Open Letter From The UFCW District Council to Stop & Shop on Contract Negotiations

Stop & Shop Workers Announce New Actions in Campaign for Fair Contract

Fight for a fair deal at Stop & Shop intensifies as profitable company demands cuts to grocery workers’ benefits

(PROVIDENCE, RI) – Today, the New England Council of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union announced a series of rallies in the campaign for a fair contract for 35,000 Stop & Shop workers in New England. Following a rally of hundreds of Stop & Shop workers, customers, elected officials, and community supporters last week, Stop & Shop workers will bring the same energy to five more rallies before the Easter holiday.

New England Stop & Shop workers are currently working under an expired union contract while the profitable company insists on cuts to hard-earned benefits. Stop & Shop’s parent company, Netherlands-based grocery giant Ahold, recently announced operating profits for last year in excess of $1.4 billion. Today, Ahold and Delhaize shareholders are expected to approve the merger of their companies, which will be completed later this year. Prior to closing of the merger, Ahold shareholders will receive a payout of more than $1 billion.

While paying out dividends to foreign shareholders, the company is demanding that workers accept cuts to longstanding benefits, decreasing take-home pay and cutting future retirement benefits despite a fully-funded and secure pension fund. The company is further demanding that future workers be given second-rate benefits and pay, transforming Stop & Shop’s once middle-class jobs into low-wage jobs.

“Stop & Shop’s proposals show that the company has strayed from its core values,” said Tim Melia, president of UFCW Local 328. “This used to be a company that took pride in offering the best wages and benefits in the region, and attracting the best workers. Our members are only asking for their fair share of the success their hard work has built.”

The hardworking men and women of Stop & Shop have been joined in their fight for a fair contract by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Treasurer and member of Stop & Shop’s founding family, Deb Goldberg, the combined 700,000 union members of the Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island State AFL-CIO Councils, and the 1.3 million members of the UFCW International Union.

Rallies will be held:

Wednesday, March 16th, 4-6 P.M.
Quincy Stop & Shop
65 Newport Ave., Quincy, MA

Thursday, March 17th, 4-6 P.M.
Dorchester Stop & Shop
1100 Massachusetts Ave, Dorchester, MA

Tuesday, March 22nd, 4-6 P.M.
Norwalk Stop & Shop
380 Main Ave, Norwalk, CT

Wednesday, March 23rd, 4-6 P.M.
East Hartford Stop & Shop
940 Silver Ln, East Hartford, CT

Thursday, March 24th, 4-6 P.M.
Holyoke Stop & Shop
28 Lincoln St, Holyoke, MA

Ahold, Parent Company of Stop & Shop, Earns Billions in Profit, but Refuses to Do What Is Right for its Employees.

Current Stop & Shop fruitbowl logo, shared with Giant-Landover (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ahold continues to ignore that hard-working Stop & Shop employees are the ones who make stores a success.

 (PROVIDENCE, R.I.) – The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) New England Council released the following statement responding to Ahold’s latest earnings report: “Ahold, the parent company of Stop & Shop should be ashamed. Despite their continued profita-bility, earning in excess of $10 billion in profit last year, they continue to demand cuts to their employees’ hard-earned wages and benefits.

“The truth is that the hard-working men and women at Stop & Shop are the key to the company’s success. It is their dedication and commitment to the customers and the communities they serve that provides Stop & Shop with a real business advantage. “It is absolutely absurd to think that such a profitable company would follow a shortsighted low-road, low-wage business model. Doing so is a recipe for failure - not success.

 “The reality is that customers want to support responsible employers that reflect their values and treat their employees with respect. Stop & Shop customers deserve better, our hard-working members deserve better, and the communities they serve deserve better.

“It's time for Stop & Shop to do what is right and provide a fair contract for the thousands of hard working men and women who make their stores a success.”

Top 11 Stories This Week: Fast Food Strikes, Fast Moving TPP, Ikea & Unions, Veterans Day

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Cuomo to Create $15 Minimum Wage for New York State Workers - See more at: http://www.portside.org/2015-11-10/cuomo-create-15-minimum-wage-new-york-state-workers-2#sthash.mFP5LEwn.dpuf

Cuomo to Raise Minimum Wage to $15 for All New York State Employees

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Tuesday that he would unilaterally establish a $15 minimum wage for all state workers, making New York the first state to set such a high wage for its public employees.

