Release: Wal-Mart needs to be responsible in this economy, Gateway Center in the Bronx, Young Workers getting paid less and less, Wal-Mart's Sustainability Talks....

“Nobody wants an economy where workers earn wages that can’t support a family. Nobody wants an economy where people who go to work everyday and work hard have to turn to public assistance for basic needs." 

-UFCW International President Joe Hansen, announced a new national comprehensive American values-driven agenda to hold Walmart accountable to its workers, our communities and the planet.

Starting off the school season on the healthy foot: Produce for Kids.

The UFCW announced a campaign challenging Wal-Mart to change its corporate practices for the sake of the economy and the communities in which it operates.

The Washington Post has more.

Economy: Cutting Prices at the Grocery store to compete.

New York Times looks at the Gateway Center in the Bronx, which holds a BJ's Wholesale Club and a Target.

NYC to offer free swine flu shots for kids.

AFL-CIO Blog: Young Workers, a lost decade.

Wal-Mart Stores is reaching out to many industry sectors and people to develop its newly announced “Sustainability Index” — and it even held a meeting with competitor Kroger Co. on this topic.

New Whole Foods in NYC tomorrow, ShopRite offers Valet Parking, Wednesday News

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Whole Foods
As a new Whole Foods is slated to open in New York City Thursday [97th & Columbus Ave], making it the 6th in NYC, the two co-presidents rang the opening bell today at the NASDAQ.

The New York Times writes that Whole Foods learned how hard it is to open a wine store in NYC.

The NY Post picks up the boycott Whole Foods story.

Industry
Another Pathmark slated to close in New Jersey.

Preservationists say that the Wal-Mart Civil War battle is not over yet.

ShopRite on Hylan Blvd. in New Dorp, offered free Valet Parking to customers, in order to compete with the re-opening of Pathmark, and the battle continues.

The Progressive Grocer gives the store of the Month award to Pomegranate in Brooklyn.

Botique Supermarket opens near the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

After announcing store closures in Florida yesterday, Albertsons announced 5 additional closures in Colorado.

A state Department of Labor initiative to get community groups to help identify wage and hour violations has sparked a Republican-led effort to derail the nomination of New York’s labor commissioner to a top Obama administration post.

Investment group calls for Mackey's resignation.

Wal-Mart offers a bill-paying service to its customers.

A survey concluded that fewer and fewer consumers can afford to purchase healthy food.

City, Elsewhere, Politics
Negotiations at Tropicana Casino will begin Aug. 29.

Ted Kennedy, the liberal lion, dead at age 77.

New York EZ Pass workers need your help.

Bloomberg wants cheap taxis for NYC Seniors .

The Yellow school bus picks up seniors (not high school seniors)  for a trip to the supermarket.

AFL-CIO Blog: Michael Steele continues to lie and scare about Health Reform.

David Patterson steps back from race remarks.

Kingsbridge Armory update, Town Hall's filled with union members, Tuesday Read....

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UFCW and other union members are packing Obama's town halls as the Washington Post reports.

Kingsbridge Armory Supermarket:
Borough President Ruben Diaz has joined with the entire Bronx City Council delegation in opposing a new supermarket at the Kingsbridge Armory.

The Daily News picks up the story on the failures and foreclosures at Atlas Park, in Glendale, Queens.

The Wall Street Journal wonders what the Whole Foods boycott will do to the publicly traded company.

Supermarket News and the New York Times also ran stories regarding Mackey's comments.

The New York Times previews BJ's Wholesale Club's second quarter earnings, after J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock yesterday.

A problem-plagued $22.4 million scheme to transform a 222-acre former Bronx landfill into a spectacular PGA-regulation golf course has not only missed its deadline by eight years, it will now cost an additional $100 million, The NY Post reported.

Politics

Crain's says "the Bronx is burning" over failed real estate deals.

NYC gets stimulus for affordable housing. The NY Times has more.

The New York Times also looks at the economic health in Staten Island.

Former Bronx borough president is endorsing de Blasio.

Tuesday Morning One Liners...

