A&P selling Metro stock to help finance Pathmark deal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Supermarket chain The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company Inc (GAP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it intends to sell all its 11.7 million shares of Canada's Metro Inc (MRUa.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) to minimize its indebtedness in A&P's planned $690 million acquisition of Pathmark Stores Inc (PTMK.O: Quote, Profile, Research)

(PTMK.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

Based on the closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange on November 2, the value of the Metro shares was approximately $435 million, A&P said. The stock closed up C24 cents on Monday at

C$35.00.

The U.S. supermarket chain expects to use the proceeds, together with borrowing under a reduced bridge facility and a portion of its increased $675 million funding from a group of lenders, to finance the Pathmark deal.

In March, A&P sold 6.35 million shares of Metro, generating proceeds of $203.5 million.

A&P said if it cannot sell the Metro shares, it intends to finance the merger with committed financing, including borrowing under the bridge facility or an offering of senior secured notes.

A&P currently expects the Pathmark acquisition to close by the end of December.

(Reporting by Steve James; editing by Tomasz Janowski)

Stop & Shop elected to participate in engergy saving study.

Stop & Shop is taking a progressive leap in energy awareness

The Super Stop & Shop grocery in Long Island City, Queens, is participating in a new system meant to take pressure off the local power grid. In times of peak demand, some of the grocery’s lights, air-conditioning and even refrigeration systems can be temporarily shut down — by a computer in Boston, 200 miles away.

Nationwide, several thousand businesses like Super Stop & Shop, as well as residential customers, are ceding control of their electrical systems during moments of unusually high demand. And they are being paid to do it.

The system, based on a concept called demand response, is one of the latest ways that Internet technology is being applied to improve the management of the nation’s taxed power supplies.

The supporters of demand-response technology say they can save utilities and their customers tens of millions of dollars by selectively curbing demand when the grid is at capacity.

Once the system is in place, the utility’s role is limited to notifying the operators of demand-response systems that it is time to start shutting down the lights remotely.

“We tie in to their electrical panel, toggle the relay and curtail 40 percent of their lighting,” said David Brewster, the president of Enernoc, one of several publicly traded companies in the demand-response business.

Read the entire NY Times Article Here

California Reverses 'Big Box Ban'

By: JOE FEDELE
www.ufcw1500.org

In a unanimous decision the Long Beach City Council has voted to remove a ballot measure that would ban "big-box" superstores that sell groceries such as Wal-Mart. The monumental ordinance was passed last year, but because of "financial reasons" has decided to remove the ordinance from a public vote on Feb. 5th The council decided to vote against this because it would have cost the city $500,000 to keep it on the ballot for public vote during the statewide presidential primary ballot. The opposition to the bill came from none other than Wal-Mart who funded a coalition called the Long Beach Consumers for Choice. Wal-Mart funded a petition to be signed by residents which cited the $500,000 fee to keep this ordinance on the ballot. The petition was signed by more than the 20,613 needed to take the ordinance off the ballot.

The council specifically stated that this was not a victory for Wal-Mart, and that it simply came down to managing the few funds they had, and could use the $500,000 for something else the city needs. The council did say that they do admire what the bill stands for, and that they want to do everything they can to keep local businesses alive. Though paying the price for this was obviously too much. Rick Eiden of Local 324 said of the council

"We've seen the destruction of small businessess and quality jobs in our community, and that far outweighs the $500,000 the city would be putting forward to say we're going to stand up to a big corporation."

324 has 3,000 members in Long Beach who would all be affected by the opening of a big box store.

"I cannot justify in these financial times, to spend $500,000 of our budget where we can use it in other places," said Councilman Val Lerch, who made the motion to repeal the law.

The city's $2.3 billion budget for the 2008 fiscal year that began Oct. 1 is estimated to be up to $10 million short of what is needed.

Even if the council had approved the ballot measure, the move likely would have been futile. Mayor Bob Foster announced Sunday that he would veto the measure if the council approved it.

Foster was quoted on Tuesday saying the council's vote wasn't a victory for Wal-Mart.

Kroger Avoids Cincinnati Region Strike

By DAN SEWELL – AP

CINCINNATI (AP) — A union representing nearly 11,000 grocery workers says its tentative three-year contract with Kroger Co. provides employees with quality health insurance, wage increases and no benefits cuts.

The agreement, announced late Thursday, avoided a last-minute strike at 79 stores in the Cincinnati region. Kroger, the nation's largest traditional grocer, hasn't had a strike in its hometown since 1971.

The tentative contract must be approved by the union's membership, and voting could begin next week, said Brigid Kelly, a spokeswoman for Local 1099 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

The union last month authorized its leaders to call a strike. They continued working under a contract extension that was scheduled to end at midnight Thursday.

Kroger officials and union leaders met for most of the day after a federal mediator set up new talks.

Both sides had made preparations for a strike. Kroger had said it would use managers and temporary workers to keep operating the affected stores in southwest Ohio, northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana.

"From our perspective, the agreement is good news for our employees and customers, and we are looking forward to seeing our employees in our stores Friday," said Kroger spokeswoman Meghan Glynn.

Kroger also settled contracts this year in other regions including Southern California, Michigan and Texas without a work stoppage.

The company, which grew from a single downtown Cincinnati grocery in the late 19th century, has continued to dominate the local market, even as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has ringed the city with nonunion Supercenters in the past two years.

Other competitors — such as Supervalu Inc.'s bigg's, Midwest regional chain Meijer Inc. and various specialty food chains — also have increased their presence.

During negotiations, Kroger said it offers industry-leading compensation to employees in a highly competitive region.

The union said Kroger's workers have been key players in the company's growth and should share in its financial success. It had complained that Kroger wasn't fully funding pension and health care plans and offered subpar wage increases.

Pay raises in a proposal rejected last month ranged from 10 cents an hour for baggers to 95 cents an hour for department heads. Under that proposal, a top-rated clerk's pay would have increased 85 cents an hour to $15.46 an hour.

Kroger, which had $66.1 billion in sales last year, operates 2,491 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states under two dozen local banners, including Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Food 4 Less, King Soopers, Smith's, Fry's, Dillons, QFC and City Market

Chiquita Lays off 700 Workers

By: JOE FEDELE
www.ufcw1500.org

Chiquita Brands International Inc., owner of the Fresh Express Group headquartered in Salinas, has announced a restructuring plan and management changes that will lay off 140 jobs in Salinas. Chiquita has cut 700 jobs from its global operations - about 400 hourly positions and about 320 salaried and managerial positions, Chiquita spokesman Michael Mitchell said Tuesday.

Chiquita employs approximately 25,000 people in more than 80 countries and 1,540 in Salinas, according to its fact sheet. Fifty-nine percent of the corporation's business is outside North America.