Monday's One Liners: Walmart Woos Al Sharpton...

Alec Baldwin stars in a new Wegman's commercial. More on his love for Wegman's @ Buffalo News.

UFCW Campaign Goes Global: The United Nation's International Labour Organization (ILO) found that Canada and Ontario, through Ontario's ban on farm unions, are in violation of basic human rights' provisions under two United Nations' conventions.

The Albany Times Union covers UFCW's organizing drive at a Capital Region Price Chopper, formerly Penn Traffic.

A new Shop-Rite is rumored to be opening in the Capital Region (Albany).

This weekend, ALDI, who is looking to grow their North East presence, opened their first store in Pittsburgh.

UFCW Local 21(Seattle) has reached a tentative agreement with Allied Employers, just in time for Thanksgiving week.  More @ SN.

Walmart's new Ads highlight their
"generous" donations to nonprofits in NYC

Walmart is putting tremendous effort into opening stores in NYC, last month, they hired a former Bloomberg aide, and now Crain's NY reports: Walmart solicits black leaders for help in NYC. Unsurprisingly, they're also advertising on the same page the article is posted on with this ad [right] citing their donations to nonprofits in NYC.

Looking to strengthen its hand in any battle against unions and elected officials over its planned entry into the New York City market, Walmart has launched an effort to win over local black leaders.

The Walmart Guru, or Czar, Al Norman, wrote an excellent response citing all of Walmart's PR moves to get "inner-city support" throughout the country: Walmart's Wooing of Al Sharpton.

They have done this in Chicago, where the retailer enlisted black Aldermen to embrace their cause, and in New Orleans, where developers actually paid black religious leaders to testify at public hearings about the virtues of chain stores. Now they are mining the black community in New York City.

Wal-Mart apparently feels that opinion leaders in the minority community can be purchased at an everyday low price, and that black stakeholders can become Wal-Mart sign-holders. But community leaders of any color who believe that Wal-Mart creates new jobs, don’t understand what the economic libertarians call creative destructionism–the process of destroying existing jobs in order to create ‘new’ ones. The former employees at Circuit City, for example, understand this dynamic.

No amount of good works or philanthropy can clean the hands of the “filthy rich,” or cover over the global exploitation of human resources that lies at the heart of Wal-Mart’s success

Is Mayor Bloomberg supporting a Walmart?


Walmart is losing shoppers, not trips.

Newsweek covers the eating by class in America: What Food Says About Class in America.

The 86-Page report by the NYC Council which analyzes all aspects of New York's Food Industry, entitled "Food Works" was released today.

SN covers the lead and reusable bags problems.  At least two retailers pulled bags for the time being, one of them was King Kullen.

Friday Morning One-Liners: Stop & Shop coming to Oceanside? Shaw's workers will march...

 “They stalk the workers and attack them. The nephew of an employer knifed one of the employees we assist,” Axt said. She said New York falls behind other states like New Mexico and Arizona, which have better wage enforcement and more strict penalties.
 Deborah Axt, deputy director of Make the Road New York, at on the Wage Theft Prevention Act, in the Queens Chronicle.

The Hartford Courant, covers ShopRite's plans to take over Connecticut.
ShopRite said Tuesday it will open new stores in Canton, Enfield, Stratford and Hamden at former Shaw's locations next week.  The Hamden store will open on May 28; the other three will open May 26.

SEIU, UFCW, lead suit against discriminatory law in Arizona.

Boston.com: Shaw's Strikers Borrow from History, Planning a Five-Day March:
When striking Shaw’s warehouse workers embark on a five-day march this weekend to draw renewed attention to their nearly three-month fight against the supermarket company, they will also be evoking the civil rights and farm workers’ marches of the 1960s.

“You can’t win a strike these days, generally speaking, just walking around on a picket line,’’ said Russ Davis, executive director of Jobs With Justice, which helped plan the march.

