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CVS Health has announced that it will lay off 2,900 workers as part of a cost-cutting initiative. The layoffs will primarily affect corporate roles and represent less than 1% of CVS' workforce. The company is also considering a potential breakup of its insurance and retail businesses. CVS is not alone in facing difficulties, as Walgreens Boots Alliance has also struggled in the challenging operating environment and has closed underperforming retail locations. Additionally, CVS pharmacy workers in California are debating whether to strike over contract negotiations. [Extracted from the article]

California CVS Pharmacy workers, represented by United Food and Commercial Workers 770, have voted in favor of authorizing a potential strike over contract negotiations. The workers claim that CVS's offer proposals undervalue their worth and allege that the retailer has engaged in multiple labor violations. The union contracts expired in June, and unfair labor practice complaints were filed in August. CVS has conducted negotiation sessions and made progress on finalizing a contract, but the union has the option to call for a strike if necessary. CVS has contingency plans in place to keep stores operational in the event of a strike. [Extracted from the article]

Following a six-day strike by 4,500 grocery workers at Fred Meyer in Portland, Oregon, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 is now calling for a shopper boycott of the store until a new contract is agreed upon. The union accuses Fred Meyer of unfair labor practices, including refusing to provide essential information for negotiations and failing to pay the required pension contribution. Fred Meyer has offered wage increases, health care benefits, and bonuses to workers, but the union believes more needs to be done. Negotiations are set to continue on September 11 and 12. [Extracted from the article]

Kroger and Albertsons CEOs, Rodney McMullen and Vivek Sankaran, are set to testify in an antitrust case regarding Kroger's proposed acquisition of its largest competitor. The trial, which began on August 26, has already garnered attention, with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accusing Kroger of price gouging. Kroger denies these allegations, stating that the cost increases are due to factors beyond inflation. The FTC also argues that Kroger and Albertsons view each other as their main competitors, while the companies claim that larger players like Walmart and Amazon are their true competitors. The trial is ongoing, and the FTC has accused Albertsons executives of destroying evidence related to the merger. [Extracted from the article]

New Seasons Market grocery workers in Portland, Oregon, went on a one-day strike due to a contract stalemate with the company. The New Seasons Labor Union has been trying to negotiate better wages and benefits for almost two years. The union has accused New Seasons of unfair labor practices, including threatening employees who strike. New Seasons Market claims to have had meetings with the union and dismissed the unfair labor practice claims. Both parties have expressed their commitment to addressing the concerns of the workers. [Extracted from the article]

Fred Meyer workers in the Portland area are currently on strike, with negotiations ongoing. The strike is in response to accusations of unfair labor practices, specifically regarding the grocer's refusal to provide essential information for negotiations and failure to pay the required pension contribution. Fred Meyer has stated that it has met with the union multiple times and has offered significant wage increases, health care benefits, and continued funding of pension benefits. The union is demanding fair treatment and for the company to fulfill its obligations. [Extracted from the article]

Fred Meyer workers in Portland, Oregon have voted to authorize a strike, accusing the grocery store of unfair labor practices. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 555, which represents the workers, claims that Fred Meyer has not delivered on promised raises for employees, except for a wage increase during a one-day strike in 2021. The union has also filed a federal lawsuit to ensure that Fred Meyer fulfills its commitments in current contracts. The union's support for the Kroger-Albertsons merger has also changed, with the union no longer approving of the deal. Fred Meyer has responded by stating that the strike vote authorization is premature and that they are committed to increasing wages while maintaining a healthy business. [Extracted from the article]

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 555 has withdrawn its support for the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons, citing new information and dissatisfaction with Kroger's behavior during contract negotiations. The union represents 30,000 workers, many of whom are employed at Kroger and Albertsons stores in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming. The decision comes after workers at Kroger-owned Fred Meyer stores in Portland authorized an unfair labor practices strike. The union has not yet set a date for the strike. [Extracted from the article]

Approximately 4,500 grocery workers in the Portland, Oregon area are considering going on strike due to an alleged breach in contract by their employer, Fred Meyer. The United Food and Commercial Workers 555, which represents 35,000 grocery employees in the region, claims that Fred Meyer is withholding essential information for contract negotiations and refusing to address grievances. Contract negotiations are ongoing, with a meeting scheduled between the two parties on August 14 and 15. Fred Meyer has expressed confidence that the claims of unfair labor practices will be proven unsubstantiated and is committed to negotiating in good faith. [Extracted from the article]

A tentative agreement has been reached between the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) and thousands of union workers in Canada. If ratified, the agreement would allow 10,000 workers to return to their jobs and LCBO stores to reopen. The agreement includes wage increases, benefits for part-time workers, mental health benefits, and severance provisions. The strike was primarily driven by concerns over the expansion of alcohol sales to convenience and grocery stores, which the union believed would threaten jobs. The LCBO has stated that the agreement ensures no retail stores will close due to the marketplace expansion. [Extracted from the article]

