Friday News at Noon: Shaw's Workers Need Your Support

From UFCW: Shaw's Workers Need Your Support!   Call Supervalu CEO Craig Herkert today at (952) 828-4000 - tell him that the 300 workers Supervalu’s subsidiary Shaw’s forced out on strike in Methuen, Mass. almost two months ago deserve to be treated fairly and that Supervalu should sit down at the bargaining table for a quick and fair resolution.

Stop and Shop gets key approvals for move to Hyde Park: [Poughkeepsie Journal]
Plans for Stop & Stop to move from its current store at Saint Andrews Road and Route 9 to the Hyde Park Mall can now begin in earnest...What will happen to the current Stop & Shop building is unclear....

Pro's Ranch Cuts 300 Workers in Immigration Probe: [Supermarket News]
The supermarket has released more than 300 employees at its six Phoenix-area stores — 20% of its workforce there — because they were found to be working without proper work authorization documentation.
The audits are part of a national process that began nationally last July and that have been conducted at more than 1,600 businesses across the U.S....

Related:

Reason.com: How Immigration Crackdowns Backfire.

RWDSU/UFCW Local 220 Authorizes Strike: [Press Release]

"We want to reach an agreement with Mott's," said RWDSU Representative Ron Duncan. "We stand ready to bargain but the company has taken this position that we should just shut up and accept whatever they are offering. It's really disgraceful that they want to take away from their employees at a time when the company is doing well." 
Over 300 members of Local 220 voted to authorize a strike if no agreement can be reached with Mott's for workers at the company's Williamson, NY facility. The vote, which was 250-5, gives authorization for the union to call a strike if the company continues to engage in unfair labor practices and refuses to bargain.





Elsewhere

Pepsi has rolled out Recycling Kiosks titled, "Dream Machine".

U.S. Organic Product Sales Reach $26.6B in 2009.

Racked looks inside the highly anticipated Chelsea Trader Joe's.

Victory for Canadian Farmworkers: Quebec's labour relations commission has cut out language in the province's labour code that had blocked seasonal farm workers from unionizing.

Downtown Express: Battery Park City may get a new Greenmarket...

Recycling water bottles put on hold, UFCW merge in Ohio, Non-Union supermarkets not paying baggers, Wednesday Morning One Liners...

Image by quaisi via Flickr

Peapod has introduced a line of six ready-to-heat, healthy prepared meals by celebrity Chicago chef Michael Foley. Exclusive to the e-grocer, the restaurant-quality entrees are available for

delivery in the Chicago market under the Peapod’s Chef Express Smart Selections brand.

The New York State Department of Labor announced a major settlement with supermarkets (non-union) that were not paying their baggers an hourly wage.

Newsday: The future of the Supermarket: Hand Scanners.

NY Times Dining section says goodbye to Balducci's and Hello Gourmet Garage.

More on the Ohio UFCW merger.

IGA opened a store in Guam last week.

This week the National Association of Chain Drug Stores sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking for pro-patient, pro-pharmacy provisions in healthcare reform.

The Illinois Food Marketing Task Force is calling on lawmakers to create a new “Illinois Fresh Food Fund” initiative to stimulate supermarket development in underserved areas across the state while simultaneously improving health in low-income communities and attracting significant private investment and jobs

A new Stop & Shop in Orangeberg...

Politics

The expansion on NY State's recycling laws has been halted by a federal judge, putting a stop to recycling water bottles, which the state anticipated to receive millions of dollars from to aid the budget.

Environmentalists are upset that a court has delayed the state's bottle deposit law.

New York City is the safest of the 25 largest cities in the United States.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and city labor officials announced a tentative agreement Tuesday to amend health benefits for more than 550,000 current and retired city employees, guaranteeing the city $400 million in savings over the next two fiscal years.

The Governor of Colorado has turned his back on UFCW members.

Bruno's Management to receive bonuses, New Yorkers pay a lot for rent, Tuesday One Liners...

Image via Wikipedia

A court ruled yesterday that Bruno's management will receive bonuses...UFCW spokesman said:

"What you see on Wall Street has managed to work its way down South," said Corey Owens, the union spokesman. "These managers are about to get rich for running this company into the ground." If anyone if going to profit from the sale of Bruno's, Owens said, it should first and foremost be workers and communities that have stores.

A local pizzeria and bagel store are hurting now that stores like Circuit City and Linen's and Things have left in Staten Island.

Supermarket News has more on 1262's negotiations.

Tesco is expected to concede that its first U.S. operation, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets, will not be profitable this year when it announces full company results later this week..

Wal-Mart is cutting bottled water to save shelf space.

Hundreds of construction trade union members plan a rally 1 p.m. today at the Capitol to blast state funding for projects — including GlobalFoundries' $4.2 billion computer chip plant — that lack requirements for labor union pay rates, hiring or project agreements.

More than a quarter of New Yorkers are spending their money on rent, the Bronx was the hardest hit where 33.1% of residents use half their monthly income or more on rent.

A new bill introduced today would halt the sale of cigarettes in Supermarkets and Drug Stores.

Makers of Plastic Bags will use 40% of recycled material by 2015.

Ruben Diaz Jr. will be named Bronx Borough president today.

And finally Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie shopped in Stop & Shop this past weekend,

Elliot Spitzer beats Patterson in a new Poll.