UFCW 400 Urges Supermarkets To Cure "Corporate Schizophrenia"

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Split personalities are just as bad for business as they are for people. That’s the message from UFCW 400 President Tom McNutt, who reports that supermarket giants Royal Ahold, Safeway and Supervalu are exhibiting signs of Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde “corporate schizophrenia” by operating both union grocery stores – Giant, Safeway and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy – and non-union stores -- Martin’s, Genuardi’s and Farm Fresh. “The great danger of this corporate schizophrenia,” McNutt warns, “is that Ahold, Safeway and Supervalu will be tempted to funnel the profits our members’ hard work generates into their non-union divisions, while letting their union operations wither and die of neglect.” At the union shops, Giant, Safeway and Supervalu “respect their workers and the union that represents them, and recognize that Local 400 members provide unmatched productivity and consistent profitability,” says McNutt. “They offer full-time jobs at living wages that can lead to lifelong careers, while providing health and retirement security.” But at the non-union shops, the same corporate parents “treat their workers poorly, pay them less and deny them a voice in the workplace. They’re more likely to keep workers on part-time status, offer little in the way of opportunity, and provide far fewer benefits.” Local 400 members are demanding that their employers stop the Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde act “and start behaving as a responsible corporate citizen,” says McNutt. To help the retail workers who currently lack union protections, he adds, Local 400 members “are now reaching out to Martin’s and Farm Fresh employees in Virginia, listening to their concerns and explaining how union representation empowers them to improve their lives and do their jobs better.” In time, “whether by persuasion or by the demands of their very own workers, we are confident that Ahold, Safeway and Supervalu will jettison their Mr. Hyde sides and once again become wall-to-wall union companies with higher productivity and greater profits,” says McNutt. “That will be good for their bottom lines, good for consumers, and good for the industry as a whole.” Click here for McNutt’s complete statement.