Monday's News, After Noon....

Sales Up, Kroger Beats Expectations
The Kroger Company posted higher- than-expected quarterly earnings Thursday, suggesting that it was holding its own against competition from Wal-Mart stores and other grocery chains. 


Tentative Agreement Reached Between Giant Eagle & UFCW
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23 has reached a tentative agreement with Giant Eagle last week, nearly 6 weeks after bargaining began. 


Conciliation Talks Between UFCW and Loblaw Break Off With No Progress...Union to seek strike mandate from 30,000


Wegmans CEO Recognized By Business Association
Danny Wegman, chief executive officer of Wegmans Food Markets, received an award for his lifetime contribution to the retail food industry. 


Second Supermarket Shut Down Because of Suspicious Suitcase
Nassau County Police cordoned off the Waldbaum's shopping center on Merrick Road in Merrick on Saturday, around 5pm after a suspicious suitcase was left unattended in the middle of the parking lot amid and shopping carts and cars. 


Whole Foods Market and Personal Care Suppliers Bring Authenticity to Organic Labeling
AUSTIN,Texas- Whole Foods Market announced today that all personal care products and cosmetics making an "organic" claim sold in its U.S. stores must be third-party certified by June 1, 2011


Trader Joe's Clears Hurdle for Portland Store
The Federal Trade Commission has approved the sale of the former Wild Oats building on Marginal Way in Portland to Trader Joe's. 


New York Reaches Deal to Raise Cigarette Tax
Cigarette taxes in New York would jump by $1.60 a pack under a tentative deal reached between Gov.David A. Paterson and legislative leaders, which would give New York the nation's highest state cigarette taxes. 

Wednesday Morning One Liners...

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Local 1102 has filed an unfair labor charge against Saks following a move by the upscale retailer to eliminate 115 jobs in the cosmetics department of its Fifth Avenue store in New York at the end of this month.  , the Wall Street Journal reports.  A spokeswoman for the company said the decision "was completely unrelated to any union activity,"

CVS gears up for Employee Free Choice fight.

The absence of a supermarket in downtown Somerville, NJ, has community residents begging for anything.

ABC News: Price Wars, Decade's Best and Worst Industries

Harold Ford Jr. will challenge Kristin Gillibrand for Senate.

Bill Thompson has announced he will run for Mayor of NYC in 2013.

Advocates for the poor and working poor rallied Tuesday for a $10 minimum wage, jobs for welfare recipients and better ethics in state government. Read more at the Times Union.

Tuesday Morning One Liners...

Target Corp. retooled a training video to warn workers against a bill that would make union organizing easier. Michaels Stores Inc. told investors “our businesses could be impacted” by the measure. Enrollment in Jackson Lewis LLP’s “How to Stay Union-Free” seminars tripled. -Bloomberg News: ‘Stay Union-Free’ Pushed by Target, Michaels as Obama Law Looms

You can now order alcohol online at SamsClub.com.

John Mackey is relinquishing his title as CEO of Whole Foods, a title he has held since 1978. Newswire release via WSJ.

U.S. retail sales were up 3.6% from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, compared with last year.

The Staten Island Advance looks at what effect the closing of King Kullen in the Castletown Corners will have residents.

Rallying against 'food deserts' in Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Paper spotlights 'The Union Market'

Fresh Direct donates 400 Holiday Turkeys.

'Union Free' Message gets a Huge Push in 2009.

Walmart settles an organizing case in Minnesota. During the union's organizing campaign last summer, Wal-Mart sent a team from its corporate offices to the five stores where workers were most active in trying to form a union, according to Doug Mork, Local 789's organizing director. The team held daily meetings and tried to persuade employees they don't need a union. "They beat the crap out of us," Mork said. Wal-Mart, he added, is "an awfully tough nut to crack."

Good Read: The New Yorker profiles John Mackey in  Food Fighter, Does Whole Foods' (former) CEO know What's best for you?

Tuesday Morning One Liners...

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UFCW Local 1360 has reportedly reached an agreement with Acme late last night, averting a strike.

A 'Prevailing Wage bill' will be brought to the floor of the Pittsburgh City Council.

A&P's stock (GAP) has been on a complete surge lately, up 100% since September and investors continue to buy.

Pathmark signed a 20-year lease in Jersey for a 50,000 square foot store that will open by Thanksgiving 2010.