Thousands of Food 4 Less workers in California, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), are considering going on strike due to contract negotiations. The UFCW locals, which represent around 6,000 workers, are expected to complete the voting process on June 14. The union claims that Food 4 Less workers receive fewer hours, benefits, and lower wages compared to workers at Kroger-owned Ralph's stores. The union has filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the grocery chain, accusing them of undermining negotiations and violating workers' rights. Contract negotiations have been ongoing since April, and workers have held rallies calling for a fair contract agreement. [Extracted from the article]

Workers at Natural Grocers in Norman, Oklahoma have voted to unionize, joining the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1000. The workers are seeking improvements in their work environment, healthcare, protection for pregnant workers, protection from anti-union retaliation, bereavement leave, and annual raises. Natural Grocers has been accused of using aggressive tactics to discourage unionization efforts, including holding captive audience meetings in storage closets and discriminating against pregnant workers. The workers are considering filing a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. Natural Grocers has not responded to requests for comment. [Extracted from the article]

Natural Grocers workers in Norman, Okla., have expressed a desire to join a union in order to improve their work environment and secure better benefits. However, employees have been hesitant to openly support the union due to fears of retaliation. The company has been accused of using aggressive tactics to discourage union activity, including holding anti-union meetings in storage closets and disciplining workers for minor infractions. Workers are considering filing a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. Natural Grocers has not yet responded to these allegations. [Extracted from the article]

Drivers at United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) in Florida have voted unanimously to join Teamsters Local 79. The group of 80 workers sought a union election after UNFI attempted to outsource their jobs to a nonunion company. They are seeking a strong Teamsters contract to address concerns about wages, benefits, job security, and working conditions. The National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of holding an election and is investigating whether UNFI committed unfair labor practices. This organizing move follows similar efforts by the Teamsters at UNFI facilities in other states. [Extracted from the article]

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled against United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) in their plan to outsource trucker jobs to nonunion employer J.B. Hunt in Florida. The NLRB stated that UNFI did not provide sufficient evidence that the 80 truck drivers would be laid off. The Teamsters Local 79 argued that UNFI's outsourcing plan was an attempt to prevent drivers from joining the union. Workers will have the opportunity to vote on joining a union in May, and the NLRB has ordered that the votes be counted immediately. The NLRB is also investigating whether UNFI engaged in unfair labor practices by subcontracting the driving jobs. UNFI did not respond to a request for comment. [Extracted from the article]

Close to 100 drivers for United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) in Atlanta, Georgia, have joined Teamsters Local 728, with 95% of voters approving the move. This comes after a month-long effort by UNFI workers to unionize. Over the past year, more than 1,000 UNFI workers, including 150 employees at Tony's Fine Foods in California, have joined a union. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents over 4,000 UNFI workers, claims that the National Labor Relations Board should not have conducted the election in Georgia due to the outsourcing of drivers to an anti-union carrier. UNFI has not responded to a request for comment. [Extracted from the article]

Employees at a Trader Joe's in Hadley, Massachusetts, were the first within the company to form a union in 2022. However, there is now a group that wants to dissolve the union. The group claims to have 30% of staff support, enough to force a vote, but they are waiting to reach 50% approval. The union, Trader Joe's United, has accused the Hadley store of mistreating employees, and a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearing is underway. The anti-union effort argues that Trader Joe's has created a positive work environment and questions why only pro-union employees have been called to testify. [Extracted from the article]

Walmart is facing another complaint from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regarding its alleged union-busting tactics at a store in California. The NLRB claims that Walmart questioned employees about union activities, removed union flyers from a break room, and threatened workers who provided union information. If Walmart does not settle the claim, a hearing will take place in May. This is one of 21 NLRB complaints that Walmart is currently facing. Another recent complaint was filed against a Trader Joe's wine store in New York City, where employees were allegedly interrogated about union activities and told they could lose their benefits if a union was formed. The NLRB wants the store to be reopened with the original staff, who would then be allowed to form a union. A hearing for this case is scheduled for May 7. [Extracted from the article]

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed a complaint against Trader Joe's after a store in New York City's Union Square closed its wine shop, allegedly due to unionization efforts by employees. The complaint outlines incidents where employees were interrogated about union activities and threatened with loss of benefits if a union was formed. The NLRB is calling for the store to be reopened with the original staff, who would then be allowed to form a union. Trader Joe's has until January 26 to respond to the NLRB's questions, and a hearing is scheduled for May 7. Trader Joe's has had previous issues with unions, including a recent complaint in Hadley, Massachusetts, and a lawsuit in Los Angeles. [Extracted from the article]

