Farmer Jack employees represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) have voted to accept a 10 percent wage cut, reversing a negative vote taken just about a week ago.
The UFCW believes that by accepting the cut, the company will be made more attractive to a potential buyer because it is more likely to be profitable.
The 71-store chain, owned by A&P, is said to be the subject of negotiations between A&P and unnamed suitors (though Spartan Stores is often named as a likely acquiring entity). The UFCW said that the earlier defeat was by a small margin with a low turnout, and that it had received numerous complaints from its members asking for a new vote.
"We know this was a tough choice for members, and the local will support the members' decision as we continue to do all we can to preserve as many jobs as possible," UFCW Local 876 President Victoria Collins said in a statement on the union's Web site.
The UFCW believes that by accepting the cut, the company will be made more attractive to a potential buyer because it is more likely to be profitable.
The 71-store chain, owned by A&P, is said to be the subject of negotiations between A&P and unnamed suitors (though Spartan Stores is often named as a likely acquiring entity). The UFCW said that the earlier defeat was by a small margin with a low turnout, and that it had received numerous complaints from its members asking for a new vote.
"We know this was a tough choice for members, and the local will support the members' decision as we continue to do all we can to preserve as many jobs as possible," UFCW Local 876 President Victoria Collins said in a statement on the union's Web site.
- KC's View:
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Does anyone else think that it is remarkable that the UFCW actually recommended a pay cut to its membership working at Farmer Jack?
Maybe that it a statement about how dire things are at A&P in general and Farmer Jack in particular…because we don’t recall the UFCW being willing to accept any such notion during the Southern California strike/lockout.