New York Tims: Price War Brews between Wal-Mart and Amazon.
In what is emerging as one of the main story lines of the 2009 post-recession shopping season, the two heavyweight retailers are waging an online price war that is spreading through product areas like books, movies, toys and electronics.

The Post Standard in Syracuse says"whoever buys Penn Traffic better be ready for a tough battle" The expansion of Walmart “superstores” and discounters like Aldi in the area makes it even harder for a new kid on the block to stay out of the red. So, too, does the overall decline in family income and population in the region.

This comes after Aldi announced another store opening in the Rochchester region.

The nation's leading meat processor and the country's largest union representing meatpacking and food processing workers (UFCW) have just completed the twentieth year of a workplace ergonomics program that is making meat processing jobs safer. [Press Release]

Whole Foods is disciplining their employees for Facebook posts.

NYC Food and Climate Summit, December 12, 2009, hosted by New York University, Just Food, and the President of the Borough of Manhattan.  Clean food is a right for all, and more and more, it’s an imperative for our planet. Check out more here.

The number of people seeking emergency food assistance in the city jumped 20.9% over last year, according to a new study from New York City Coalition Against Hunger.

NY Observer: Mom and Pop go to City Hall.
On Friday, Nov. 20, Councilman Robert Jackson was exasperated.  The Harlem Democrat had put in a call to the chair of the Council’s Small Business Committee, David Yassky, asking for a vote on the Small Business Survival Act, a bill of Mr. Jackson’s that would regulate commercial rents

The city also plans to re-zone the far west village.

An Employee Free Choice Compromise? More Overtime violations in NYC, Tuesday Afternoon One Liners...

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Whole Foods, Costsco, Starbucks have moved for a Employee Free Choice Act compromise.

The Washington Post has more on the 'executive compromise details.'

The owner of eight Asian restaurants in Manhattan, including Ollie’s Noodle Shop and Grill, agreed to pay $2.3 million to 813 workers in what the State Labor Department called the largest amount ever collected in a single case of minimum-wage and overtime violations.

Whole Foods: Fired over a Tuna Sandwhich.

Civil War Battle Field becomes a potential Wal-Mart site.

Bashas' is expanding their shopping cart sanitation system.

A study confirmed that retail sales will remain weak.

A&P here is readying a new natural/organic private-label line that is scheduled to officially debut next month around Earth Day.

Wal-Mart to give employee bonuses.

More technology carts are sprouting throughout the country.

Ahold gets consumer input on 'healthy ideas'

Foodtown will re-banner as 'FoodKing'

Aldi will debut it's 1,000th store.

SEIU and California nurses association are now working together.

Update on Stop & Shop looking for another Hyde Park location.

Citarella's in Hamptons.

Politics

Just two of 51 council members score 100% on attendance.

Anthony Weiner, who said he's not actively campaigning for mayor and has indicated that he may not run, would still beat Bill Thompson in a Democratic mayoral primary, according to a Quinnipiac poll released this morning.

Peter King rejects bill to tax corporate bonuses.

Connecticut has passed a plastic bag bill, going into effect this week.

Hiram Monserrate reportedly rejected a plea deal before he was indicted.

BJ's in Red Hook and more top news....

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Plans to bring BJ’s Wholesale Club, potentially the second big box retailer in Red Hook, sent a shiver of excitement and mild horror through the neighborhood this week.

 Worsening product price inflation -- with many food products exceeding 5% cost increases -- is making for a "painful" environment for A&P and its shoppers, Christian Haub, executive chairman of the Montvale, N.J.-based retailer, said in remarks at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference on Wednesday.
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Delhaize Group here on Wednesday released its first "Corporate Responsibility Report," highlighting the retailer's accomplishments in areas such as the environment and health and wellness.
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Wal-Mart Stores, Bentonville, Ark., said yesterday it has established a new regional headquarters for Asia here to oversee its operations in China, India and Japan and to identify new business opportunities throughout Asia.
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Wal-Mart unveiled a new Smart Network in-store TV system on Wednesday that it said will function as the first "shopper-intelligent network at retail.

Boeing Co.'s largest labor union voted to strike Wednesday night, but the union agreed to postpone a walkout for 48 hours after federal mediators urged both sides to return to the bargaining table in a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement.

Political

On the second consecutive night, a lot of the rhetoric at the Republican convention Wednesday evening seemed left over from the last cycle when the fight against terrorism dominated the race.