Miley Cyrus goes toxic at Walmart:
Via WakeUpWalmart: UPDATE May 20, 9 AM: At approximately 7:45 last evening the AP reported that Walmart was pulling the Miley Cyrus branded jewelry. USA Today says it really well in their headline Walmart pulls cadmium-tainted kids' jewelry it knowingly sold for months.  Check their entire blog post, they've covered the story from front to back.

Also a great headline by the AP: Wal-Mart still selling Miley Cyrus cadmium jewelery.
Testing of 61 samples purchased by AP reporters across the country from a Cyrus line and from a series of make-it-yourself metal bracelet charms indicated that 59 of the pieces contained at least 5 percent cadmium by weight, with 53 of those measuring 10 percent or higher.

Or from the Examiner: Is Walmart Trying to Kill Miley Cyrus Fans?

Walmart's Q1 Numbers: Sales, Earnings Up; Comps Down. [SN]

Target is seeing gains in Traffic and Profits.

And one more on Q1, BJ's Wholesale Club Profits Rise [WSJ]

Supermarket Alert: Stop and Shop is coming to Oceanside [LI Herald]
Plans to develop a 24-hour Super Stop & Shop on the former Camp DeBaun site in Oceanside are in the works, after Town of Hempstead officials approved a design for a project that some residents said would raise traffic and quality-of-life issues in their quiet neighborhood...."This particular Stop & Shop has been designed to blend in with the neighborhood ...," said Steven Krieger, a principal at Engel Burman. "It includes peaked roofs instead of the typical stucco, and looks more like a home. This is really a state-of-the-art store."

ABC filmed their show "What Would You Do?" at Key Food on Montague Street, Brooklyn.  The show aired Wednesday night... [Brooklyn Heights Blog]

Local 1500, along with other labor unions in the Greater NYC area, joined politicians, community activists and workers to support the new proposed Wage Theft Prevention Act. [Queens Chronicle]

Duane Reade, who opened a hit retail food store in Chelsea a few months back, revealed their "Fresh Food Strategy" to the Progressive Grocer, good read.  Q: We read about your Chelsea store debut in March with greatly expanded fresh food — what was the thinking behind it, and why do you think the concept will be a hit in a drug store?

Duane Reade (DR): Our goal for our fresh food program is to make it easy for New Yorkers to access tasty, quality fresh food such as bagged salads and select produce in a convenient and enjoyable way.

Price Chopper is offering a loyalty program in upstate NY.

Detroit's Push for more Green Grocers:
To help independent grocers expand on their fresh food offerings, Detroit Mayor David Bing unveiled a $1 million Green Grocer Project earlier this week.

Fresh Direct is expanding to Connecticut.


Good signs: NYC Unemployment drops four months straight [Crain's]


Thanks a bunch and enjoy your weekend, be sure to check out www.1union1voice.com for the 2010 contract updates! 

Friday Morning One Liners: New England Updates, Bay Ridge Key Food opening date

Boston Globe reports: Union leaders involved in contract talks with Quincy-based Stop & Shop have issued 24-hour notices to end the collective bargaining agreement, which could trigger a strike if an agreement isn't reached by noon Friday.

Boston Herald: Nearly 40,000 Stop & Shop meat-cutters, cashiers and other workers could go on strike as soon as noon today in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Providence Journal: Contract talks between Stop & Shop and its workers are snagged, and union representatives said Thursday they will terminate their contract Friday at noon.

Tell Stop & Shop that if workers' are forced to strike, they'll lose my business. [Facebook]

Price Chopper has agreed to acquire six P&C supermarkets from Tops Friendly Markets, Tops said Thursday.

The Shaw's grocery store chain, which is selling all of its Connecticut locations, says it will cut 967 jobs at those stores.

Stop & Shop post Q4 Gains: Ahold announced fourth-quarter operating income at the company’s Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover division rose 15%, to $238 million, and full-year operating income at the division rose 24%, to $869 million. As previously reported, sales for the year were up 4.6% at the division, to $17.9 billion, including an extra week of sales in the most recent fiscal year. Adjusted sales rose 2.6%.

