Mid Week One Liners: Wage Theft Pevention Passes, Walmart looks to conquer South Africa

New York Legislature Passes Historic Wage Theft Protection Act: 

The Wage Theft Prevention Act (S8380/Savino - A11726/Heastie), has now passed both houses protecting thousands of hard-working men and women from unscrupulous employers who steal their earnings by paying less than minimum wage, misclassifying them as independent contractors, forcing them to work off the clock and various other schemes. This important legislation will increase penalties and strengthen enforcement of laws protecting workers from nonpayment and underpayment of wages.

Aldi rolls out larger stores, up to 18,000 square feet.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed the sweeping Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act by a 73-25 vote, setting the stage for reconciliation with a similar House version that passed last year. Now, there are reports saying the bill may hit a snag and get delayed.

New York City Council is planning on debating the impact a Walmart would have opening a store within NYC.  They'll be discussing the affects Walmart will have on small business and neighborhoods among other things.  The hearing is set for December 14.  Walmart has recently solicited black leaders for assistance getting into NYC.

More @ The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Meanwhile in Washington D.C.,  Mom 'n Pop stores are afraid of Walmart.

Fairway is waiting to hear back from NYC for permission to put up signs for their Douglaston store, which plans on opening in the spring of 2011.

Walmart looks to conquer Africa as they offered to acquire 51% of the shares of Massmart Holdings Limited, the diversified South African retailer, for about $2.4 billion.

More: South Africa wakes up to Walmart.

Business Week: Walmart CEO Mike Duke talks to Charlie Rose.

Trader Joe's is opening their fourth Chicago store.

CVS is voluntarily pulling their reusable bags.

Another Brooklyn BJ's? Aldi denied a store for not fixing a street, Fresh Market will open upstate, Tuesday Morning Read...

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"I asked the boss for permission to go to the hospital. She said, 'It's fine, go - but you don't have a job anymore.'"

-Adela Valdez, mother of 4, fired for catching a cold, in Sunday's New York Times.
 
Change to Win's campaign on CVS advances in South New Jersey.

The Fresh Market, an eagerly expanding gourmet grocery store, has been salivating at the thought of opening more stores in the North East. They'll break ground on their first New York store upstate, in Latham on October 13.  They'll be opening a store in Connecticut next week.

Aldi was refused permission to open a UK store for "failed negotiations to agree how much money Aldi should pay towards local roads improvement." Thankfully there are no damaged roads in Queens, so we won't encounter this problem when they open their first NY store next year.

UFCW Local 7 update: Strike may not change shopping habits. [Denver Post]
Grocery Workers wrapping up contract vote in Colorado. [AP]


Development Update: Joe Sitt of Thor Equities pitches a new BJ's site for Brooklyn.

SN has named Stop & Shop and Giant of Landover the winners of the 2009 Retail Excellence Award, sponsored by Kraft Foods. The two Ahold-owned chains have reasserted their dominance as value leaders in their markets, and remain standouts in such areas as marketing, technology and health and wellness.

Meanwhile, Stop & Shop unvieled a new custom publication called "Small Victories" geared towards Mom's.

D'Agostino's will launch a radio campaign, it's first campaign on the radio in 10-years.

The Teamsters endorsed Mike Bloomberg for Mayor.

The Hotel Trades Council has reached a deal with Steve Wynn, one less roadblock he'll face on his attempt to open an enormous "Racino" at the Aqueduct.

Bj's in Brooklyn, Wal-Mart heading to court again and Monday Morning One Liners..

Where and what is local in your supermarket? NY Times highlights the trend of using the word 'local' in supermarkets.

How one business man helped saved the Long Island Farms: Mr. Casa is being hailed as a hero to Long Island growers, having devised a creative way to move local produce to the shelves of 50 King Kullen supermarkets without the farmers having to deal with the false promises of other buyers or unscrupulous brokers.

NY Times continues to cover the illustrious Eli Zabar and his new Farm.

NY Times: Brooklyn residents admit 'Big Box isn't that bad'.

A car plowed through a CVS next to a King Kullen in Staten Island yesterday.

The Daily News covers BJs' Plan to open two stores in Brooklyn, "BJ's wants to put in two stores, but it doesn't answer the needs of the community - they need a supermarket," said Grocery Workers Union organizer Pat Purcell.

