By: Bruce Both, President
I’d like to update you on the A&P bankruptcy. At the same time A&P is closing stores and laying off our members, the company won a bankruptcy court approval of a Key Employee Incentive Plan, which will give bonuses to “key” managers and executives.
Yet at the same time, A&P has indicated that it will ask Local 1500 to agree to reductions in wages and benefits under our collective bargaining agreement. All indications are that if A&P does not get what it wants in bargaining it will ask the bankruptcy court (in a so-called 1113 motion) to approve such reductions or, worst case, to reject our contract outright.
If the court sets aside our contract, the ‘no strike clause' is no longer in effect and we have the right to strike. I don’t want to alarm you, but it is my duty to let you know that A&P may leave us with no choice than to strike. While A&P thinks that managers are so essential to its operation they should receive lucrative bonuses, it forgets that you, the members, are the ones who really matter to the future of the company, and that it cannot function or run stores without the hard work you perform every day.
I’ll continue to keep you posted. Please email us, info@ufcw1500.org or contact your Union Representative for any questions.
In Solidarity,
Bruce W. Both
President, UFCW Local 1500
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