Elected officials in a letter to the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa owner have registered their concern over a union dispute at the hotel and what they consider "violent" actions by chef John Tesar, who recently opened a Knife Modern Steak restaurant at the property. "In the case of John Tesar, the Michelin-winning "celebrity chef" behind the Knife Modern Steak restaurant at the hotel, we believe that neither the hotel management company, Aimbridge, nor U.C.'s investment managers are taking action quickly enough to address allegations that chef Tesar engaged in disturbing behavior toward striking workers.". [Extracted from the article]

Kroger Texas LP admitted it did not collect dues for a group of stores in Texas and Louisiana beginning Nov. 30, 2022 until new collective bargaining agreements were reached in 2022. The National Labor Relations Board has found a Kroger subsidiary in Texas guilty of stopping the collection of union dues after its collective bargaining agreement expired. [Extracted from the article]

The National Labor Relations Board judge ordered the store to reinstate the terminated employee and send a letter to its other stores informing them of the labor law and employee rights violations. A Dollar General store in Connecticut violated federal labor law and interfered with worker rights in efforts to block unionization efforts, a National Labor Relations Board judge said Monday. [Extracted from the article]

Allegations that an individual Trader Joe's interfered with workers' efforts to unionize now appears to be legitimate. Trader Joe's United said it was "thrilled" to be making progress on this and the countless other unfair labor practice charges it has filed against Trader Joe's, according to reporting by Huffington Post. [Extracted from the article]

The union is accusing Trader Joe's of cutting employee retirement benefits, offering low wages and failing to address safety concerns. The union for Trader Joe's workers could be growing in the coming days. [Extracted from the article]

A worker at a Houston-area Kroger store has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Kroger and the United Food and Commercial Workers union alleging that the retailer unlawfully withheld union dues from her paycheck. The filing claims that Haefner last August attended a mandatory orientation meeting in which a UFCW representative told her she could opt out of paying union dues by entering "$0" in the union dues field of a form she filled out, which she did, but later discovered that dues were being withheld from her paycheck anyway. [Extracted from the article]

Workers at a Trader Joe's store in Louisville, Ky., voted to join the Trader Joe's United union last week, following in the path of two other Trader Joe's locations that joined last year. Last year, workers at two Trader Joe's stores, one in Minneapolis and one in Hadley, Mass., voted to unionize, and have been negotiating their contracts separately but on parallel tracks. [Extracted from the article]

Kroger workers in Virginia and West Virginia have filed a federal lawsuit against the retailer alleging widespread problems with paychecks for hourly employees. According to the Virginia lawsuit: • Plaintiffs Donald Austin andSharon Simpson B , b who work at Kroger stores in Appomattox, Va., and Charleston, W. Va., respectively, each went four weeks without receiving a paycheck. [Extracted from the article]

The Kroger Co.'s King Soopers/City Market division in Denver has reached a tentative contract agreement with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7, capping off an eight-day strike. "King Soopers/City Market has reached a fully recommended tentative agreement with UFCW Local 7 for a new contract", Denver-based King Soopers/City Market said in a statement on Friday. UFCW 7 claimed King Soopers/City Market engaged in "bad faith at the bargaining table" as the union has sought to address low wages, reduced benefits and worker safety issues, namely COVID-19 protections. [Extracted from the article]

"King Soopers/City Market remains committed to the negotiation process and to settling an agreement that is good for our associates while keeping groceries affordable", the retailer stated. A strike is in the offing tomorrow for King Soopers/City Market grocery workers as United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 and the grocery chain, part of The Kroger Co., remain at an impasse in contract talks. [Extracted from the article]

Prior to the strike vote, the contract offer by Fred Meyer and QFC included $36 million in additional pay, another $5 million in pension contributions and $30 million in health benefit contributions, with the latter maintaining current plan costs, published reports said. This week and next week, members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 are slated to vote on a tentative contract agreement following a one-day strike late last week by workers at Fred Meyer and QFC stores in Oregon. Earlier this year, four UFCW locals representing Fred Meyer and QFC employees ratified an agreement to transition about $400 million in pension liabilities from an underfunded pension plan to the UFCW Consolidated Pension Plan. [Extracted from the article]

Employees at Amazon.com Inc.'s warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., have voted decisively against unionizing, shooting down an attempt to establish what would have been the first union at the online retail giant. The union drive was led by the New York-based Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which would have represented the Amazon warehouse workers. [Extracted from the article]

Members of the Teamsters Local Union 414 went on strike yesterday at the United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) distribution center in Fort Wayne, Ind., an action that the grocery wholesaler called illegal. The union, which represents 2,500 Teamsters members overall in Fort Wayne and northeastern Indiana, claims UNFI engaged in unfair labor practices by arbitrarily firing two of its members. [Extracted from the article]

