Obama visits Kroger, Wine in Grocery stores gets another push in NY, Thursday One Liners...

President Obama spoke about Health Care with UFCW membes at a Kroger in Virginia yesterday.

Here comes another push for wine in grocery stores here in New York:
Legislation has been introduced in both the New York state senate and assembly to allow wine in grocery stores, after a similar proposal was cut from the state budget last spring amid complaints from liquor store owners, according to published reports.

A Chicago City Council committee today voted to kick the controversial plan for a South Side Wal-Mart store to another committee.

Wal-Mart has filed an injunction against the UFCW Canada, alleging the UFCW should not be permitted to use the word Wal-Mart!?

The suit would force the UFCW to stop using words like "Wal-Mart alone or with other words...in a color scheme of blue, white and gold" which is similar to that adopted by Wal-Mart Canada. The injunction seeks to bar the UFCW from using such words or symbols on its website, business cards, flyers or advertising. The company has included in its injunction "an oval, circular or semi-circular design that adopts the essential characteristics and color scheme of Wal-Mart's Rebranded Indicia

Read the entire article by Al Norman here. The UFCW Canada has denounced the suit,:(press release)

“Walmart’s response to the success of www.walmartworkerscanada.ca is just another outrageous example of how the largest retailer in the history of the world will use its bottomless legal budget to manipulate the collective bargaining process and do just about anything to discourage its ‘associates’ from joining the union.”

A new report released yesterday revealed that retailers are paying large fines for labor violations, now more than ever.

The Food Safety Enchancement Act of 2009 failed to pass in the House.

Eight organizations who united in Pennsylvania to fight obesity were recognized.

A new report surfaced revealing that obesity costs the United States about $147 Billion annually.

Farming: Northeast Tomatoes have been lost, will Potatoes be next?

Are Starbucks and Whole Foods Union Busters? An inside look behind closed doors at anti-union meetings.

The CSEA here in NY has backed Gillibrand.

David Paterson says people should be focusing on government, not his poll numbers.

Coney Island rezone settled, Key Food at Bruckner Blvd will remain open, Tuesday Morning One liners...

Image via WikipediaConey Island land review process begins today.

The Bloomberg Administration will officially unveil its long-awaited plans to rezone Coney Island on Tuesday.

Key Food at Bruckner Blvd. will remain open,

"We believe that the combination of our effort and the change in the economy has led to a situation where there are not immediate efforts to close the store," said Patrick Purcell, spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500, which represents 100 employees at the store. "We're thrilled with what's happening."

More and more retailers are seeking relief in NYC.

Citizens and the UFCW rallied against Wal-Mart last week in New Jersey.

Regional manager of Wal-Mart said "retailers must adapt"

No Trader John's? No Problem, John Catsimatidis is calling his new outlet Grocer John's and he'd like you to know it represents "the new wave of marketing in New York."

He's also hinting at a serious Mayoral run.

Controversy is emerging as the community is rallying around a fired Whole Foods worker who stopped a shoplifter this past weekend in Michigan.

"The fact that I worked at the store at (the time of the robbery) is coincidental. If I had went over to the book store on my break and they were being ripped off, I would have helped them." - fired worker John Schultz

The Norwalk citizen writes on Stop & Shop's new technology.

Ahold reports Q4 sales up.

Whole Foods Market here on Friday said it has resubmitted its case against the Federal Trade Commission in a Washington, D.C., appeals court, saying the move would expedite a resolution in the ongoing dispute over its acquisition of Wild Oats Markets.
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Wal-Mart Canada here has announced the opening of its first environmental demonstration store in Burlington, Ontario, which features an application of geothermal technology and energy-conserving lighting innovations, among many other sustainability features.
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Politics
Hillary Clinton to supporters: "You'll always be on my side."

Barrack Obama wants Caroline Kennedy for the vacant Senate seat.

Steve Israel says he won't run in the primary if he is not appointed to the seat.

Congressman Anthony Weiner accused Mayor Bloomberg on Sunday of breaking campaign finance rules by failing to disclose campaign expenses.

13 CANDIDATES FOR two vacant City Council seats in Queens are revving up their campaigns, pushing for donations and starting to spend cash as the Feb. 24 special election draws near.