 

Read the entire story @NYTimes

 

Related: Labor's New Reality @LATimes

WHAT'S NEWS THIS WEEK:     1. Providing a Better Life For Our Veterans...Editorial by President Bruce Both   UFCW Local 1500 President Bruce Both's editorial on veterans was featured in two NY newspapers this week, The Downtown Express & Gay City News. We are forever grateful to every veteran for their selfless service.     2. Labor Pains for Mrs. Green's: Company Found Guilty of Labor Violations Polls West Village Community on View of Unions, Workers...   The real question is, why would a company found guilty of firing workers because they wanted a union, ask a community what they think about workers? Read the entire story @NYPost.

3. Mrs. Green's to Suddenly Close Hartsdale Store   The company is in turmoil, and it's treatment of men and women who work in the stores is shameful.

4. Labor's New Reality: Easier to Raise Wages for 100,000 than to Unionize 4,000   Its most prominent organizing campaigns of recent years — of fast-food workers, domestics, taxi drivers and Wal-Mart employees — have prompted states and cities to raise their minimum wage and create more worker-friendly regulations. But what these campaigns haven't done is create more than a small number of new dues-paying union members. Nor, for the foreseeable future, do unions anticipate that they will.

5. Labor Rallys Against TPP in Upstate NY   “This expanded NAFTA style trade agreement will continue offshoring US jobs, increase wealth inequality, grow our trade deficits, and plunge more American families into poverty. It is clear that the TPP is written for the exclusive profit and monopoly interests of transnational corporations, granting them powers that usurp our systems and principles of democracy, civil liberties, and human rights,” said Frank Natalie, Executive Vice President of the Capital District Area Labor Federation.   Related: Obama pushes TPP ahead of Asia trip   Must Read: What a New NAFTA Complaint Can Tell us about the TPP   As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) debate intensifies, a coalition of U.S. and Mexican labor and civil society groups are taking an unprecedented legal approach to protect workers’ rights that will test the strength of labor protections in international trade agreements.

6. Popeyes CEO on $15 Minimium Wage: "Life will go on,"   "Everybody in retail is dealing with an increase in minimum wage," said Cheryl Bachelder, CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (PLKI). "We will adjust to increased costs just like we have before. Life will go on. There's been too much hubbub about it."

7. Fast Food Workers Hold Largest Strike Ever.   Fast Food Workers Went on Strike This Week Again on Tuesday...Telling Politicians, Come Get Our Votes   On Tuesday, one year before the 2016 presidential election, thousands of fast food workers walked out of their jobs in 270 cities. Organizers say it is the largest action yet by the three-year old Fight for $15 movement. An even larger number of workers from other low-paying jobs joined them in marches on local city halls in a total of 500 cities to send a message to political candidates: they represent 42 percent of the American workforce, and if they register to vote, they make a difference.

8. IKEA Workers Have Asked for a Union & Company Has Not Responded   Yesterday, a large group of workers at an IKEA store in Massachusetts told the company they want to unionize. IKEA’s response so far? Nothing.

9. Target to Open in Tribeca, NYC

10. The Risk of Not Fighting Climate Change An Iraq War Veteran explains how defending America against climate change, can help defend our country.

11. Haggen puts core stores on the auction block

 

A very similar situation to A&P bankruptcy is ongoing on the west coast, right now.  Super chain, Haggen is auctioning off its stores. Thousands of UFCW members are affected. 

 

Here's the latest UFCW statement.

 

 

 

 

Elsewhere & Out There:

 

Need for Climate Awareness: A study partially funded by Nasa predicted that civilization as we know it could be steadily heading for a collapse within the next century due to climate change– and the window to create impactful change is narrowing. Read the entire story here.

 

 

Thank You:

It's often a thankless job, so we'd like to say, thank you. And thank you for being a subscriber. 

UFCW President Hansen Statement in Response to President Obama’s Executive Action on Immigration

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Hansen, International President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), today released the following statement in response to President Obama’s plan to take executive action on immigration.

