Tuesday's One Liners, Tomorrow's General Membership Meeting, Next Week's Walmart Rally

Reminder tomorrow is our General Membership Meeting and Annual Toy Drive @ The Inn at New Hyde Park: More information at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/UFCWLocal1500?v=app_2344061033#!/event.php?eid=116408735089069&index=1


UFCW Local 1189 has kicked off their contract campaign in Minnesota.

Queens Courier tells food retailers in Queens that there is funding available to build grocery stores.

Global retail giant Wal-Mart has targeted low-income and rural customers in China with the opening of a no-frills compact hypermarket in the eastern province of Jiangxi.

Walmart could also potentially house Wine Kiosks. 

Walmart is in a battle with San Diego, last week San Diego City Council overtuned a Mayoral veto which prohibited Supercenters from opening in the city without conducting a survey.

Opening a supercenter in the city of San Diego became much more difficult — some suggest impossible — after the City Council on Thursday overturned Mayor Jerry Sanders’ veto of an ordinance that requires retailers to conduct a study of how the stores will affect the surrounding neighborhood before moving in.

This week, Walmart has been fighting back, they've formed a campaign committee and they're gathering signatures to sign a petition to allow them to open a store.

On Tuesday, December 14th, the NYC Council will be debating the affects Walmart will have on businesses and communities throughout the five boroughs.  We're holding a rally prior to the hearing at 9:30 AM, to tell the City Council that we need Union Jobs, not irresponsible employers in the greatest city in the world.  For more information on the rally check the Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112443372158284&index=1

A closed Shaw's will open as a Save-A-Lot in Connecticut.

Local 1500's December General Membership is tomorrow, December 8, at 7:30 at the Inn at New Hyde Park.  FB Link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112443372158284&index=1#!/event.php?eid=116408735089069

Wednesday Morning One Liners: BJ's Wholesale Club in Ithica...

Image via Wikipedia

Ithica Journal: BJ's Wholesale Club Proposed in Ithica Mall
The identity of the new big-box tenant of a proposed 82,000-square-foot development at the Shops at Ithaca mall was finally revealed Tuesday night at a Village of Lansing planning board meeting, after months of secrecy: BJ's Wholesale Club.

LA Times: Target Corp. Defends Republican Contributions
Target is under fire for donating to a republican candidate in Minnesota, after two Facebook pages were started calling for a Boycott. As two "Boycott Target" groups sprang up on Facebook on Tuesday, the giant retailer defended its $150,000 donation to a group helping a Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate who opposes same-sex marriage.

WakeupWalmart: Smaller Wal-Mart Still not Ready to Build in Wellsville, N.Y.

AFL-CIO Blog: Report: Unions Must Open Opportunities for Women, Young Workers
The report, “Stepping Up, Stepping Back: Women Talk Union Across Generations,” details frank discussions in March among 30 women invited to a two-day women’s summit in New Orleans...While acknowledging the significant gains for women in the workplace made possible by unions and the growing diversity in the union movement, the report urges unions to do even more to become more open.

Progressive Grocer: Subway Enters More Supermarkets, Mass Retailers in 2010 
Several U.S. supermarkets and big-box retailers welcomed in-store Subway restaurant units during the first half of 2010, according to the popular sandwich chain, which has this year opened over 1,000 new locations, bringing its total international store count to over 9,700 restaurants, with new stores accounting for about 1.4 million square feet of filled commercial retail space.

 

Senate's Free Rider Provision Gives Nation's Largest Employer (Wal-Mart) A Free Ride

SENATE FREE RIDER PROVISION GIVES NATION’S LARGEST EMPLOYER A FREE RIDE

UFCW Releases Briefing Paper Detailing How Free Rider Provision Would Incentivize Irresponsible Walmart Employment Practices and Diminish Shared Responsibility for Health Care Reform

Washington, DC—The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) released a briefing paper, today, examining the impact of the Senate’s Free Rider provision on the nation’s largest private employer – retail giant Walmart.   The provision would have the unintended consequences of:

• Providing little or no incentive for Walmart to provide better care to its workers;
• Continuing Walmart workers’ dependence on federal and state subsidies for Medicaid and Medicare, and encourage Walmart to have even more workers dependent on Medicaid and Medicare;
• Making few, if any, Walmart workers eligible for tax credits to purchase better insurance through the health insurance exchange;
• Forcing low-income Walmart workers into high-deductible company-provided insurance;
• Incentivizing the hiring of a largely part-time workforce, and encourage reducing workers’ hours as a way to reduce health care costs.

The Free Rider provision currently would require that, if an employer with more than 50 employees has employees who receive a subsidy (i.e., tax credit) for insurance through an exchange, the employer has to pay a penalty that is the lesser of: The average national tax credit for insurance through exchanges multiplied by the number of full-time employees receiving the tax credit; or $750 times the total number of full-time employees of the company.

But if an employer has only part-time employees receiving tax credits for insurance purchased through an exchange, the employer pays no penalty. Employers also pay no penalty for workers who are on Medicaid or Medicare. And if employers offer bare bones, but high deductible, high co-pay coverage with low premiums, workers would be forced to accept this coverage, purchase coverage through an exchange without receiving tax credits, or pay a penalty for being uninsured—with the employer facing no penalty under the current free rider provision.

Walmart’s employment practices, including limited hours and pay that force many onto public assistance, as well as its cafeteria of health care plans that range from unaffordable premiums to unaffordable deductibles and co-pays for low end premiums would virtually exempt its workers from receiving tax credits for purchasing coverage through an exchange, and, consequently, exempt the company from any free rider penalty.

“A Free Rider provision that would have zero impact on Walmart is a problem,” said UFCW Executive Vice President Pat O’Neill. “The company employs 1.4 million workers in our country, and nearly 700,000 of those employees already get their health care insurance from public assistance, in the emergency room, or a spouse who has a responsible employer. President Obama laid down the principle that health care is a shared responsibility. If the country’s largest employer has no responsibility under the Senate Free Rider provision, then other employers will follow the Walmart example.”

Go to www.wakeupwalmart.com for a complete copy of the UFCW Free Rider Briefing Paper.

--#--

A further supporting actuarial analysis by the Segal Group of the value of a sample of Walmart’s health plans is available online.