The Real Deal covers the story as well... "A lease has been signed at a Thor Equities-owned former bus depot at 1824 Shore Parkway, near Ceasar's Bay shopping center in Bensonhurst. No lease has been signed yet at the Brooklyn Terminal Market on Foster Avenue and Avenue D in Canarsie, the site of an old Key Food storage facility. "

A UFCW protest in Binghamton is getting press.

The NY Sun writes on Balducci's expansion to Dubai. Eventually Balducci's will have three outlets in Dubai.

The NY Times compares Porchetta prices in Gourmet NYC stores, including Fairway, Grace's, Agata....

Honeywell International is moving some manufacturing operations out of the company's central New York plant, eliminating nearly 300 jobs. Honeywell officials announced Thursday that the Morristown, N.J.-based company will shift some operations in the town of Skaneateles (skan-ee-AT'-les), 15 miles west of Syracuse, to a location in China within a year.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and Tyson Foods have reached an agreement in Tennessee.

US employers and unions battle over proposed labour laws [Guardian (U.K.)]

Verizon And 2 Unions Reach Pact For 3 Years

Wal-Mart

Canada's highest court agreed to hear an appeal by former employees of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. who say the company closed a Quebec store because of a union drive.

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear two cases stemming from Wal-Mart’s controversial closing of a unionized store in Quebec, the court here said.
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Wal-Mart Stores told SN Friday the small-format Marketside stores it plans to unveil this fall in the Phoenix area are part of "a small-scale pilot, and we have no plans [for the format] beyond a handful of stores." The comment, from a Wal-Mart spokesman, came in response to a report published in the Financial Times of London that quoted the Marketside website as saying the company expected to start with 10 stores and evolve to between 1,000 and 1,500 locations with more than $10 billion in annual sales.

A UFCW protest on the opening day of a 'Fresh & Easy' was effective.

Politics

Lawmakers who supported a property-tax-cap bill while the Senate was in Albany last week could pay a steep political price.State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes said it's possible the 2 million-member labor federation will withhold endorsements in key races that involve senators who voted "yes" on the cap when its member unions meet for their annual convention next week. "There's talk about holding back," Hughes said.

Four members of the New York City congressional delegation stood on the steps of City Hall August 4 to endorse State Sen. Martin Connor (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan), a 30-year incumbent who faces a grueling primary against a feisty insurgent, for reelection.

Monday Morning One Liners

Morning Read

A farm worker connected to Trader Joe's 'Two-Buck Chuck' wine has died.

Grocery store operator Kroger Co. announced that it has reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with its Nashville-based union

Wal-Mart Stores here will unveil a new corporate logo this week, according to a report in the Memphis Business Journal.
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Super 88, a six-unit chain of Asian supermarkets here, last week agreed to pay $175,000 in back pay to current and former employees after the state accused the company of failing to pay overtime and violating minimum-wage rules, according to reports. The company also agreed to pay the state $25,000.
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A&P here yesterday said it would convert eight SuperFresh stores in the Philadelphia market to its new Pathmark Save-A-Center banner, and would also convert the 16 Pathmarks it operates in the area to the price-impact format.
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The Huffington Post asks if "Locally grown food has gone Corporate?"

A plastic bag recycling law set to take effect in New York City next month may be relegated to the trash pile. Proponents of the legislation, which was introduced and approved by the City Council, say it will be gutted by another recycling bill that was approved by Albany lawmakers earlier this week, much to the surprise of council members.

Anheuser-Busch has agreed to stop producing caffeinated Tilt and Bud Extra, and cease selling all alcoholic energy drinks nationwide, after an investigation revealed the company was illegally marketing these drinks to young people, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced here yesterday.
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Citizens Financial Group Inc. plans to add 57 new in-store branches in Stop & Shop supermarkets in New York through next year.

Politics

Acorn, Pratt target Coney Island plan The affordable housing group NY Acorn is teaming up with the Pratt Center for Community Development to demand that the Bloomberg administration alter its redevelopment plans for Coney Island, to include more affordable housing and add measures to prevent gentrification

City Is Pushing for H.I.V. Tests for All in Bronx The New York City health department plans to announce on Thursday an ambitious three-year effort to give an H.I.V. test to every adult living in the Bronx, which has a far higher death rate from AIDS than any other borough.