Aldi comes to NYC, Millennium Market opens another store, Happy Birthday A&P

Image via WikipediaAldi to open New York City store in 2009.

They're also in the midst of a discrimination suit for firing a cashier for refusing to work Sundays due to religious belief.

Khim’s Millennium Market, a natural and organic food store based here, has opened its fifth and largest location in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.

A&P launched a mail order pharmacy program.

Borders Group Inc. named Ron Marshall, former Pathmark CEO, as its new chief executive Monday as part of a management shakeup aimed at turning around the struggling bookseller's balance sheet.

This year the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc. is marking its 150th year in business, making it the oldest food-retailing company in the United States.

The Stop & Shop stores in Brooklyn raised $12,744 as part of The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company’s record-breaking year with Food for Friends. Stop & Shop’s 19th annual Food for Friends campaign surpassed its $1 million goal for 300 local hunger relief organizations throughout the Northeast.

The first Wal-Mart neighborhood market opened in Virginia...They also opened one in Florida today.

Wal-Mart also continues to violate Connecticut state tax laws, even after promising to comply.

The Animal Defence League of Canada is celebrating a "major victory" after Wal-Mart Canada agreed to pull a type of Chinese-made slippers that contained real rabbit fur from its shelves.

New York Gov. David Paterson's proposal to levy an 18 percent "obesity tax" on carbonated beverages in 2009 has spurred the beverage industry to register its objections.

Sandwhich chains are flourishing in the bad economy.

Racked.com looks inside "Trader John's"

"Wal-Mart Responsible for Death"- Police, Re-Zoning the hotel Pennsylvania, Wal-Mart sales up still...

Image via Wikipedia
The police in Nassau County, New York released a report this week that clearly lays the blame for a Black Friday trampling death on Wal-Mart.

Grocer Stew Leonard's Inc. is suing Dairy Farmers of America Inc., accusing the dairy marketing association of buying large amounts of cheese to distort the market in an attempt to manipulate and raise the price of raw milk and processed dairy products.

Bob Gillick, store director at the ShopRite on Tuckahoe Road, doesn't see hiring mentally disabled residents as an option - he sees it as a necessity.

Vornado wants to re-zone the Hotel Pennsylvania.

The Coney Island Coalition has created some harsh flyers about developer Joe Sitt.

Here's more on Wal-Mart's continued efforts to stop the organizing of stores in Canada.

Stop & Shop, Giant Food Launch "Major Consumer Wellness Initiative"

Food-retailing stocks in general fared better than the market overall in 2008, although more than half of the North American supermarket and wholesaler issues tracked by SN had double-digit percentage declines during the year.
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Whole Foods Market has pulled out of a plan to build a new store as part of a mixed-use project in downtown Miami, reports said last week.
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Politics

An incoming State Senator from the Bronx is facing near-record fines for violating city campaign finance laws.

Bill Clinton is rumored to take Hillary's seat.

Special election to fill Mike McMahon's vacant seat is on Feb. 24,

Here's more on all the special elections.

Protest at Valley Stream Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart attempts to get out of unionization, Monday morning news...

Image via Wikipedia
Newsday: "Rally to protest Wal-Mart Black Friday Death"

Here's Newsday's report on Sunday's demonstration, here's the video.

Wal-Mart attempts to get out of unionization again: Wal-Mart Canada says it will try to appeal a Quebec Labour Board ruling that granted union certification at a store in Gatineau.

Just months after Wal-Mart shut a unionized tire shop in Gatineau, Que., near Ottawa, about 150 employees at another Wal-Mart have won bargaining rights.

Global Domination: Wal-Mart plans to tender a $2.7 billion offer for all of the shares of D&S, Chile's largest supermarket chain.

For eight years, three people allegedly recruited and later forced Vietnamese nationals to work in two York-area nail parlors in a practice decried by the U.S. Attorney's Office as "modern-day slavery."

New Seasons Market in Oregon, reportedly plans to appeal a judge's decision last week that would force it to comply with a subpoena related to the Whole Foods antitrust case.

