Food Cellar opens, BJ's Warehouse in Brooklyn, top news...

Our organizing efforts against irresponsible employers throughout the five boroughs has been highlighted in a Daily News article today:

According to the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, BJ's stores gross more than a million dollars a week in sales and attract around 7,000 cars a day. Their impact on the existing supermarkets would be nothing short of devastating. Read it here

Here's what the Neighborhood Retail Alliance had to say.

Crain's covered the 'Food Cellar' opening in LIC, and specifically notes "There are no plans yet for moderately-priced supermarkets such as C-Town or Key Foods"

Here's the Queens West blog on the Food Cellar prices.

The A.F.L.-C.I.O and three other pro-labor groups will urge the Federal Election Commission on Thursday to rule that Wal-Mart acted illegally by warning many store managers and department heads that a Democratic victory in November would hurt the company by helping workers unionize.

Vornado Realty Trust said Wednesday it has formed a joint venture with India's Reliance Industries to invest in shopping centers in India.

Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. will close its Pathmark store in NJ on Route 36 in Eatontown sometime this fall, a spokeswoman said today.

Deal between Kroger and UFCW averts a strike.

More from Forbes.

Elected Officials Clash Over $3 Billion Queens Development Plan

Whole Foods Brooklyn update, Amish Market opens a new store & Wednesday Morning One Liners...

The Brooklyn Whole Foods is being 'revised' according to a Company spokesman.

U.S. antitrust regulators will resume work scrutinizing organic grocer Whole Foods' merger with rival Wild Oats, the Federal Trade Commission said in an order issued on Monday.

Calling this November’s ballot an “economy-killing” political mess, the Colorado Economic Leadership Coalition Monday came out against the proposed right-to-work amendment and several labor-backed counter-measures.

Amish Market's new store the 'Food Cellar' is opening today, and Supermarket News has a write up about it.

A Local Blog isn't too excited about the new upscale market in the LIC.

This blog has some great inside photos of the new store.

The Gristedes on 14th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue has shuttered, but only temporarily for renovations, according to a spokesman for the company.

Large retailers are looking towards Solar Power and other energy saving approaches to save money in difficult economic times.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration here has proposed fines of $133,000 against C&S Wholesale Grocers for alleged “repeat and serious safety violations” at its warehouse in Windsor Locks, Conn.

Citing continued corruption, a federal judge has ordered a one-year extension of government oversight of the New York City carpenters’ union, which has spent 14 years under supervision.

Mayor Bloomberg has endorsed 3 Democrats in State races.

Here's an editorial on the EFCA & Wal-Mart

Bj's in Brooklyn, Wal-Mart heading to court again and Monday Morning One Liners..

Where and what is local in your supermarket? NY Times highlights the trend of using the word 'local' in supermarkets.

How one business man helped saved the Long Island Farms: Mr. Casa is being hailed as a hero to Long Island growers, having devised a creative way to move local produce to the shelves of 50 King Kullen supermarkets without the farmers having to deal with the false promises of other buyers or unscrupulous brokers.

NY Times continues to cover the illustrious Eli Zabar and his new Farm.

NY Times: Brooklyn residents admit 'Big Box isn't that bad'.

A car plowed through a CVS next to a King Kullen in Staten Island yesterday.

The Daily News covers BJs' Plan to open two stores in Brooklyn, "BJ's wants to put in two stores, but it doesn't answer the needs of the community - they need a supermarket," said Grocery Workers Union organizer Pat Purcell.

The Real Deal covers the story as well... "A lease has been signed at a Thor Equities-owned former bus depot at 1824 Shore Parkway, near Ceasar's Bay shopping center in Bensonhurst. No lease has been signed yet at the Brooklyn Terminal Market on Foster Avenue and Avenue D in Canarsie, the site of an old Key Food storage facility. "

A UFCW protest in Binghamton is getting press.

The NY Sun writes on Balducci's expansion to Dubai. Eventually Balducci's will have three outlets in Dubai.

The NY Times compares Porchetta prices in Gourmet NYC stores, including Fairway, Grace's, Agata....

Honeywell International is moving some manufacturing operations out of the company's central New York plant, eliminating nearly 300 jobs. Honeywell officials announced Thursday that the Morristown, N.J.-based company will shift some operations in the town of Skaneateles (skan-ee-AT'-les), 15 miles west of Syracuse, to a location in China within a year.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and Tyson Foods have reached an agreement in Tennessee.

US employers and unions battle over proposed labour laws [Guardian (U.K.)]

Verizon And 2 Unions Reach Pact For 3 Years

Wal-Mart

Canada's highest court agreed to hear an appeal by former employees of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. who say the company closed a Quebec store because of a union drive.

