Top 10 Industry Stories This Week:

1. Say Goodbye to Sam Martin, A&P has a new CEO. 

2.  The Salon looks at the battle between UFCW and Target, and why a re-election won't be happening.

3. Mrs. Green's announced plans to open more than 20 stores..

4.  Expanded Paid Sick Days bill is now a law in NYC.

5.  For the first time, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has recognized that federal labor law protects workers in the medical marijuana industry. Read more.

6.  Great read by Michelle Chen: "On-Call Schedule", is this right for Retail Workers?

7.  There has been a different approach to fixing "low-wage workers" in our country.

8.  The richest 10% in our country take a bigger slice of the pie than in 1913, the peak of The Gilded Age.  Check out this New York Times report on unequal wealth.  

9.  Happy Women's History Month: A GOP lawmaker says bills like equal pay and sick leave, make women look like whiners.

10.  UFCW 1500 Negotiation Committees from Manixx and SRS ShopRite will meet on March 27.

11.  We're hosting an Emergency Blood Drive on Tuesday, March 25th from 2-8pm at our union HQ- For more info or to RSVP head here. 

What We're Reading Tuesday Morning: Amish Market gets Busted...Again

“But we believe that workers deserve a paid day off to care for their self or their loved one, without the risk of losing wages or being terminated. Paid sick days should be a basic workplace standard for all New Yorkers.”
 -UFCW Local 1500 Recorder Rhonda Nelson, in Paid-Sick-Leave Fight Escalates in NYC, Expands Across the Nation via In These Times. 

Target's PFresh remodels (yeah the one that closed the Valley Stream store for 7-months) are popping up all over the country, but no others are closing for that extended period of time, weird.  Here's a complete list of all their scheduled re modelings.

A few years ago UFCW Local 1500 was contacted by workers at Amish Market, we eventually helped win nearly $1.5 million in back-pay & unpaid overtime wages for a handful of workers at the chain of stores.  We knew these employers took advantage of their workers, but this week federal authorities charged the nine owners  w/ conspiring to hide $56 million in sales from the IRS.  Stealing wages from low-paid workers, hiding millions from the IRS, way to go guys!  More @ Supermarket News.

16 miles from NYC, Walmart eyes it's first Neighborhood Market in Jersey.

And their express city format store has failed. Walmart plans to close their Chicago Express store, one year to the day that it opened.  Talk about #WMTFail, they said they couldn't survive with a Supercenter nearby.  More @ Chicago Tribune.

Shake Your Head Story: Despite earning a record $4.9 billion profit last year, and projecting a better 2012, manufacturing giant Caterpillar is pushing a six-year pay freeze on workers and a pension freeze for most of the 780 production workers.  But miraculously they did find a way to raise executive compensation including giving CEO $17 million.  Check more @thinkProgress.

Worst Employer in America? Systematically attacking housekeepers? Global Boycott of Hyatt launched, supported by NFL Players Association, AFL-CIO, NOW, Netroots Nation and more. Check out www.hyatthurts.org and find out more.


Must Read: Excellent editorial by the awesome Hamilton Nolan from Gawker: Time to Tie Executive Pay to Worker Pay.