Image by Rain Rannu via Flickr

Supermarket News looks at Wal-Mart's neighborhood markets.

The Colorado state Senate is taking up a bill to allow locked-out workers to collect unemployment

The New York Times looks at how difficult it is to collect Workers Compensation in New York.

Local News station looks at the affect the Bottle Bill will have on Wegman's.

Restaurant workers rally for paid sick leave in Connecticut.

Times Union looks at wages, union and non-union in New York State.

NY Union Membership is down.

Rush Limbaugh tells NY to drop dead.

The aftermath of raids.

Ahold has filed court papers urging U.S. Bankruptcy Court here to deny a $100 million proposed financing package for Bi-Lo, offering its former division a $35 million loan instead. Ahold, which sold Bi-Lo to Lone Star Holdings in 2005 and remains a landlord for the retailer, said that GE Financial’s $100 million lending package would unfairly put lenders ahead of landlords with regard to collecting on pre-petition debts.

Although the majority of Americans feel that foods in supermarkets are safe, the percentage who feel this way has decreased over the last five years, according to The NPD Group here.
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A&P announced a partnership last week with Medtipster, a recently launched online service that allows consumers to find affordable equivalents to their prescription drugs, including $4 generic drugs and therapeutic alternatives.
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Wal-Mart still salivating over NYC, Patterson gets flack for cigg tax, Key Senator on Employee Free Choice

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Wal-Mart continues to a surge into Chicago, still salivating over NYC.

"Chicago and New York, I would say, are the two priorities for the company [Wal-Mart]."- Stock Analyst at William & Blair.

The federal agency charged with enforcing minimum wage, overtime and many other labor laws is failing in that role, leaving millions of workers vulnerable, Congressional auditors have found...We've seen 2 cases in the last month here in New York City.

A Bronx Hospital is fighting Interns and resident Doctors from unionizing, residents say conditions are so bad,they worry for their patients and their own safety.

Governor Patterson's office said Tuesday that the state plans to eliminate nearly 9,000 jobs, mostly through layoffs, after failing to get public employee unions to agree to cost-cutting concessions.

Doormen throughout Manhattan are being laid off in order to cut costs.

Here's more on A&P's new private green label.

A ShopRite & an Aquarium in Connecticut have teamed up to help feed fish and clean up the environment.

Connecticut shoppers react to their new plastic bag tax.

Politics

David Patterson's plan to raise revenue from fees on stores that sell cigarettes came under attack from both parties.

A new report on taxing the rich in NY concludes is a viable solution.

Tom Suozzi says taxpayers should 'revolt' over property taxes.

UFCW urges support of Employee Free Choice Act.

A key Senator, Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) will oppose the Employee Free Choice Act, Specter supported the bill last year.

The New York Times has more on Specter's decision.

& Here's the NY Times on Obama's address last night.

Fairway to open in Connecticut, Springsteen calls Wal-Mart deal a 'mistake', Monday Morning One Liners...

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Fairway gets the OK to build its first Connecticut store.

In an interview with the New York Times Bruce Springsteen calls his exclusive Wal-Mart deal a "mistake"...“given its labor history, it was something that if we’d thought about it a little longer, we’d have done something different.”

The United Food and Commercial Workers union on Friday said it supported the White House Taskforce on Middle Class Working Families, which will be led by Vice President Joe Biden.
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Amazon.com eyes Grocery in the UK.

Whole Foods Market last week offered to settle the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust investigation of its 2007 acquisition of Wild Oats Markets.
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An appeals court in Amsterdam has sentenced three former Ahold executives to suspended sentences and fines over their roles in the retailer's 2003 accounting scandal, reports said.
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Perry Kramer, vice president of sales operations, corporate and distributed solutions at BJ’s Wholesale Club, Natick, Mass., has been elected co-chair of the board of directors of the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), the standards division of the National Retail Federation here.

Politics

Gillibrand to meet with Hispanics on Immigration.

SNL doesn't care if Patterson is offended.

Bloomberg: "No joke, I'll cut 23,000 jobs"

Lawmakers say Citi should remove its name from the new Mets' stadium.