Tuesday News @ Noon

The National Labor Relations Board is currently holding hearings on the proposed rule changes for union certifications at workplaces....Here is UFCW Executive Vice President, Pat O'Neill's testimony. [UFCW Blog]

Here is the full statement from the UFCW International regarding the proposed NLRB changes.

The LA Times says the rule changes are sensible and should be adopted.

Politico says this will change the scape of union organizing for the future.


Great Read: Commentary: Put an end to the stalling tactics for unionizing votes.

Supermarket News covered the UFCW's release on A&P's second proposal.

Fresh & Greens makes its U.S. debut.

Initially Philadelphia was getting a Pathmark.  After A&P's bankruptcy a proposed supermarket was in limbo, now A&P announced they'll complete the project, but open the store as a Superfresh instead.

Stop & Shop contributed over $128,000 to Tornado victims.

UFCW Local 1776 and Rite Aid have reached a tentative agreement on new labor contracts covering about 2,600 workers in the company’s stores in Greater Philadelphia, the Reading area and Northeast Pennsylvania.

Monday Afternoon One Liners: Happy Valentines Day, JPMorgan Downgrades Walmart,

This weekend, hundreds lined up to meet Martha Stewart at Fairway in Stamford, Connecticut.

Times Square Gossip says A&P is ripping off New Yorkers.

#WalmartNYC

Brooklyn Eagle: Mom & Pop stores Protest Walmart.

Fight against Walmart has stepped up.

Walmart Won't Fix New York, New Yorkers Will...[Huffington Post]

Brooklyn Paper: ShopRite wants to beat Walmart to Gateway II.

NY Mag: Brooklyn, Who would you rather have ShopRite or Walmart?

Walmart continues push toward urban domination.

NYTimes: With Walmart silent on plans, critics turn to rumored site.

Walmart Stores shares drop hard after JPMorgan downgrade.

Business Insider: Walmart's Reign is Over.

Elsewhere:

In our weekly, "Thanks, Walmart" spot, an interesting story, Walmart sells a fake ipad, then refuses to refund his money.  Now the customer is suing Walmart.  Check the story at The Consumerist.

Walmart's Massmart bid has cleared the first hurdle (South Africa). More @ New York Times.

A&P's Senior VP and CFO has resigned.

Michael J. Wilson, the National Director of Americans for Democratic Action has an excellent editorial in the Huffington Post titled "Changing the Rules for Workers"

It's no surprise that Republicans and their corporate allies are up to their old games. Or, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, "There they go again!" Having successfully blocked congressional efforts to strengthen the right of workers to organize a union, they now want to stop workers from learning their rights under weak existing labor law.

Last week, workers at JBS ratified their first union contract with UFCW Local 1776.

Some people are happy that Aldi is not selling Tobacco.

The NY Post doesn't have much to write about notices that Aldi hasn't gotten the New York "Walmart" treatment.

BJ's Wholesale Club is under 'investor investigation' over takeover bid rumors.

Big Y is in talks with a Connecticut town over taking a former ShopRite site.

A new fuel cell in a Stop & Shop store located in Connecticut has made the store 90% more 'greener'.  [S&S Press Release]

AFL-CIO Blog: Show some Union love on Valentines Day.

Friday Morning One-Liners:

Study confirms: Bigger the Walmart, Fatter the Shoppers. Walmart makes you fat.

But wait, they're offering healthy foods now, right? BNET looks at why Walmart's "Healthy Food" campaign is doomed: 

That’s because  Walmart’s two-pronged pledge — 1) to reduce sodium, trans fat and sugar in its Great Value brand of packaged foods and 2) to somehow reduce the prices of fruits and vegetables — is a superficial solution to a deep-rooted problem. Read the entire article here: http://www.bnet.com/blog/food-industry/why-the-walmart-michelle-obama-plan-for-healthy-eating-is-doomed/2307

Eurasia Review is not happy about what's happening to New York City, Walmart coming may be the final straw.

Walmart is also asking the Supreme Court to protect them from Wage Discrimination cases, what!? Check out the informative story at the Huffington Post.

Poverty in America looks at Bill de Blasio's report "Walmart in NYC would lower retail wages"

UFCW Local 1776 rejected Acme's contract offer. More: 'Acme Workers Don't Want Buyouts'

Ahold reported 'Strong Q4' numbers. [Progressive Grocer]

Ahold USA, fourth-quarter net sales were $5.6 billion, a 6.0 percent rise when compared with adjusted fourth-quarter 2009 sales. 

