic by CCOF, a non-profit, U.S. Department of Agriculture accredited third-party certifier established in 1973.

Politics

The NY Mets, everyone's lovable losers, owe New York City more than $2 million due to 'underreported profits'

Texting banned while driving in NYC.

The NY Senate gives more power to the minority.

Carolyn Maloney has an edge over Kirsten Gillibrand in a Rasmussen poll.