Monday Mornin' One Liners: Nov 4 - Nov 7th: Burkle to Chair A&P

#A&P

Ron Burkle will chair A&P under the new buyout plan.

The proposed new board of directors would also include two designees each from Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Mount Kellett Capital Management; one director selected by the United Food and Commercial Workers union; and A&P’s chief executive officer, Sam Martin. The former two companies are combining with Yucaipa on a $490 million deal to buy A&P out of U.S. Bankruptcy Court and operate it as a privately held company, as reported first in SN Thursday. The plan is predicated upon savings as a result of a new labor deal with the UFCW, which has yet to be reached.
Read more: http://supermarketnews.com/retail_financial/burkle_ap_1104/?cid=upd#ixzz1d1mrohwR

The Bergen Record: A&P Deal Called Positive for Unions, Business.

Wall Street Journal: Yucaipa keeps A&P in its Grocery Basket.

More @ Reuters, Progressive Grocer.

The Westbury Times profiles a Local 338 member working at Waldbaum's and how the A&P bankruptcy is affecting workers.

Patch highlights how A&P's negotiations have been affecting local workers in Long Island.

#Industry
Best Yet will take over for a shuttered Waldbaum's in Patchogue, Long Island.

The National Labor Relations Board accuses Target of intimidating workers at Valley Stream before their union vote this past June.

There's a Thanksgiving Food Drive at Dix Hills Stop & Shop.

King Kullen opened a new store Friday in Garden City, Long Island.

Rumors of a new "high-end" supermarket could be opening in Southampton.

30 workers at Master Food in Flatbush have been overworked and underpaid, Local 338 helped them win back wages and a union contract!

Workers at a Flatbush supermarket who charged they were illegally stiffed on their wages for years settled a lawsuit for $300,000 - and a union contract.

The 30 workers at Master Food on Church Ave. charged they worked 12 hour days, six or seven days a week, for as little as $3.93 an hour, and never got required overtime pay. Read more: @ Daily News

#Politics

Prioritizing attacks on NLRB at the expense of Jobs:
 According to a new report from American Rights at Work in 2011 alone Republicans have launched nearly 50 attacks on the National Labor Relations Board. 

The AFL-CIO says it right: "The assaults on workers’ rights comes at a time when most Americans say jobs are the nation’s No. 1 priority."

Check out the report along with some interesting graphics here.

  

AFL-CIO Blog: For the third time in a month, senate repbulicans kill "Rebuild America Act," an act which would create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

The AFL-CIO Blog also lists Verizon and 29 other very large corporations who haven't paid taxes since 2007.

Unions supply food for thousands of Occupy Oakland protesters.

UFCW Blog: 80,000 Jobs aren't enough to re-start our economy.

Nov. 4th: Update to all UFCW/RWDSU Members Working at A&P or Subsidiary Company

The following message is from the UFCW/RWDSU A&P Negotiating Team

November 4, 2011

Attention all UFCW/RWDSU Members Working at A&P or Subsidiary Company:

A&P has filed a motion in the Bankruptcy Court asking approval to enter into agreements with Yucaipa and certain note holders. Those agreements would form the basis of a plan of reorganization and an investment in A&P of $490 million by Yucaipa and those note holders. This investment is conditioned on obtaining concessionary labor agreements on a very fast time frame. The Motion is scheduled to be heard by the Bankruptcy Court on November 14, 2011.

The UFCW and UFCW Local Unions will be meeting on Monday, November 7, 2011, with Ron Burkle of Yucaipa, one of the investors in this proposed transaction. We are pleased, given his past experience in the grocery business, that he will be involved in this proposed transaction. The Monday meeting will review these investment proposals and the path forward to try to reach new labor agreements.

We will further communicate with you following the meeting with Ron Burkle and advise you of our progress.

In Solidarity,

UFCW A&P Negotiating Committee


Download the printable format below: 

A&P Files for Bankruptcy

Here are all the articles on A&P's Bankruptcy filing:

Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company Press Release on Bankruptcy Filing: http://www.aptea.com/pressRoom_article.asp?id=216


New York Times: A&P Files for Bankruptcy Protection: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/business/economy/13grocer.html?src=busln

Supermarket News: http://supermarketnews.com/retail_financial/ap_bankruptcy/?cid=upd

FOX News: A&P Succumbs to Pressure, Files for Bankruptcy Protection: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/12/13/ap-succumbs-pressure-files-bankruptcy/

Wall Street Journal: A&P Seeks Court Protection: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703380104576016163826716194.html

Wall Street Journal: A&P Files for Bankruptcy: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703380104576016163826716194.html?mod=WSJ_article_MoreIn_Business


Bloomberg News: A&P's Bankruptcy Filing May Prompt Ahold for Bid on Pathmark: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-13/a-p-bankruptcy-may-prompt-ahold-bid-for-pathmark-analysts-say.html

Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9K2O2RG0.htm


Public Radio: Historic A&P Files for Bankruptcy: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/12/13/am-historic-grocery-ap-filed-for-bankruptcy/

TickerSpy: http://www.tickerspy.com/newswire/?p=3747

NY Post: A&P's Food Fight: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/food_fight_SKmOXzkPTrBsSMquwsWcqN?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME

WSJ: Another Whack for Ron Burkle, A&P Files for Bankruptcy Protection: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/12/10/another-whack-for-ron-burkle-ap-preps-bankruptcy/


Newsday: A&P, Waldbaum's file for Bankruptcy: http://www.newsday.com/business/a-p-waldbaum-s-seek-bankruptcy-protection-1.2537482

New Jersey Star Ledger:  http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/nj_grocer_ap_files_for_bankrup.html

NY Daily News: Lagging Grocers A&P, Pathmark, Food Emporium file for Bankruptcy http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/12/11/2010-12-11_grocer_lacks_green_ap_pathmark_food_emporium_face_bankruptcy.html

Patch: Pathmark, A&P Files Bankruptcy: http://southorange.patch.com/articles/pathmarks-corporate-owner-files-bankruptcy

Friday Morning One Liners....Burkle & Barnes and Noble, Re-Invention of Fresh Direct

The "Food Basics" brand is now available in the aisles of Pathmark stores. “This economy has definitely affected our customers’ shopping budgets. The new Food Basics and Home Basics brands will allow our shoppers to buy all their household necessities for much less than national brands,” Sam Martin, chief executive officer of A&P, said in a statement Thursday.  [Press Release]

Crain's NY Business: Ron Burkle and Barnes & Noble:
Barnes & Noble said Thursday it has not reached a settlement with financier Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. after news reports the companies were close to a deal. Mr. Burkle, who owns a 19% stake in the bookseller, is suing the company in an effort to expand his stake without triggering a poison pill plan.
Trader Joe's is rumored to be coming to Staten Island, the Staten Island Advance wonders if this is a welcomed or unwanted addition to the community..
Fresh Direct, a Re-Invention after Crisis...[NY Times] Surviving a major crisis — an immigration audit that decimated the company’s work force — at a time when the company was hemorrhaging money and alienating customers because its basic business model was not working...
NY Times: State Officials Skeptical of Willets Point Project
And guess what New Yorkers, you'll be voting on Term Limits again this November.