Washington Post looks at why Supermarket Stocks are slumping.

Local 789 Pickets Trader Joe's, Fresh Direct launches seafood evaluation, Downtown restaurant underpays employees, UFCW contract negotiation updates

Image via Wikipedia

1,500 rally in Arkansas for Employee Free Choice.

Fresh Direct is launching a seafood evaluation system.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says a popular Thai restaurant in Manhattan's financial district underpaid employees by hundreds of thousands of dollars, with some working up 72 hours a week for less than minimum wage.

Acme Markets and its 4,000-member union were back at the negotiating table Monday, three days after Acme backed down from terminating its current contract and implementing portions of its last offer.

A new round of negotiations begins today between Safeway and the UFCW Local 7, while talks with King Soopers and Albertsons remain at a standstill.

The National Retail Federation, the industry's largest trade group, is urging its members to publicly challenge Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s support for proposals to require companies to help pay for health insurance.

Supervalu gave “false and misleading” financial guidance that helped retailer raise $1 billion through the debt market before a downward revision sent its stock reeling, according to allegations in a lawsuit filed here Monday.

UFCW Local 789 is picketing outside a Trader Joe's in St.Paul Minnesota.

A federal judge has given final approval to a $17.5 million settlement of a discrimination lawsuit that accused Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of not hiring black truck drivers.

Development
King Kullen: Hampton Bays Moratorium extended another six-months.

The Hyde Park Stop & Shop hearing continues Wednesday.

Politics

In a meeting with President Obama today at the White House, top labor leaders pushed for a second stimulus package to create more jobs.

Keep Stella D'Oro in the Bronx, Support Local 1776, Friday Morning One LIners...

"They wanted to take us back to the dark ages. We told them we weren't going there."

-Mike Filippou, on why workers at the Stella D'Oro cookie factory in the Bronx braved picket lines for 11 months, in yesterday's Daily News.

“Even if I go back for an hour, I’ll get satisfaction,” said Mike Filippou, 43, a union representative and a maintenance mechanic at the plant for 15 years. “They’re saying they’re going to close to get us to agree to whatever they offer, but we didn’t stay out 11 months for nothing. We’re going to fight it.” In Yesterday's New York Times

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka yesterday announced his candidacy for president of the AFL-CIO to succeed the retiring John Sweeney. Trumka has served as AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer since 1995.

A supermarket owner who took $50,000 in public funds to renovate his store has been arrested and charged with fraud in relation to the award.

Acme and UFCW Local 1776 are nearing a contract deadline. Neither side seems willing to budge....Meanwhile Local 1776 officials yesterday accused Acme Markets of refusing to compromise as a midnight contract deadline approached, but they urged 4,500 area supermarket employees to report to work today and stay on the job until a membership meeting Wednesday.

Yesterday Whole Foods announced they will abandon plans to open a store in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

13 Dunkin Donuts in NYC turn into Tim Horton's. What??

BJ's Wholesale Club's sales continue to dip.

Citing unfair labor practices, Teamster employees at Hilton Suites on Chicago's Magnificent Mile have chosen to strike against the hotel, effective this past Friday.

Wal-Mart
A federal judge has given final approval to a $17.5 million settlement of a discrimination lawsuit that accused Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of not hiring black truck drivers.

The UFCW is appealing the decision in Canada which overturned the unionization of a Wal-Mart.


Politics

Labor leaders to meet with President Obama Monday.

If you missed the Working Families NYC Mayoral Forum, it's available online....Bill Thompson ended up getting the WFP endorsement.

Pope Benedict XVI advocates for more unions.

Pedro Espada is back, and now majority leader. Saying his actions led to a transformational change that will empower all senators, dissident Democrat Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. rejoined the conference he walked away from a month ago, and returned control of the state Senate to Democrats.

Maloney tells the Queens Tribune, "I'm Ready for Senate"

Local 1500 to Bloomberg: Fix up your supermarket plan, King Soopers members reject contract proposal, Thursday One-Liners...

Image via Wikipedia

End of a retailing era, Virgin Megastore shuts its doors in NYC.

Local 1500 tells Mayor Bloomberg to beef up his supermarket plan.