New York state ranked 10th worst in the nation by the percentage of women living in poverty, according to a Thursday report from the Institute for Women's Policy Research. The report concluded that women in New York state are now worse off economically than they were in 1989, according to a new report issued Thursday.

The Colorado Supreme Court rejected the legal challenges against the titles of a pair of ballot measures proposed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7.

Community Board 7 has threatened to nix Mayor Bloomberg's Willets Point redevelopment plan Monday night unless the city consents to giving the Queens Borough Board a binding vote on the proposal.

The only members of Congress from New York that disclosed what local projects they’re trying to fund were Peter King and Vito Fossella.

Friday Morning One Liners...

Pathmark is trying to return to it's 'Low Cost' roots.

Brooklyn Paper dreams of having Wal-Mart in the neighborhood.

A new study shows that unionized workers in the lowest wage brackets in New York state earn 16% more than non-union workers with similar education.

California's attorney general has filed suit against four manufacturers, including Whole Foods Market Inc., accusing them of failing to label soap products that contain a potentially cancer-causing chemical.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 said today that it is withdrawing two of four proposed ballot initiatives, part of an effort to get business interests to pull their right-to-work measure. "We want to show that we're open to negotiation with the business community," said Manny Gonzales, a spokesman for UFCW Local 7, which represents food and health care workers and barbers in the Rocky Mountain region.

Montauk and Shinnecock fishermen will meet for the second time with representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers union this afternoon at the Top of the Wharf restaurant in Hampton Bays.

Unionized workers at Tops Markets have overwhelmingly approved a three-year contract. United Food and Commercial Workers Local One said its members voted 97 percent in favor of the deal. Utica-based Local One represents about 9,000 workers at Tops stores in New York state and Pennsylvania.

Penn Traffic has reached a tentative contract agreement with United Food and Commercial Workers Local One, the union representing roughly two-thirds of its workforce, the retailer here said.

John Mackey, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Whole Foods Market here, said he has some regrets about last year’s Wild Oats acquisition, a merger of the two largest so-called “super-natural” retailers that triggered an antitrust investigation and an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Specialty grocery chain The Fresh Market here will make its debut in New England next year as part of a new waterfront shopping district under construction in Hingham, Mass.

A major retail expansion is under way in Brooklyn, especially in Red Hook and downtown. The emergence of more retail stores comes in response to rising local incomes, growing demand for quality goods, and a national consolidation of retail into urban areas to avoid high energy costs, experts say....Ikea is leading this new retail push.

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said his office intends to take legal action against drug chains Rite Aid and CVS after a state investigation revealed their stores sold expired products including milk, eggs, medicines and baby formula.
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Two statewide drug store chains have been selling expired food, medicine and baby formula, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.Cuomo said the items were found at 142 CVS and 112 Rite Aid pharmacies in New York. Many stores sold milk and eggs that had expired, and some sold medications that were more than a year past their expiration dates.

Officials Find Expired Items at Drugstores in New York

Stores still selling expired pills

BIG RX CHAINS RATTLED

Policy

Just over 3 million city residents, or 38% of the population, had difficulty affording food for themselves and their families last year, according to a report from the city's Food Bank.

Daily News : Tough to pay for food, 35% say

NY Sun :More Families Report Trouble Affording Food

Political

Labor union officials and some liberal activists were seething Tuesday over Barack Obama's choice of centrist economist Jason Furman as the top economic advisor for the campaign. The critics say Furman, who was appointed to the post Monday, has overstated the potential benefits of globalization, Social Security private accounts and the low prices offered by Wal-Mart -- considered a corporate pariah by the labor movement.

The Queens County Board of Elections commissioner, Anthony Como, will represent the 30th district in Queens in the City Council after winning a special election to replace Council Member Dennis Gallagher, who resigned earlier this year after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of sexual abuse.

Union endorses Hiram Monserrate over Sabini in Queens Senate race

City Councilman Hiram Monserrate picked up another endorsement Wednesday in his bid to unseat state Sen. John Sabini. The New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council tossed its support behind Monserrate

Anthony Weiner wants more foreign models in America.

And it looks like Babe Ruth's house has finally been found.