Protesters in Chicago rally against Walmart's sick-day practice.  “Wal-Mart would rather have their employees come in even though they are very sick,” said Moises Zavala, “just for the sake of stretching their profits

A new Bay Ridge Key Food is set to open up on Thursday, March 11, 2010. 

Friday Lunch Time One Liners...New CEO for A&P

Image via Wikipedia

A&P Announces new CEO: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc. (A&P) has appointed Ron Marshall its president and CEO, effective Feb. 8.

Bloomberg News has more, Ron Marshall sat as the CEO of Borders before taking the A&P job.  Yucapia Investments, who holds a 27% ownership stake in A&P, and Aletheia Research & Management, out of Santa Monica, Calif.,  recently purchased 147 million shares of A&P in a series of purchases between Oct. 15 and Dec. 15, representing an investment of more than $136.5 million.  Aletheia, also last month, revealed it had bought a 10.8% stake in bookseller Barnes & Noble, another company in which Yucaipa has invested this year.

The InstoreMarketer.org gives a Field Report on A&P:
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. plans to scale back on a strategy which presented an array of short-term promotions that left shoppers "confused," its chairman recently told investors. The company had hoped to boost sales through a variety of programs that included both weekly and four-day sales, campaigns for its general loyalty program and distinct pet- and baby-related efforts, and a number of other promotions.

MY UFCW Blog: Whole Foods has a Bright Idea: Fat Tax for Employees.

ABC News wonders if this plan is fair.

Meanwhile John Mackey's pay was valued at $654K in 2009.

Supermarket News: Price Chopper here filed a lawsuit against Penn Traffic Co. this week alleging breach of contract after a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Penn Traffic to Tops Friendly Markets, Williamsville, N.Y., according to reports.

More: Price Chopper Sues Penn Traffic for Breach of Contract.

Philadelphia-based ShopRite owner Jeff Brown was recognized during President Obama’s first-ever State of the Union address for the strides he has made in bringing supermarkets to impoverished urban areas.

Target & Safeway announce new Sustainable Seafood Initiatives.

Gristedes has told Supermarket News they're switching wholesalers, from White Rose to Wakefern.

Union Spotlights Green Cleaning:
Green cleaning standards, including safer cleaning products, have become a key focus of ongoing negotiations over labor contracts for 650 supermarket janitors working at Save Mart and Safeway stores in Northern California.

The Penn Traffic sale to Tops was approved, the UFCW released a statement on what the sale means for the thousands of Penn Traffic workers: "Thousands of UFCW members are hopeful that today's sale will give them the opportunity to maintain their jobs, their health benefits and pensions. Rebuilding this company is essential to the economic security of our communities and will require a strong partnership between Tops Market and workers."

More:

Buffalo News

Wellsboro Gazette: Said Tops Public Relations Manager Kate McKenna, “Although I cannot tell you which stores will be kept open, I can say that it is Tops’ intention to retain as many of the stores and jobs as possible. Right now, we are evaluating all 79 stores. Our decision as to which to keep open and which to close will also be reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission before any announcement can be made.”

Crain's NY: Labor-law violations seen costly for New York City workers.
Employer violations of minimum wage, overtime and other labor laws across an array of industries costs more than 317,000 low-wage workers in the city $18.4 million per week, according to a new study released Thursday.

FRESH



Recently two Bronx retailers, Foodtown & Western Beef submitted questionnaires that in order to receive NYC incentives from the recently passed Food Retail Expansion to Support Health bill (or F.R.E.S.H.), the city has posted them on the NYC FRESH website,
Western Beef's Questionnaire [pdf]
Foodtown Questionnaire [pdf]


Seeking Alpha looks at the top 6 trends for Supermarkets in 2010.

Wal-Mart Stores said Thursday it is realigning its Walmart US organization to leverage its scale and move closer to the customer, effective Monday.

2,500 Foxwoods dealers now have a tentative contract with the UAW.