“Today the President announced he will take belated but necessary action to provide relief to immigrant workers, families, and communities. Make no mistake—this is not a substitute for comprehensive immigration reform. But it will prevent the deportation of many immigrants who would have qualified for citizenship under the Senate bill that passed over 500 days ago.

“For nearly a year and a half, the House Republican leadership has refused to take action to fix our broken immigration system. The President has both a legal right and moral responsibility to step in.

“At the UFCW, this has been our fight for decades. Our members and their families have persevered through raids and deportations. UFCW members have mobilized to defeat racist ballot initiatives and our union has assisted workers with the legalization process while negotiating contracts that protect our members where the law fails to. All along, those in UFCW gold have lobbied for comprehensive immigration reform at protests, marches, rallies, town halls, and just yesterday, in front of the White House.

“We will continue to call on Congress to send legislation to the President’s desk. But with no bill to sign, President Obama is rightly using his pen to provide relief to those who are trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. Executive action is not all we need or deserve. But it is a step in the right direction and for that we are thankful.”

---

En español:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Hansen, el presidente internacional de la Unión Internacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de Alimentos y del Comercio (UFCW, por sus siglas en inglés), publicó hoy la siguiente declaración en respuesta al plan del presidente Obama de llevar a cabo una acción ejecutiva sobre la inmigración.

“El Presidente anunció hoy que tomará medidas algo tardías pero necesarias para prestar asistencia a trabajadores, familias y comunidades de inmigrantes. Que quede claro: esto no sustituye de ninguna manera la necesidad de una reforma migratoria integral, pero servirá para prevenir la deportación de muchos inmigrantes que hubieran reunido los requisitos necesarios para obtener la ciudadanía de acuerdo con el proyecto de ley del Senado que se aprobó hace más de 500 días.

Por casi un año y medio, los líderes de republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes se han negado a tomar medidas para arreglar nuestro sistema de inmigración roto. Es tanto el derecho legal como la responsabilidad moral del Presidente intervenir en este asunto.

En la UFCW, esta ha sido nuestra lucha por décadas. Nuestros miembros y sus familias han perseverado a pesar de las redadas y las deportaciones. Los miembros de la UFCW se han movilizado para combatir las iniciativas electorales racistas y nuestra unión ha asistido a los trabajadores con el proceso de legalización y con los contratos negociados que protegen a nuestros miembros en los casos en los que la ley no lo hace. Desde el principio,  aquellos que participan en el programa Gold de la UFCW han cabildeado para lograr una reforma migratoria integral por medio de protestas, marchas, mitines, asambleas públicas y ayer específicamente, frente a la Casa Blanca.

Continuaremos exigiéndole al Congreso que envíe legislación al despacho del Presidente. Pero mientras no haya proyecto de ley para firmar, el presidente Obama ha decidido usar su bolígrafo, en pleno uso de sus derechos, para proporcionar asistencia a aquellos que intentan construir una vida mejor para sí mismos y para sus familias. Esta acción ejecutiva no es todo lo que necesitamos ni todo lo que merecemos. Pero sí es un paso en la dirección correcta y por eso estamos sumamente agradecidos”.

###
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. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream. For more information about the UFCW’s effort to protect workers’ rights and strengthen America’s middle class, visit www.ufcw.org, or join our online community at www.facebook.com/UFCWinternational and www.twitter.com/ufcw.

Top 13 Stories This Week: Republicans Crush It, Voters Want High-er Wages

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Over $100 Million Spent in Midterm Elections by Koch Brothers and Republicans

The most expensive midterm election by far was this week, and it seems to have paid off for the Koch Brothers and Republicans....Even more, they aren't done, the Freedom Partners Action Fund has already plunked down $2.1 million for the Louisiana runoff.

LOCAL FEATURE

Negotiations began with King Kullen last week, and will begin with Stop & Shop next week.

WHAT'S NEWS THIS WEEK 1. NYS Senator Gillibrand sits down with Stephen Colbert for Post Election Interview Hear her reaction to the election, and her plans for New York. 2. Costco, Publix Lead Way: Not Opening on Thanksgiving The two mega retailers are refusing to open on Thanksgiving.

3. Throwback UFCW Ad Surfaces on Facebook Checkout this old advertisement, produced by our President, Bruce Both, & Secretary-Treasurer, Tony Speelman, in the early 90's.