A Teamsters strike at a United Natural Foods Inc. distribution center in Indiana has brought work stoppages to facilities in two other states amid ongoing labor issues from UNFI's integration of Supervalu. Then yesterday, Teamsters 414 extended pickets to UNFI DCs in Hopkins, Minn., and Green Bay, Wis., whose 850 combined Teamsters members honored the picket line. "The open contract for our UNFI Fort Wayne facility members is far from the only UNFI Teamsters contract now at the negotiating table. [Extracted from the article]

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) is reviewing a decision by a federal administrative law judge that found the union guilty of trying to coerce DHL Holdings USA into using ALPA pilots to replace Teamster member ABX Air pilots in flight operations at the Wilmington, Ohio. The clause specifies that only ALPA-represented pilots could operate flights for DHL or any successor company. Within days, DHL Holdings USA and Worldwide filed a complaint of unfair labor practices against ALPA in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Reports on an unfair labor charge filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union against Wal-Mart Stores in April 2005 concerning the resignation of Tom Coughlin as vice chairman of the retail company. Reasons for the resignation of Coughlin; Statement issued by William W. Taylor II, a lawyer for Coughlin, regarding controversies resulted from the resignation of the executive; Request submitted by the UFCW to the U.S. National Labor Relations Board concerning the issue.

Reports on the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union's show of support to a group of former and current Ark Restaurant Corp. employees charging the company with wage and hour violations. Alleged violations of the Federal Labor Standards committed by the company; Response of Ark executives on the lawsuit; Background of the case.

The article reports on the views of Tim Mason, president and chief executive officer of the U.S.-based division of Tesco PLC, on labor issues at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets. Mason said that it's up to the employees at Fresh & Easy to decide whether or not join a labor union. According to him, this is not a management issue and it's the staff at the stores that decides.

The article reports that the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 99 in Phoenix, Arizona, has decided to withdraw three unfair labor practice charges against the company Bashas' Supermarkets for lack of evidence. The charges filed with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board alleged that Bashas' had terminated 19 employees at an AJ's store in Scottsdale, Arizona, for supporting the union and that two store managers at a Food City location had been surveilling employees.

Presents news briefs on the supermarket industry in the U.S. as of June 7, 2004. Wage policy for store-level employees implemented by Wal-Mart Stores; Entry of IGA in the Costa Rican retail market with a license agreement with Megasuper Corp.; Merit found by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board to the unfair labor practice allegations filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union against Treasure Island specialty grocery stores.

The article discusses the labor problems faced by Republic Services Inc. and its striking workers in Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee. It mentions that the company attributes the problems to its desire in switching away from Central States Pension Fund while the workers complain of unfair labor practices. Republic area president Heath Eddleblute and general manager Larson Richardson assure customers of continued service despite the strikes.

The article comments on the labor practices of Starbucks. It reveals that Starbucks employs mostly part-time staff for relatively low hourly wages. The author comments on Starbucks' ability to escape just about any political scrutiny for its employment and compensation policies. He also comments on the success of Starbucks' marketing executives in helping the company make money even where it says it isn't making money.

The article offers transportation industry news briefs from the U.S. as of October 30, 2015. Topics include strike by the port drivers of Gold Point Transportation to protest unfair labor practices of wage theft, announcement of project selections for the seventh round of U.S. Department of Transportation's Transportation Investment Generation Economic Recovery (TIGER) competitive grant program and U.S. President, Barack Obama signing a law to prevent transportation funding stoppage.

Reports on a California Superior Court ruling which rejected the state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement's efforts to stop Specialty Restaurants Corp. from tapping servers' gratuities to pay charge-card fees levied on them. Possibility for the ruling to become a precedent and reason for other operators to deduct card fees from tips charged by customers. INSET: Operators react to court's decision on tip-fee recovery.

Reports on the ruling made by an administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board, in favor of New Otani Hotel and Garden in Los Angeles over the local Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union's suit against the hotel for alleged unfair labor practices. Background on the case; Picketing and public relations campaign of the union against the hotel; Significance of the ruling.

The article reports on the claims for damages and lost wages by four former waiters at the Los Angeles, California-based restaurant Denny's Corp. in a lawsuit charging that they were unfairly fired after refusing to serve food on dishes that had not been properly washed. The workers filed the complaint in Chatsworth Supreme Court.

Reports that the California Labor Standards Enforcement Division has slapped the Irvine-based Caspian restaurant with $300,000 in fines. Employee complaint which prompted an official audit; Specialization in Persian food, belly dancing and live music; Appeal by owners Mohammad, Hahmid and Ali Ariarad and Housnang Tabatai.