Tuesday News...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Walmart and Chicago
Walmart-Chicago Deal Falls Apart: Chicago Tribune

Walmart Building Battle Drags On: Chicago Sun-Times

Walmart Stores in California has stopped giving out free bags at three stores in Northern California as a test. 

Walmart announced they will close 10 Sam's Club's in US.

AFL CIO Blog: Unions Battle Verizon-Frontier Deal and $600 Million Tax Break
There is an oddly named tax loophole—the Reverse Morris Trust—that is so big and lucrative Verizon is getting ready to pull $600 million through it if its sale of rural phone landlines in 14 states to Frontier Communications is approved.
Not only does Verizon stand to pocket the $600 million tax break, but a similar deal in New England shows consumers’ phone and Internet services are likely to deteriorate and workers’ jobs may be put in jeopardy.

Penn Traffic Sale Expected by Jan.25
Penn Traffic Co., parent company of Quality Markets in the Town of Lockport, is expected to be sold by Jan. 25 according to court documents from the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.

The top bidder remains Tops Markets, which on Friday put in an $85 million offer to purchase all of Penn Traffic’s assets including all 79 stores. The bid surpassed that of Price Chopper, which submitted a $54 million bid for 22 of Penn Traffic’s P&C Foods stores. Tops’ offer has been accepted by Penn Traffic but still needs court approval, which will be determined at a later hearing date. If Tops’ bid is not approved, then another bidder could step in, because according to court documents, bidders have until Jan. 19 to file offers.

Price Chopper on acquiring Penn Traffic stores: "It's pretty much over"


Harold Ford Jr. pleas his Senate case to New Yorkers in the NY Post.

Tuesday Morning One Liners...

Image via Wikipedia

Certain bargaining units in Colorado that voted to approve a new union contract with Safeway have signed contracts, a report said Monday.

The Gowanus Canal, once a prospective site for Whole Foods, is now being cleaned up, but may just remain as is, a hole. Brooklyn Paper has more.

The Hannaford Hacker has plead guilty.

A&P is distributing 2010 health-themed calendars packaged with $45 in coupon savings, “Live Better!” calendars — available at the pharmacy departments of the retailer’s A&P, Waldbaum’s, Pathmark and Super Fresh banners

UFCW Local 1 has filed an objection on Price Choppers' bid on the Penn Traffic company.  There is "no assurance that Price Chopper will continue to employ a single of Penn Traffic's employees," says the document filed by the union.

• If a nonunionized company purchases Penn Traffic, it would be required to recognize a store's bargaining unit if it rehires more than 50 percent of a store's former employees.
• Buffalo-based Tops Markets reportedly will join the contest to acquire Penn Traffic's 79 stores, with a bid of more than $90 million.

 
The Jewish Theater of New York announced Monday that anyone on food stamps or Medicaid can attend its upcoming production for just $5. Full-price tickets are $50.

If you haven't read the New Yorker's piece on John Mackey yet.

Monday Morning One Liners...

Image via Wikipedia

546,000 pounds of ground beef are being recalled because of possible contamination from the E. coli bacteria.  The retailers include: Trader Joe's, Price Chopper, Lancaster, Wild Harvest, Shaw's, BJ's, Ford Brothers, and Giant.

Three former executives of Ralphs Grocery Co. here are suing the company for firing them in the wake of the 2003-2004 strike-lockout.

Study: Recession doesn't hurt meat, poultry sales.

The Financial Times says Wal-Mart's continued urban expansion is laying ground work for yet another stab to try and open a store in New York City.

The Working Families has a new tool: MYWFP Candidate Finder, which allows you to type in your address to see what candidates the WFP has endorsed.

A Columnist quits after Newsday starts charging for website.

New poll has Bloomberg up 15 points on Thompson.

Old Yankee Stadium demolition underway [Curbed]

Scan It! updates, Price Chopper sues a competitor and builds a Green store, Friday Morning One Liners...

What's up with the King Kullen in South Hampton development?

