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Do IT this week: Layering
Former Apples markets covered under contract with all other workers
By Betty Lin-Fisher Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Tuesday, Oct 09, 2007
Employees at five area Giant Eagle stores are working under a new contract, which included some employee buyouts, wage increases and reduction in hours for some remaining employees.
The employees affected work at the stores that used to be Apples grocery stores under Bolognue Management Co. For several years, former Apples stores were operated as Giant Eagle stores under a franchise agreement, then sold to Giant Eagle in 2003.
When Giant Eagle purchased the five stores in Stow, Tallmadge, Springfield Township, Barberton and Canton, the grocery chain agreed to continue the separate existing collective bargaining contracts at each store, said Thomas H. Robertson, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 880, in a prepared statement.
When the contracts were going to expire this summer, union and company officials met to negotiate a new agreement.
''Faced with the position of Giant Eagle that some of the five stores would have to close if a satisfactory contract that allowed these stores to be competitive could not be reached, the negotiations proved extremely difficult,'' Robertson said.
The union was able to negotiate ''unprecedented wage and benefit increases'' by getting Giant Eagle to cover all workers in the stores under the agreement already in effect at other Akron-Canton corporate Giant Eagle stores, he said.
Giant Eagle obtained certain work rule and scheduling rights that it said enabled it to manage costs and operate more efficiently.
The company offered buyouts for up to 100 workers at the former Apples stores. The number of employees accepting buyouts was not available from either the union or Giant Eagle.
Also under the new contract and depending on the amount of business done at each store, Giant Eagle is also allowed ''to reduce hours of a limited group of employees below the level that qualifies them for fully paid family health care benefits. If that happens, they will still qualify for fully paid 'single' health care benefits,'' Robertson said.
Union members ''overwhelmingly approved'' the contract in August, he said.
In a prepared statement, Giant Eagle spokesman Dan Donovan said: ''Giant Eagle and Local 880 successfully renegotiated this contract regarding the stores in question this summer which Local 880 members overwhelmingly approved. The contract stipulated that certain hourly employees could opt for a generous compensation package or they could maintain their employment with reduced hours. The spirit of the contract renegotiation was to ensure that all stores in question remained open to best serve our customers in the area.''
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@ thebeaconjournal.com.
Employees at five area Giant Eagle stores are working under a new contract, which included some employee buyouts, wage increases and reduction in hours for some remaining employees.
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