4. Where's the Loot? Special Report Reveals Hundreds of Companies Dodging Taxes thru Luxembourg FedEx, Pepsi, Ikea & hundreds of other companies channel 100s of billions thru Luxembourg to save billions in taxes.

5. Oil Prices are Dropping...So What? The global oil supply has increased and demand has weakened, prices are down to about $80 a barrel, a more than 25 percent drop since June, and recently fell to a three-year low.

6. John Boehner and Mitch McConnell Pledge to Repeal Obamacare. DailyKos: Go For It. Politics Round Up: Oakland Minimum Wage Wins in Land-Slide San Fran Minimum Wage Voted in @ $15 per hour Alaska, DC, Oregon Legalize Marijuana Democrats: Winning Issues, Losing Candidates Supermarket Industry Reacts to Election Voters Favor Higher Wages, Sick Days

7. Four States Vote to Raise the Minimum Wage The wage increase won its biggest margin of victory in Alaska, where it garnered 69 percent of the vote. In Arkansas, it received 65 percent; in Nebraska, 59 percent approved raising the minimum wage, while in South Dakota, the margin was 53 percent.

8. Trumka Calls on Obama for Immediate Action on Immigration Wasting no time after the midterm elections, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka immediately stepped back into the policy arena, calling on President Barack Obama to take executive action on immigration.

9. Fairway Sales Up 5.9%, but Lower Margins

10. San Fran Cab Drivers Officially Join Union...Take Aim @ Uber, Sidecar

A group of San Francisco cabdrivers in mid-August voted to unionize for the first time in decades. Three weeks ago, the alliance passed the 550 paid members requirement and the affiliation ceremony by the National Taxi Workers Alliance took place Monday, enabling members to access union resources when the taxi industry most needs them.

11. Analysts are Up on Whole Foods

12. Delhaize to Sell Bottom Dollar to Aldi

The group announced Thursday in Brussels that it has signed an agreement to sell Bottom Dollar Food's 66 store locations in the greater Philadelphia and greater Pittsburgh markets to Aldi for approximately $15 million.

Related: Market Basket Walkout Boosts Delhaize Sales

13. Local 880 Signs Contract with Giant Eagle, Heinens

Editorials of the Week:

It Shouldn't Take Congress to Raise the Minimum Wage

Why is Congress needed to force corporations to help build our nation?

An L.A. Story: Unions Show a Sign of Life

A profile of Unite Here member: Gabriela Ochoa is a vivacious woman who buses tables at the Landings Restaurant at the Holiday Inn near Los Angeles International Airport, a job she has held since 2001.

Photo of the week via State Dems:

Top News April 11:

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UPS Re-Hires 250 Drivers, Fired for Walk-Out Work Stoppage

After refusing to back down from its decision to terminate 250 drivers, UPS on Wednesday agreed to give them back their jobs. The Atlanta-based company faced criticism for its stance, but then reached an agreement with the union to re-hire the drivers who work from a depot in Maspeth, Queens.

Read more @ Labor Notes

WHAT'S NEWS THIS WEEK   1. Mom's Take on Walmart...And Win! Under pressure from mothers working in their stores and women’s groups, Walmart recently altered its policy around accommodating pregnant women   2. Walmart's Next Goal: Organic Foods. In a move to directly compete with Whole Foods, Walmart, the nation's largest seller of groceries, aims to drive organic food prices down. Read more.

3. ShopRite SRS, Mannix Agreements Reached The new contracts will be reviewed and voted on 4/22 and 4/23

4. 7 Reasons to Raise the Minimum Wage Robert Reich explains how $10.10 is a nice start, but we're far from a fair wage.

5. Fairway Debuts New Soap Line

6. Stop & Shop Treats Hospitalized Kids to Easter Lunch

7. To Stay Ahead of Minimum Wage, Restaurants are Raising Working Standards While restaurant operators across the country are grappling with higher local minimum wage rates or bracing themselves for a possible boost in the federal minimum wage, some restaurateurs have voluntarily lifted employee wages.

8. Make Easter & Passover Union, American-Made! Checkout some union made products that might surprise you

9. Next Up on Fighting for Fair Wages & Benefits: NFL Cheerleaders NFL Cheerleaders aren't paid minimum wage and sometimes are paid in cash.  Read the alarming report.

