Workers win showdown at Acme Markets

When 4,000 unionized workers at 40 Acme supermarkets, who had been working under a contract extension since February 2008, received notice in late June that the company planned to terminate existing benefits and impose draconian cuts, the workers made their struggle public.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 took out full-page ads in local newspapers exposing the company threats and asking for shoppers and the general public to pressure the company to resume negotiations. Local 1776 had been bargaining for the workers.

Acme management threatened to freeze wages, cut pensions and benefits, and outsource jobs, despite the fact that many of the workers had been with the company for 20 to 40 years. These outright union-busting tactics must have hit a nerve with lots of people because by mid-July Acme was back at the bargaining table.

Local 1776 President Wendell Young IV had also told management that the workers would strike if the bosses tried to impose the company’s take-back contract.

With a 985-to-19 vote on July 16, the unionized workers overwhelmingly approved a new contract that includes the equivalent of a 2-percent raise, preserves health and pension benefits, and protects union jobs.

Provisions of the new four-year agreement include preventing Acme from covering pensions with wages or health insurance contributions; and giving raises in four lump-sum payments over the life of the contract. Acme will be allowed to outsource certain departments, but core departments will remain staffed by union members.

Workers credited union solidarity for their victory. Walt O’Connor, 60, a produce clerk at the Woodhaven Acme in Northeast Philadelphia, told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “I saw the union membership come together more closely than they ever had in the past.” (July 16)