A Food Basics store will open at the site of a former A&P in Fairview, N.J., next week.

A&P is also debuting a new private label for kids.

Why Wal-Mart needs the Employee Free Choice Act.

UFCW Local 1776 members at Acme supermarkets will vote on a contract next week.

Overhill Farms, a major food-processing plant in the L.A. area, terminated more than 200 employees after an IRS audit finds that they had provided 'invalid or fraudulent' Social Security numbers, UFCW 770 calls it a 'desktop raid'.

Here's more on the firings of 254 employees.

UFCW 7 members at King Soopers have rejected the contract offer...On the contract offer:

Roxanne Heeney, a pharmacy technician at the King Soopers store at 6030 Stetson Hills Blvd. and an employee for more than 20 years, said the offer "really bums me out, that they are trying to decrease our benefits and not give us any wage increase. I can't make ends meet now. I want to avoid a strike, but if we have to strike, we will. I would like to see something that would help us maintain our retirement fund so we won't have to work until we're 95."

King Soopers in Colorado, has also filed a suit accusing union representatives of disrupting business and intimidating workers by sending groups of union representatives into stores to talk to workers.

They're set to meet today in court, as King Soopers tries to block the UFCW representatives from speaking to their members on the sales floor.

The Progressive Grocer has an indepth story on King Soopers allegations of "Union Hooliganism"

They're also reporting 'Fresh & Easy' to open four stores in July.

The UFT replaces Randy Weingarten.

A horrific accident took the lives of three workers and injured 41 others in an explosion and roof collapse at the ConAgra Foods Inc. facility in Garner, North Carolina, on June 9, 2009. The (UFCW) Local 204 represents 900 workers in that facility.

Politics

Howard Dean has endorsed both Brad Lander and Josh Skaller, only problem, they're running against each other.

Another poll confirms Patterson's unpopularity.

Senator Monnserratte is now turning to back the Dems.

NYSUT endorses Gillibrand.

The Food Safety Bill continues to advance in the house.

As the Senate reels, Espada says he gets 2 votes

Sen. Pedro Espada, the dissident Bronx Democrat in charge of the deadlocked Senate, is insisting that he can count himself twice to get a quorum to start passing bills. At the same time, he is contending that an investigation into his finances by prosecutors is payback for cozying with Republicans to take over the Senate. Meanwhile, allegations were flying that former Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith of Queens directed state money to a school attended by, in Espada's words, Smith's "out-of-wedlock child."

Balducci's to close NY stores, Bloomberg is an Independent, Monday Morning One Liners...

Image via Wikipedia

Balducci's will four stores in June, including both New York City locations.

The NY Post has some customer reactions and more on the closing.

The Minnesota Grocery Association is offering free re-usable bags to all customers as part of a campaign to make 'Green your Routine'

The RWDSU held a protest in New Jersey in front of an Auto Parts store where 50 union members protested a 2 year wage freeze and loss of pension funding.

Politics

Atlantic City - The manager of the local Wal-Mart and its exterminator were charged with animal cruelty after they allegedly used inhumane methods to take care of birds that had gotten into the store, the president of the Atlantic County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Thursday

Wendall Young IV, President of UFCW Local 1776 publicly debated the Employee Free Choice Act with Gene Barr, vice president of Pennslyvania's largest business association.

An executive who led what was once one of the country's biggest electrical wiring companies pleaded innocent Friday to charges that he bribed a union official. Former Petrocelli Electric chairman and principal owner Santo Petrocelli Sr. is accused of making secret payments for a decade to a representative of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

NY State AG, Andrew Cuomo is looking into charges that liquor stores have been threatening wine-makers who supported selling wine in grocery stores, a debate which ended last week.

Meanwhile, the battle of wine in grocery stores is far from over.

Dozens of migrant workers in Bradford, Markham, Leamington, and East Toronto have been arrested, detained and are likely slated for deportation at the Rexdale Immigration Holding Centre after a series of US style immigration raids carried out by CBSA (Canada Border Services Agency) throughout this week.

Daily News: Patterson must improve poll numbers or forget about 2010.

NY State passes $131 million dollar budget.

Newsday looks at how bad the budget is for Long Island.

The Independence Party has endorsed Bloomberg.

Adolfo Carrion is admist another scandal, spending campaign cash for a farewell party.

Former representative John Sweeney now faces a felony D.W.I. charge.