Politics

A longtime aide to Senator Edward Kennedy has reached out to labor officials in Washington in an effort to help Caroline Kennedy in her bid to be appointed United States senator from New York.

Questions about Caroline Kennedy are reminding experts of Hillary Clinton.

Another 12 million dollar lawsuit against Wal-Mart, Labor Secretary appointment, Friday Morning...

Image via Wikipedia
Crain's is hosting a conference featuring Michael Bloomberg on the future of New York.

The NY Times takes a look at the Labor Secretary appointment.

Here's Stuart Applebaum on the Labor Secretary appointment.

Wal-Mart refused to allow a Salvation Army Volunteer to ring his holiday bell inside the store in the midst of a blizzard.

Wal-Mart may try to open a second Chicago store...

An Arab- and Muslim-American man filed a $12 million lawsuit Thursday against a Wal-Mart store that caters to his community -- saying employees discriminated against him and fired him because of his background.

About 150 workers at a Wal-Mart store here became the ninth group of Canadian Wal-Mart employees to be granted union certification, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said Thursday.
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Must Read: "Newspapers need to cover labor as fairly as they cover themselves" An Excellent Editorial..

Rite Aid continues to fall, forecast cut...


Politics

The Daily News looks at Caroline Kennedy's voting record.

New York Gov. David Paterson says Andrew Cuomo wants to be considered for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Patterson on the budget cuts: "I certainly accept the criticism because I can't tell anyone they're wrong," Paterson told reporters in Manhattan. "The education cuts are draconian. The health care cuts are prohibitive. The taxes being levied on New York's citizens are not fair. But when you add it all up, we think we delivered the pain pretty evenly." Two days after unveiling his plan to cut $15.4 billion in deficits over the next 16 months, the governor found himself

The AP takes a glance at the donors for the Clinton foundation.

Embattled defense contractor Blackwater Worldwide contributed a pile of cash to Bill Clinton's foundation, newly released records show - the first potential conflict for his wife, Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton, who may ultimately decide if the contractor stays in Iraq.

Here are the winners of Schumers Inauguration lottery.

Wage violations in NYC Supermarkets, Wal-Mart finally unionizes in Canada (again), Buying Sustainable fish at your grocery store...

mage via Wikipedia
370 underpaid New York City grocery workers will be paid $750K. The owner of the three stores in violation Long Deng, owns stores throughout the metropolitan area. The three supermarkets that were cited for wage violations are:

1. New York Supermarket East Broadway at 73 East Broadway in Manhattan
2. New York Supermarket of Flushing at 43-53 Main Street in Flushing, Queens
   
3. New York Supermarket at 86-22 Broadway in Elmhurst, Queens

Read more at New York Times City Room.

After more than four years of legal wrangling, the Wal-Mart store in Weyburn, Sask., has been officially unionized.

Online grocer FreshDirect has introduced a Daily Produce Rating System, which it said gives shoppers "a foolproof way to ensure that the ripest fruits and crunchiest veggies are consistently delivered to their doorsteps."

The Boston Globe reports supermarket's top retailers with "sustainable fish" (Stop & Shop ranked 2, A&P 11)

Wegman's announced it will switch to 'high efficiency lighting'

Listen to Pat Purcell, Director of Special Projects on WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report.

Patterson told LIPA to go back to the drawing board on their proposed increases.

Bill Thompson reassured voters he is running for Mayor.

Wal-Mart Shuts down another Unionized Store...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, said it closed a unionized Quebec tire and lubrication shop because of costs tied to the first labor agreement imposed at any of its North American locations. 

More from Wal-Mart Watch.

Citing "an unworkable union contract" that increased costs by more than 30%, Wal-Mart Canada on Thursday closed the Tire Lube Express automotive center at its discount store in Gatineau, Quebec.
Read more of this story [Super Market News]

Reuters

Nike is also suing Wal-Mart for patent infringement.

Politics

Obama & McCain took part in Charity Roast last night here in NY.  Here's the video.

NYSUT moves to back GOP slate

Concerned about possible job losses through state budget cuts, the powerful New York State United Teachers is taking a vote today about endorsing all 30 state Senate Republicans 

Bill Thompson, the city Comptroller said he's running for mayor - no matter what