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Raley's will stop providing health coverage to its retired hourly employees 65 and older in July 2012, the supermarket chain said in a letter to retirees.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/05/4031970/raleys-to-halt-health-coverage.html#ixzz1d58HjFhV

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 9:33 AM


Hello Ron --- I wanted to provide you with the following article that I find to be very serious as it relates to the above subject matter.

Raleys To Halt Health Coverage for Some Retirees 65 Plus

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/05/4031970/raleys-to-halt-health-coverage.html

Sac Bee / November 5, 2011
By: Darrell Smith

"Raley's will stop providing health coverage to its retired hourly employees 65 and older in July 2012, the supermarket chain said in a letter to retirees.

The letter, dated Oct. 24 and signed by Michael Teel, Raley's president and chief executive officer, said the chain is struggling to maintain profitability amid a down economy, increased competition and escalating health costs.

"Unfortunately, due to the economic downturn and increased competition we are struggling to sustain our business," the letter read. "We have … determined that Raley's can no longer cover the cost of this benefit."

I am curious as to the position you, President Loveall and President Sharpe are going to take with respect to Raley's Blatant Attack on their Retirees. Have the 3 Local Union President's responded to the Affected Members / Company yet?

BTW... what position is Safeway and Savemart taking concerning this issue?

Has this issue already been agreed to between the parties?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank You

John Briley

The real issue is what they do to ufcw retirees in our new contract. In the new socal contract the monthly cost to retirees went from $90 a month for a group plan to $125 PER PERSON,yes husband and spouse $250 a month.A huge jump for those on a fixed income.......

does the rank n file members of the UFCW have the drive and the courage or will they continue to let themselves be bitch slapped deeper into poverty while the corporate fat cats and the UFCW labor fakers get richer from the fruits of "our" labor?

Reading the SacBee piece,it looks as though the retirees they are talking about are non union staff.The company would not send that letter to retirees the trust fund would.

It will be fun to watch to see if Ron Lind responds to brother Briley or if he'll actually be silly enough to ignore him.

Ron Lind's e-mail dated 11/9/11:

Hi John

This only applies to non-union Raley's employees. The unions and the companies have not exchanged any proposals with respect to health benefits at this point although I can tell you that Raley's appears to be taking a very aggressive stance at the bargaining table compared to Save Mart and Safeway.

Ron Lind
President, UFCW Local 5
International Vice-President
240 S. Market St.
San Jose, CA 95113
(408)998-0428

Friday, November 18, 2011

Hello Ron --- I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for responding to my 11/8/11 e-mail (attached) and wanted to follow up with you regarding your e-mail you sent to me dated Wednesday, November 9, 2011.

Ron, I am very curious as to where you received your information concerning
Raleys position outlined in the newspaper article, only applying to their Non-Union Raleys employees? Did Michael Teel, Raleys President & CEO, provide the UFCW Northern Ca. Leadership with that in writing?

As you and I both know, Mr. Teel is fully aware of who is Union & Non-Union employees are. If, Mr. Teel was only referring to his Non-Union employees in the newspaper article, he could have and should have clarified that fact immediately in the Sac Bee article.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/05/4031970/raleys-to-halt-health-coverage.html

Unfortunately, in my opinion, Mr. Teel wanted to send another message in that newspaper article. That message is Raleys is coming after all of their Retirees, whether they are Union or Non-Union!

Now that we know Raleys intentions with respect to their Retirees, what is Safeway and Save Mart position going to be regarding their Retirees?

Speaking of Savemart, I have provided you with copy of what appears to be a Memo from Steve Junqueiro, President & COO of Save Mart Supermarkets, dated 11/11/11, addressed to "All Company Employees".

I could not help to be amused by some of Mr. Junqueiro's comments outlined in his Memo;

Specifically, "And not only do we compete with these non-union competitors, but also with restaurants and other quick meal alternatives."

I must say, this would be the first time for me having to hear from one of the largest Food Employer's in No. Ca. "whining" about "restaurants" / "quick meal alternatives" as "alleged" competitors!

Additionally, in another portion of his memo, Mr. Junqueiro's "pathetic plea" regarding the following "alleged" sacrifices made by the Co.'s non-union workforce:

"I want you to understand the sacrifices that we have all had to make. All areas of our company have been touched by cost cutting measures to keep us in business. In our corporate offices, we reduced staff by over 20%, we have frozen wage rates on all non-union employees for the last four years, and introduced premium payments to non-union benefit packages over the last two years."

Speaking of sacrifices that our Save Mart Members have already made, obviously Mr. Junqueiro has forgotten about the infamous Local 5 document that outlines seven pages of concessions that Save Mart successfully extracted from the UFCW & our Save Mart Members in No. Ca. back in 2007! (see attached Save Mart C.B.A. Comparison 2007-2011)

Specifically, how about the minimum of 17,640 hours to reach the top senior clerk wage rate! Now there is another gift-that-keeps-on-giving to Save Mart for years and years to come!

Looking forward to keeping in touch with you throughout these Negotiations.

Thank You for your time.

John Briley