10. In Wake of Protests, Walmart Workers Find More Hours in Reach

Victories for Walmart Associates fighting for change this week.

Top 13 Stories This Week: Target, Stop and Shop, King Kullen and Walmart

1. Stop & Shop and King Kullen negotiating committees reach tentative agreements...Vote scheduled for Monday.  

[Check coverage from Newsday, Westfair, Progressive Grocer Supermarket News]

Find voting times and locations here.

2.  Aldi announced plans to open 650 stores in the next five years. Wow.

3.  With Yucapia as the new owner, Fresh & Easy is already changing.

4.  Over 400,000 no, over 40 million Target customers' credit / debit cards were stolen in a data breach.  Here's how customers are reacting. Forbes calls Target's reaction to customers a PR Nightmare. More on data breaches at retailers from Time.

5.  Amazon may get their first labor union in the U.S., as a warehouse in Delaware preps for a vote that will be watched nationally. If you remember, workers in Germany have gone on strike several times this year (and will continue to in 2014), and have even gone so far as holding demonstrations at the company HQ in Seattle.

6.  Not only would a guaranteed minimum wage increase could eliminate poverty for all, a new study shows it would create jobs. 1 in 10 people working Full-Time are still poor.

7. Walmart is being fined again, this time over $4.7 million dollars, for wage theft.

8. Fairway is holding hourly prize give-a-ways until Christmas.

9.  Whole Foods is pulling Chobani yogurt and they're upping their goal from 1,000 to 1,200 stores in the US.

10.  Brooklyn's Food Pantry is struggling to help fill the gap left by SNAP cuts (food stamps).  You've heard us talk about this before, 47 million people rely on SNAP, cutting it has put us on a dangerous road. Check out why at HungerCliff.

11. Another change was made to the ACA today.

12. Our friends at The Brandworkers, are fighting with workers from Amy's Bread in Queens. Check out the workers campaign for better wages, healthcare and job security here.

13. Chart of the week: Being in a Union Raises Women's Pay 12.9 percent.

Quick Hits: Fast-Food workers at the Smithsonian have unionized. Ikea has been spying on their employees for a long time, DC passed a minimum wage increase, President Obama said Immigration Reform is at the top of the list for his presidency, and The US South is finally coming around on unions.

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Top 10 Industry Labor Stories From This Week

Our thoughts, prayers and love go to all affected in the ongoing Boston Marathon tragedy.  Our uttermost thanks go to Boston's first responders for their bravery.

— TOP 10 INDUSTRY/LABOR NEWS ARTICLES FROM THIS WEEK —

1. Bangladesh Factory Fire Workers are battling Walmart for compensation.  They're not going to get it though, Walmart refused.  The factory fire killed over 112 workers at a garment factory tailoring clothing for Walmart.

2. Local unions throughout Boston are offered a $50k award for any tips that lead to arrest of the marathon bomber.

3. Stop & Shop makes a $500k donation to Boston Fund.

4. Walmart has made over $400,000 in political contributions to New York since 2010, a move that bought them a sweet heart provision in the new Minimum Wage reform.  The subsidy was never announced publicly and is expected to provide big retailers like Walmart millions of dollars each year. It would also give Walmart a tax-credit to replace their seasoned workforce with inexperienced teenagers at minimum wage.

5.  Must read by Josh Eidelson: 'I Jumped to Save My Body': Walmart Slammed over Nicaragua Stabbings & Bangladesh Fire killing over 100.  You should really check this story out,  it is an alarming reality of what it's like to make the clothes sold at thousands of Walmart stores across the globe.

6.  Fairway Stock Soars in their opening week as a public company.

7.  ShopRite is opening  at a former Delaware Pathmark site.

8.  A&P announces a closing of another Food Emporium in Manhattan.

9.  Cutting the Budget, Leaving Us Dry: Michelle Chen sums up wonderfully how the working poor aren't feeling positive effects from the economic "bounceback" and how Social Security cuts won't help.

10.  No NLRB, No Voice! Last week Congress essentially told working Americans to drop dead. House Republicans pushed through a dangerous bill that would paralyze the National Labor Relations Board, blocking the only path that workers have to workplace justice.