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear two cases stemming from Wal-Mart’s controversial closing of a unionized store in Quebec, the court here said.
Read more of this story

Wal-Mart Stores told SN Friday the small-format Marketside stores it plans to unveil this fall in the Phoenix area are part of "a small-scale pilot, and we have no plans [for the format] beyond a handful of stores." The comment, from a Wal-Mart spokesman, came in response to a report published in the Financial Times of London that quoted the Marketside website as saying the company expected to start with 10 stores and evolve to between 1,000 and 1,500 locations with more than $10 billion in annual sales.

A UFCW protest on the opening day of a 'Fresh & Easy' was effective.

Politics

Lawmakers who supported a property-tax-cap bill while the Senate was in Albany last week could pay a steep political price.State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes said it's possible the 2 million-member labor federation will withhold endorsements in key races that involve senators who voted "yes" on the cap when its member unions meet for their annual convention next week. "There's talk about holding back," Hughes said.

Four members of the New York City congressional delegation stood on the steps of City Hall August 4 to endorse State Sen. Martin Connor (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan), a 30-year incumbent who faces a grueling primary against a feisty insurgent, for reelection.

Whole Foods changes approach, Wal-Mart in China, Tuesday Morning One Liners....

Whole Foods tries to change their image and remove the stereo-type 'Whole Pay Check' in these harsh economic times.

Whole Foods struggles in the UK: The company behind London's largest organic supermarket has suffered a £10m loss in the store's first year, as cash-strapped shoppers start to turn away from expensive food.

Wal-Mart to sign collective contracts at all China stores.

As we reported yesterday, Gourmet grocer Balducci's here yesterday said it has sealed an agreement with a real estate developer in Dubai to open multiple locations in that United Arab Emirates city.
Read more of this story

Shaw's said workers represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 791 have ratified a new, five-year contract covering 5,500 employees at 38 stores in southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the Shaw's distribution center in Wells, Maine.
Read more of this story

On the recent contract Local 791 spokesman Peter Derouen said. "We were able to get rid of the bonuses and get general wage increases for everyone,” he said. “The company had really been pushing to freeze the pension plan and then introduce a 401(k) plan, which we were able to fight off.”

Must Read:

Supermarket News editorial: Economic Storm Finally Crashes into Supermarkets.

Verizon Communications' union workers stayed on the job yesterday as their leaders continued to meet with management to hammer out remaining sticking points and avoid a threatened strike.

More on Eli Zabar and his new farm.

Political

Nassau: Plan for tough '09

Balducci's expands to the Middle East, BJ's expect to be opposed in Brooklyn, and Monday Morning One Liners...

Balducci's has announced they will be one of the first US Food retailers to open a store in the Middle East.

Here's more on Balducci's expansion.

If you haven't read it yet Wal-Mart has been warning their employees of a Democratic win.

Pathmark & A&P recruits workers by offering discounts.

With 341 locations Dunkin Donuts has more stores in the city than any other chain, including Starbucks.

On the Amish Hyde Park closing, a former councilman said "I'm really not surprised that they closed," he said. "They really never got off on the right foot, and a lot of the people I know just were not willing to pay the high prices."

We got some press in Crain's on Friday morning regarding our fights against BJ's.

Here's a blog that discusses why the Hyde Park Amish failed

United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 555 filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge against Fred Meyer (owned by the Kroger Co.) for failing to bargain in good faith.

UFCW Local 791 warned over the weekend that a strike is looming because Shaw's Supermarkets refuses to back off proposals that offer substandard wage increases, eliminate the defined benefit pension plan, and gut the health care plan while asking workers to pay more for a lesser health plan.

It's reported today although that Local 791 has ratified a new five-year contract.

Here's more on the contract.

Price investments and promotional activity helped Ahold post quarterly sales gains of 1.7% at Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover and 11.5% at Giant-Carlisle, the company, based here, said Friday. Read more of this story

The founding family of 'The Fresh Market' had a buyout scare last week, but the company retains that the family will remain in control over the rapidly growing supermarket.

Two unions representing 65,000 workers at Verizon postponed a strike threatened for Sunday morning, citing progress in late-night negotiations.

Political

Change to Win leader and vice-president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Geralyn Lutty, along with two members from Change to Win unions, joined state and national experts and grassroots Americans in Cleveland, Ohio this weekend for the Democratic Party's Platform Drafting Committee meeting to assist in defining and drafting the Party's national platform.

A new website posts the salaries of 263,000 state employees.

Here's more on Weiner's proposed Job Creation plan.

Bloomberg is hosting a party for Hillary Clinton tonight, on Barack Obama’s birthday.