Here's another piece and video on 'ScanIt' the new supermarket technology that allows customers to scan their products.

Price Chopper is suing Giant Food Markets for $20 million for allegedly stealing trade secrets... According to a complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court here, a surveillance tape caught a former salesman for the beverage distribution company AL George LLC entering an "employees only" bottle supply closet at a Price Chopper in Binghamton, N.Y., and stealing ad fliers that were planned for distribution the following week. He then passed them on to his immediate superior in the store's parking lot, who in turn gave the fliers to August O. Kutchinski, director of operations for Giant Markets of Binghamton, the lawsuit alleges.

Price Chopper is also debuting a prototype "Green Supermarket"

Supermarket News picked up the bagger story here.

Wegmans Food Markets is encouraging shoppers to support "One Stop Shop N.J.," a proposal to let more supermarkets sell beer and wine.

Aldi is opening a new Georgia warehouse.

Sales were down at Costco, Target, and BJ's in May.

Read more about the Food Safety Enchancement act of 2009

Keep Wal-Mart out of NYC.

More on the Colorado UFCW Local's fight with their Governor. Governor Ritter, also plans on vetoing another union bill, one that would enable fire-fighters to unionize.

Politics

Carolyn McCarthy said she won’t run against Kirsten Gillibrand, citing personal reasons

Steve Israel is 'open' to backing Gillibrand's opponent.

Andrew Cuomo's editorial in Newsday.

The NY Assembly votes to legalize mixed martial arts (MMA) in NY.

Monday Morning One Liners...

Image via Wikipedia

Kristen Gillibrand was on Long Island this week with Tom Suozzi, she acknowledged King Kullen for buying local products.

UFCW Local 7 files a complaint against their grocery stores.

Progressive Grocer reports they may strike soon.

Politicians are urging Costco to accept food stamps.

NY Times (Nicholas Confessore): Paterson's Order Will Help Unions Trying to Organize

Gov. David A. Paterson has issued an order making it easier for labor unions to organize thousands of workers at some of New York's largest new hotel and convention center projects, including hotels in Niagara Falls and at the Belmont Park racetrack in Nassau County and the expansion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. The directive, which was signed on April 24 and issued on Friday, will require the operators of projects that receive assistance like loans, tax breaks or property leases from state agencies or public authorities to obtain "labor peace" agreements with unions seeking to organize their workers. Under the agreements, workers would pledge not to strike, boycott or engage in other actions that would disrupt business or deprive the state of revenues.

C&S Wholesale Grocers was the winning bidder in last week’s auction of Bruno’s stores, agreeing to purchase all 56 locations from the retailer it supplies for $48.5 million.

Price Chopper, among a three grocers receiving technology awards this year.

Wal-Mart drops to number 2 on Forbes 500.

Laura Sen, the CEO of BJ's Wholesale Club gives her budget tips in a tough economy.

Politics

Bill Thompson accuses Mike Bloomberg of ducking debates.

GOP announces a candidate to take on Suozzi (Long Island)

Supermarkets and wine, Ahold (Stop & Shop) doing just fine, Tuesday One Liners..

Image via Wikipedia

Virgin Megastore will be closing it's doors for good.

Wal-Mart's next recession target: Central Los Angeles.

Wal-Mart is closing Canadian SAM'S CLUBS

Newsday will start charging Internet surfers for content on its Web site. But exactly when that will happen and how it will work is still anybody’s guess.

What's the future of the Southhampton King Kullen project?

Price Chopper is urging customers to support the wine expansion.

The New York Post has a great synopsis of the supermarket wine battle.

Editorial:Uncork the wine at the supermarket.

The Fresh Market was to have closed its store in Michigan Sunday, signaling its exit from the Michigan market, published reports said. Read more of this story

A repositioned Ahold is holding up well in a difficult economy. The retailer here on Monday reported increases in sales and net profits for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Dec. 28, with U.S. chains Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover each posting their best quarterly identical-store sales in five years.
Read more of this story